A huge dam being built in the Malaysian state of Sarawak has attracted crowds of sex workers, the Star daily reported today citing a police chief.

The Bakun hydro-electric dam in Sarawak on Borneo island involves flooding an area the size of Singapore and has about 2,000 people working on the site.

Sarawak police chief Talib Jamal said police have evidence of women being brought to the project site for sex, and makeshift entertainment centres had been set up for the workers' leisure hours.

"They bring in the women to 'service' workers in and around the Bakun project site," Talib was quoted saying by the daily.

"These people are cashing in on the situation. We believe some of these women were brought in illegally."

Local and foreign

The paper said gangsters and syndicates were supplying local and foreign women, some of whom were suspected to have been confined and abused.

Police earlier this week cracked one syndicate involving 10 women from Indonesia, the Philippines and China, it said.

The Bakun dam, which will be able to generate up to 2,400 megawatts of energy, is scheduled to begin operations in 2011.

It has attracted fierce criticism because of its impact on the environment and the displacement of residents.