Normally welcoming villagers in the controversial Kaiduan Dam area turned hostile when nine visitors turned out to be not what they claimed to be. The nine, including two women, had claimed to be working on the EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) for the proposed RM 2.8 billion dam .

Anti-Kaiduan Dam Action Committee chair Nousi Giun complained that the visitors did not produce any approval letter from the Environmental Protection Department (EPD). This is a requirement before an EIA is carried out within any community.

"They did not seek permission either from the two Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) chairmen in the five villages in this area," said Nousi who identified the villages as Babagon Laut and Terian under one JKKK.

visitors shy away from ranau kundasang sabah 230609 05 The other three villages the nine outsiders visited over the weekend in the remote Crocker Range area in Penampang, are Buayan, Tiku and Timpayasa. Penampang is on the outskirts of Kota Kinabalu. The visitors had to trek on foot to each of the five villages.

Terian, an exception, has a dirt track but only during the current dry season.

The nine, according to Nousi, claimed to be from a local company Ensolve Sdn Bhd, the Land and Survey Department (LSD) and the EPD. The two men, introduced as LSD staff in one village, reportedly claimed in another village to be bodyguards for the other seven visitors. This news quickly went around, added Nousi.

He added that suspicions were further aroused when it was discovered that the visitors would write down ‘no comment' in their ‘survey forms' whenever the villagers disagreed with the questions they were asked.

"Perhaps the nine were under the impression that the villagers could not read or did not know English," said Nousi. "The villagers saw what the visitors wrote down in their forms."

Official complaints

Nousi confirmed that his committee had filed official complaints with the Penampang District Office, the LSD, the EPD and the State Tourism, Culture and Environment Ministry over the visit by the nine outsiders.

"It was not conducted according to the Handbook of Environmental Impact Assessment which clearly spells out the proper procedures."

Nousi's committee also discovered the nine visitors failed to take ‘scoping notes' which identify issues that would affect the residents if the dam project was to proceed.

The notes, are to provide early information about the concept of the entire project and whether it's sensitive to the environment. Through it, the EPD can also assess whether the consultant tasked with the survey is qualified to carry it out.

"We can confirm that Ensolve Sdn Bhd has provided us with the scoping notes for Kaiduan," said EPD Director Yapi Yangkat. "However, we are not aware who appointed the firm to carry out the survey. None of our staff accompanied them during their purported survey works in Kaiduan."

The EPD Director expressed the hope that the consultant did not claim that EPD and LSD staff were among the nine people who visited the five villages recently.

Scoping notes

Yapi said his department would not process the scoping notes and the technical study, the first stage in an EIA, until the state government gives the green light. Once they are approved, the next stage will be the terms of reference for the EIA followed by the EIA itself. There might even be a detailed EIA, the fourth stage.

Ensolve managing director Loh Su Mui was quoted in the local media as saying that she has yet to submit the technical study on Kaiduan to the EPD. "We are not in a position to release the information," she was quoted as saying before declining further comment. "The media can check the technical report with the EPD."

Penampang District Officer William Sampil was not immediately available for comment. The local DAP (Democratic Action Party) has begun a campaign seeking his ouster on the grounds of him being ‘a shoddy performer'. It is not known whether the Kaiduan Dam project is one of the grouses against Sampil.

State Assistant Finance Minister Donald Mojuntin was blunt on the recent developments in the Kaiduan Dam area. "It seems like the project is being forced down the people's throat," he said. "The consultant must answer the allegations by the villagers.'

No consultant

Mojuntin, who is also the Moyog state assemblyperson, added that as far as he was concerned "no consultant has been appointed by the EPD to carry out any study in the Kaiduan Dam project area.

"So they (Ensolve) have no business going to the affected villages at this point in time," fumed Mojuntin. "Moreover, this matter (Kaiduan) is quite sensitive."

According t dams hydroelectric dams 290609 o consultant engineer Ong Boo Say of SMHB Sdn Bhd, listed as the project consultants for the Kaiduan Dam project, Terian is not among the villages affected by the development.

The other four villages affected are from an initial list of 15 villages. The dam was subsequently downsized and a related water plant scrapped.

The proposed dam is expected to flood an area of 12 sq km and submerge a large area of forested land that has been a traditional source of medicine, wild fruits, forest resources, wildlife and fishing spots for the local Dusun tribes.

The affected villagers want the proposed dam to be sited at Mandalipau, a tributary of Sungei Papar, where there are no human settlements. The state government however has rejected the alternative as being more expensive by RM140 million.