Bakun dam unnecessary, says activist

comments     Leong Kar Yen     Published     Updated

The building of the multi-billion ringgit Bakun hydro-electric dam in Sarawak may not be necessary as there are alternative sources of energy in both Sabah and Sarawak, according to a community-based consultancy firm based in the state.

"I do not think that we need so much power as we have alternative sources of energy. We have coal mines and also other hydro-electric projects and I think in the not to far future other more renewable energy sources would be available," said Ideal Time coordinator Wong Meng Chu.

On Wednesday, Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie announced that the Bakun dam project would be revived with an estimated cost of between RM5 billion and RM6 billion, half 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 following the decision to scrap that part of the plan.

However according to The Star daily today, Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin had announced that the cost of the dam would be RM9 billion.

Efforts to contact both Moggie and the ministry's parliamentary secretary Chia Kwang Chye failed.

Cost to double

The Star also mentioned in a separate report that Sarawak-based conglomerate Cahya Mata Sarawak, whose acting group CEO is Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, stood to profit from the project. It added that the company was the sole producer of cement there.

When asked to comment on the cost of the project, Ideal Time's Wong warned that it could rise above the ceiling price quoted by Moggie.

"If they go ahead with the project, it will cost double by the time it is completed," he said.

When asked how long the dam would last, Wong said that the life span was definitely shorter than what was stated in its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.

"Based on the EIA, the life span is 50 years, but on the upper stream of Bakun, timber has been taken and siltation is occurring at a fast pace, meaning that the earlier EIA is no longer accurate. The life span of the dam has shortened," he said.

Meanwhile according to a former resident at Bakun, the project had cost him and his father their village, home and land.

"We were not given any kind of compensation and we were very angry but did not complain because we were afraid of losing in court," Ismail Taja told malaysiakini in a telephone interview.

According to the 26-year-old kindergarten supervisor at the Miri-based Indigenous Peoples Development Centre (IPDC), his fellow villagers at Kampung Lemurung at Bakun were forcibly displaced.

"We were very afraid when they came (to evict us). The local authorities were there, as well as M-16 armed police personnel," he added.

When he was evicted, he and his father, who is a highland padi farmer, were forced to abandon their 50-acre plot of land.

Disaster area

Coordinator for the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns, Colin Nicholas, when contacted said that the authorities had 'bulldozed' their way into the area.

"There is no need for the Bakun dam. The authorities have bulldozed their way into the community and they have clearly imposed their will on the people there despite many protests,' he said.

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