The government should halt plans to fill up the Bakun dam until it updates its 10-year-old emergency rescue plan (ERP), says local NGO Sarawak Conservation Alliance for Natural Environment (Scane).

The group said it was concerned over the safety of and adverse impacts on riverine communities in the neighbourhood of the country's largest dam.

azlan "Scane warns Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd not to proceed with its flooding trial run for the Bakun dam until an ERP has been in place and the public has been adequately informed of the procedures laid down by the plan," its national coordinator Raymond Abin said in a statement today.

Yesterday, Sarawak Hidro managing director Zulkifle Osman said they expect impoundment to commence next week, depending on suitable weather conditions and water levels.

He said once this started, it would take seven months to reach a level of 195 metres above sea level, the minimum needed to run turbine tests.

Raymond noted that the existing ERP was drawn up 10 years ago to address possible dam failure, but stressed that it was "too outdated" and it would therefore be premature to go ahead with the filling up the Bakun dam.

He added that the creation of large man-made lakes by dam impoundments would destabilise the ecosystem with far-reaching and disastrous effects on the natural environment, wildlife and people of the surrounding areas.

NONE Raymond ( left ) stressed that the government must run a comprehensive campaign to inform all those residing downstream of the dam of the updated ERP.

He said the government and the project developer must also sign and issue a memorandum of undertaking to downstream riverine communities, guaranteeing that both the government and developer would be held accountable for the destruction and loss of properties in the event of dam failure.

Sarawak Hidro, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, is the developer of the Bakun dam, which is estimated to cost in excess of RM7.3 billion once completed.

Listed as the second-highest concrete rock-filled dam in the world, Bakun is expected to produce 2,400 megawatts of power once all eight of its turbines are in place and online by 2012