Minister announces cancellation of Telom Dam project
CAMERON POLLS | The federal government has cancelled the Telom Dam project in Cameron Highlands, according to Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin.
Speaking at a Pakatan Harapan campaign event in the Orang Asli settlement of Pos Lanai this afternoon, she said her ministry made the decision in October last year.
“On Oct 3, we had a meeting and decided that the Telom Dam will not be included in our plan...
CAMERON POLLS | The federal government has cancelled the Telom Dam project in Cameron Highlands, according to Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin.
Speaking at a Pakatan Harapan campaign event in the Orang Asli settlement of Pos Lanai this afternoon, she said her ministry made the decision in October last year.
“On Oct 3, we had a meeting and decided that the Telom Dam will not be included in our plan, which means the government will not be building the dam.
“This is not because of the by-election. I did not even know the dam was in the Cameron Highlands (constituency),” she said to applause and cheers from the 200 present.
The audience, many dressed in red Harapan t-shirts, also heard speeches from Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang, and senator Bob Manolan Mohd.
'Technical, not political, decision'
Yeo said the dam was scrapped because the government saw no reason to waste funds or harm the environment for an unnecessary project.
“We did not announce it before this because we felt this was an administrative issue.
“I did not know this was a political issue and a by-election issue.
“We have also cancelled other projects, the Telom Dam is one of these, which we cancelled for technical reasons,” she told reporters after.
The BN stronghold of Pos Lanai would have been one of the areas most affected by the construction of the dam.
In the 14th general election, Harapan managed just three votes from the polling district.
Local activists previously urged the government to state its stance on the dam before the Cameron Highlands by-election this Saturday.
If Pakatan Harapan wanted to be honest and transparent in its decision to scrap the Telom Dam project in Cameron Highlands, it should have released a formal media statement and made the decision public in October 2018. The statement by the Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change Minister Yeo Bee Yin that the decision to cancel the project was just an administrative matter and that it did not warrant public announcement shows that the government was probably not fully committed in its decision to cancel the project and wanted to use it later as campaign material to fish for votes as a by-election in Cameron Highlands constituency seemed quite imminent by then. As much as the government wants to take credit and make a big publicity about implementation of public infrastructure projects of any kind, it is duty bound to inform the public without any delay if a project is cancelled. The late announcement of the Telom Dam project cancellation by Minister Yeo Bee Yin at the by-election ceramah does not augur well for the Pakatan Harapan government. It is also unbelievable that the Minister did not know that the proposed Telom Dam project was in the Cameron Highlands parliamentary constituency.
Many cabinet ministers in the new government are indisputably far better than the half past six,incompetent and corrupted ones in the scumno bn government. The only drawback is the new government is the unfortunate recipient of the mammoth financial cum administrative mess left behind by the useless corrupted racist and incompetent past government which betrayed the trust of the people for 61 years. The new PH government besides attempting to rejuvenate the financial strength of the country it also needs to rebuild our country so badly damaged in racial harmony, religious tolerance, education,health care, public transport and a lot more.
One more thing, Madam Liar ... you actually cancelled a project without knowing where it was located? Did you actually study in Cambridge or is that also a lie?
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