The Sarawak government's plan to allow the setting up an aluminium smelting plant to utilise expected energy surplus from the Bakun dam project is likely to cause additional ecological pollution to the area and health problems for nearby residents, said an environmental rights group today.

Friends of the Earth (SAM) said in a statement released from its Baram office today that it had received news that the Sarawak state government is "seriously considering" the bid of a Dubai-based company to set up an aluminium smelting plant to take advantage of cheap hydro-electric power from Bakun.

SAM president S M Mohamed Idris said the smelting plant is an attempt by the government to allocate for expected energy surplus resulting from the dam once it starts operations, scheduled in 2006.

Mohamed said based on data from the Eight Malaysia Plan 2001-2005, the energy reserve margin of East Malaysia may shoot up to between 137 and 175 percent although a comfortable reserve margin should be in the region of 30 percent or less.

Fluoride emissions

"We had warned the authorities that the only way Sarawak can fully utilise the excess power produced by Bakun is through a mindless form of industrial growth," he said.

According to Mohamed, the setting up of an aluminium smelting industry in the state to feed on excess energy would be a step in the wrong direction as the plants are associated with other forms of environmental pollution because of high levels of fluoride emissions.

"At high levels, fluoride can cause several long-term health effects both to wildlife and humans, including severe skeletal fluorosis, where fluoride causes irregular bone deposits to form, which can lead to severe pain in joints and eventual disability," he explained. He also pointed out that fluoride emissions also affect vegetation as evident from the experience of Norway, where fluoride emissions from an aluminium smelter killed pine trees up to 13 km from the plant.

In addition, Mohamed said because aluminium smelters consume large quantities of energy, one likely consequence of allowing for such a firm would be that it would become the largest single electricity user in the country.

"Aluminium transnational corporations have been known to manipulate power purchase agreements with power producers so that they are able to purchase energy at subsidised costs, which could be way below the price paid by domestic consumers," he added.

This is of further concern, said Mohamad, since the estimated RM9 billion required for the construction of the entire Bakun project is likely to be raised domestically.

Scrap entire project

The government has so far spent about RM1 billion, including resettlement of the affected indigenous population, the road from Bintulu to Bakun, the diversion tunnels and the coffer dam.

"There is also no guarantee that Bakun will not be slapped with major technical problems after its completion which may result in the dam generating an amount of power below its projected capacity," he said, urging for the government to reconsider scrapping the project entirely.

However, calls by environmental groups for the dam project to be abandoned is unlikely to be heeded as the Sarawak state government recently awarded the contract for the project to a seven-member consortium led by the Sime Darby Group.

Yesterday, malaysiakini reported that the consortium has received the letter of intent from the government in building the Bakun main dam at a tender price of RM1.788 billion.

The Sarawak partner in the winning consortium is Edward & Sons Sdn Bhd, whose chairperson and managing director Stanley Ajang, is also the state assembly representative for Belaga.

Once completed, the Bakun hydro dam will supply electricity not only to Sarawak but also Sabah and possibly West Kalimantan, Indonesia.