The revival of the revised Bakun hydroelectric project by the government will only benefit certain individuals and not the local community, said a non-governmental organisation in Sarawak.

Borneo Research Institute programme officer Raymond Apin told malaysiakini today that studies have shown that the project is neither economically viable nor safe for the local community.

"It would be impossible to cover the cost as the revised project will no longer be supplying electricity to Peninsular Malaysia. The demand for electricity here is very low," said Apin.

"Who will benefit from it all? Of course, it is the people who were given the privilege to handle the project," he added.

Yesterday, Energy Minister Leo Moggie announced that the Bakun dam project would be revived with an estimated cost of between RM5 billion and RM6 billion, half that of the original cost of RM13 billion.

The revised plan does not include the installation of a costly 600km undersea cable to supply electricity to the peninsula.

According to Moggie, a government-owned company, the Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation, will take over from the previously aborted project. The original builder of the dam, Ekran, abandoned the project after the economic downturn a few years ago and was compensated by the government to the tune of RM500 million for "work already done".

Moggie said that the Bakun dam project, which will start operations in 2005, was revised because higher demand for power is now expected in Sarawak, Sabah and other parts of Borneo in the next five years.

"We will implement construction of the dam to the full original height with a capacity of 2,400 megawatts, so it will be based on the original design," he said.

Economically not viable

Apin said that apart from being economically not viable, the project brings many social problems as hundreds of illegal immigrants have crossed the border from the Philippines and Indonesia to do logging work at the dam site.

He added that the dam is also expected to be built on an area which often experiences tremors from earthquakes in Sumatra or Philippines, posing a great danger to the local community.

"The tremors are destructive to the dam. If anything happens, the whole Rejang basin would be flooded," he added.

According to Apin, as many as 60 families who refused to resettle have yet to find proper homes as they were not compensated by the state government.

"Those who accepted the new settlements found themselves squeezed into very small land areas that are not cultivatable," he added.

"In the new settlements, more space and better land conditions are reserved for plantation companies rather than the local community."

Apin said that usable land is reserved for oil palm companies such as Shin Yang, Sam Ling and Ekran, and these companies expect the local community to work in their plantations though the people would rather grow food.

He reported that the housing provided in the settlements was not in accordance to that promised in the relocation plan, forcing villagers to move elsewhere.

The families affected are from the Long Geng, Kenyah and Long Bulan community. They were living in Longlawan (Paleiran) and Sang Anau, but have now moved up to Koyan and Asap.

The Long Jawit community from Batu Kalo refused to move with them and found alternative housing in Bukau. They are staying on with the full knowledge that they would have to be evicted one day because the land now belonged to the state government.

Money politics

Meanwhile, human rights organisation Suaram director Dr Kua Kia Soong said the government has done a great injustice to the people of Sarawak by reviving the Bakun dam project despite protests by many concerned groups.

"The government is irresponsible on this and needs to explain to the people why so much money need to spend on a project which does not benefit the local community," he told malaysiakini .

"They (government) have wasted enough of our money without proper planning. I understand the Employees Provident Fund had also been used for this project. The government needs to explain why," he added.

"The dam, with a capacity of 2,400 megawatts, is unjustified since the original amount needed is 500 megawatts for Sabah and Sarawak. This shows that the government has not done enough planning."

He added that Indonesia's Kalimantan produce cheaper energy and it would be doubtful that there will be demand for electricity generated by Bakun.

DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang said that it is clear that the announcement of the cabinet to revive the project is to influence the impending Sarawak state general elections.

"They (Barisan Nasional) are hoping to win votes by promising mega-development projects for the state - another example of money politics on the grand scale," said the opposition leader.