The controversial Bakun hydroelectric dam project, whose revival is under consideration, should be immediately scrapped, said 20 non-governmental organisations and political parties today.

In their strongly-worded joint statement, they said, "Otherwise, we can look forward to further years of misleading promises, huge costs, wasted public money, huge and disastrous environmental and social implications, all for hugely expensive electricity which can be far better sourced from elsewhere."

The group includes human rights NGOs Suaram, Hakam and International Movement for a Just World, SOS! (Save Ourselves) Penang, Save Our Sungai (SOS) Selangor, Women's Development Centre, Centre for Orang Asli Concerns and political parties PRM and PSM.

Condemning the dam - the biggest in Southeast Asia - as a thoroughly discredited and non-viable project, the group added that it was extremely unfortunate that talk of its revival came soon after the publication of the World Commission of Dams report about the project's basis.

The report stated that large dam projects like Bakun have consistently overestimated production, underestimated costs, and have severely negative impacts on the communities they displaced as well as on river ecosystems and economies.

Right to know

The group also called for the government to provide clarification on several matters regarding the dam, including what the project is actually for, who will buy the electricity, costs, tenders and financing.

"The Malaysian people have a right to know exactly the basis for the decisions about Bakun - after all, we will be paying for it for years and years to come.

"Sarawak does not need the electricity, so who is going to buy it? Why should the Malaysian consumer be asked to pay for a project which makes no economic sense, let alone social or environmental sense?" they asked.

A recent Business Times report said that the government was set to revive the project, estimated to cost RM20 billion.

The power-generating project deep in the jungles of Sarawak was shelved in the wake of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, and the government is expected to turn to local and international bonds to fund the dam.

The report also said that a government agency has called for bids to build the dam and to manufacture and lay an undersea cable linking the dam to Peninsular Malaysia, which could take up almost two-thirds of the total estimated cost.

It added that the undersea cable, which involves state-of-the-art technology, will be manufactured locally.

The government has earlier paid almost RM1 billion to the original builder, Ekran Bhd, as "compensation" for work done after the project was shelved.

10,000 resettled

The project has also been criticised for its social and environmental impact. The Bakun resettlement scheme affected nearly 10,000 indigenous people who originally lived in the catchment area and beyond.

The dam is expected to take about seven to eight years to be fully completed and will have a capacity of 2,400 megawatt, far beyond the current demand of 500 megawatt in Sabah and Sarawak.