A seven-member consortium led by the Sime Darby Group has received the letter of intent from the government in building the Bakun main dam at a tender price of RM1.788 billion.

The Sime Engineering Sdn Bhd-led consortium, which includes a Chinese partner involved in the US$30 billion Three Gorges dam project on the Yangtze River, is said to have the lowest bid among four short-listed Malaysian-led consortia for the civil and engineering works of the Bakun hydro dam project in central Sarawak region.

The unsuccessful bidders for the construction work on the main dam, spillway, power house and plant complex are Sarawak-based Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd with Swiss-based Alsthom Power Generation, Muhibbah Engineering (M) Bhd with Argentina-based hydro-power specialist Impsa (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd and Bintai Kiden Corp with US-based GE Hydro.

The Sarawak partner in the winning consortium, Edward & Sons Sdn Bhd chairperson and managing director Stanley Ajang who is also state assemblyperson for Belaga confirmed today that he had received the letter of intent yesterday from Ministry of Finance-incorporated company Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Yong Chee Meng.