Opposition party PKR today expressed shock at the government's quick approval of an undersea cable project to transmit power to Peninsular Malaysia from the Bakun hydroelectric dam in Sarawak.

The 700-kilometre undersea cable will link the southern top of Sarawak and Johor so that electricity can be channelled via the South China Sea bed and then to the rest of the peninsula.

"We would like the government to show where is the environmental impact assessment (EIA) and the risk management plan on which the decision to go ahead was based? Is this yet another case of do first then EIA afterwards?

syed husin ali "The government asserts it will be cheaper to build the cable than to construct the necessary generating capacity in the peninsula. We urge the government to produce the figures for public examination," said PKR deputy president Syed Husin Ali in a press statement.

He also questioned if the government was prepared to expose the peninsula to potential catastrophic failure, citing the breakdown of Internet connections at the end of December 2006 due to an earthquake off Taiwan as an example.

bakun dam electrical cable lines from sarawak to semenanjung malaysia "While there can be re-routing with the Internet - and even then there was severe disruption that lasted for weeks - there cannot be with electricity, or not without extremely expensive redundancy. Show us the risk assessment," he added.

He also expressed doubts over a statement Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Peter Chin Kah Fui made to the Star on April 26 on the capacity of the Bakum dam.

"The Star reported the minister as saying that the peninsula will be supplied with 10,000 megawatts. How can that be when Bakun has a rated generating capacity of 2,400 megawatts?" he asked

Give preference to Sarawakians

The same report mentioned that the project would be jointly undertaken by Tenaga Nasional Bhd and the Sarawak Electricity Board, but that the cost of the project had not been finalised yet.

Syed Husin added that given the inadequate provision of electricity in Sarawak, especially in the rural areas, the priority should be in making sure that every household in Sarawak has access to affordable electricity supply.

"The minister responsible is surely familiar with the widespread sentiment amongst the people of Sarawak that the peninsula benefits unfairly from the resources of Sarawak.

"We are certain that the people of the peninsula want the people of Sarawak to be the first beneficiary of Bakun.

"We do not want the situation to continue where poor rural folk have to pay RM60 a month for something like four hours of electricity per day," he said.

Minister Chin on Sunday announced that the government has approved the plans for the power cable.

peter chin fah kui Chin said the government had decided to invest in the multimillion-dollar project as it would be cheaper than building power plants on the peninsula.

"In the long term, it will be more economical and viable to transmit power from Bakun to peninsular Malaysia even though the undersea cable project will be very costly," Chin was quoted as saying in local reports.