A serious error detected in the report on the proposed RM2.8 billion Kaidun Dam project in Papar in Sabah has sparked finger pointing among red-faced officials.

Those who prepared the report for the state government wrote, "The areas above Kampung Kaiduan are unpopulated."

When confronted by state government officials, the consulting engineers for the project sheepishly admitted their error.

In their revised take, consulting engineer SMHB Sdn Bhd now concedes that at least four villages - Babagon Laut, Tiku, Timpayasah and Buayan - will be affected.

"Only 386 families will be affected," said SMHB director Ong Boo Say in a statement to the local press. "The dam site will submerge 12 sq km."

In fact, those affected say that only 5.2 sq km would be submerged if four villages are affected.

However, more than 2,000 people live in the 15 villages located in the 12 sq km stretch covering the upper reaches of the proposed dam area.

This is also the location of the Salt Trail, a well-known eco-tourism product in Kampung Terian.

The 10 other villages affected besides Terian and the four mentioned by Ong are Pongobonon, Kalanggaan, Longkogungan, Timpangoh, Bonobukan, Kionop, Mantisan, Babagan, Sugud and Maang.

"We cannot comprehend how the report was prepared," said Nousi Giun from Kampung Terian who heads the Kaiduan Dam Main Protest Action Committee.

merdeka statement launch 020807 bernard dompok "The MP and the state assemblyperson from the area should have been consulted on the project. They could have advised."

According to Giun, Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan officiated at a Ka'amatan (harvest) Festival in Kampung Buayan in late May.

Then on July 7, Penampang MP Bernard Giluk Dompok ( left ) launched a micro hydro in the same village.

So, the suspicion is that the Kaiduan report was prepared in the air-conditioned comfort of Kota Kinabalu without anyone ever visiting the site and by just relying on old maps of the area.

Dam shift proposed

According to the report, a water treatment plant is ear-marked for Maang, Penampang, about 8 km away from Kaiduan.

The entire development comes under the Kota Kinabalu Water Supply Project.

When completed, KK will have an additional 1,200 million litres a day and a hydro-electric power station to generate 37MW of electricity.

Giun disclosed that his action committee will be forwarding a memorandum on the proposed dam to the governor, chief minister, assemblypersons and the heads of relevant departments.

The memorandum, according to him, would list their objections to the project being in the proposed site.

It would also recommend that the entire project be shifted to Mandalipau, one of the tributaries of Sungei Papar.

"There are no villages in the upper reaches of the river," said Giun who is familiar with the area like the others in his village.

It's a different story in the 15 affected villages threatened by the construction of the proposed dam.

"We have been planting padi, fruit trees and rubber and other crops on our land long before the British came.

"Based on the Sabah Land Ordinance 1930, we have NCR (native customary rights) rights to the land based on Section 15," said Kampung Buayan chief John Sobitang.

"We have also been promised assistance by the state government to rear livestock and plant commercial crops like pepper and rubber."

Sobitang reeled off the basic infrastructure of the affected villages viz. community halls, primary schools, teacher's quarters, hostels, churches, Bailey bridges, non-sealed roads and gravity pipes, among others.

Facilities built by the villagers and NGOs include micro-hydro, nurseries, eco-tourism products, herbal farms, the tagal system of rearing fish and water catchment areas.

Blood of sacrificial boar

Kampung Maang chief Joannes Jiony figures that 70 percent of their land would be taken up by the water treatment plant.

Meanwhile, the affected villagers gathered recently by the banks of the Sungei Papar in Kampung Timpayasa for a sacred oath-stone ceremony.

Representatives of the 15 villages swore their opposition to the project and pledged in blood to protect their land.

The 11 representatives sprinkled the sacred stone with the blood of a sacrificial boar and buried it by the river bank.

Eleven saplings were also planted around the stone and prayers recited to stop the dam plans.

Apparently, the Water Department only came to know about the project after it was announced.

And there are no indications that the Sabah Water Resource Council was consulted.

The state government claims that the Kaiduan Dam project is still at the conceptual stage.

However, it is understood that a contractor has already been engaged to build the dam and water treatment plant