bakun

Tuesday March 13

Help us get dam sub-contracts: Bakun bankrupts
Tony Thien

1:53pm, Tue: When a leading Orang Ulu community leader went public on Thursday and raised some issues connected to the Bakun hydro-electric project that had stalled and stopped in 1998, it must have created a lot of red faces in the government and sent many politicians scurrying around looking for some answers.

In its bold headline, Sarawak's latest English daily Malaysia Today summed up former state minister Nyipa Bato's comments clearly: ‘Help The Bakun Bankrupts: Halted project made 2,000 bankrupts, not 200 millionaires’.

It would not be difficult to figure out who would be quick to capitalise on this in the forthcoming Sarawak state elections.

Ironically, Nyipa Bato, a Kayan from the Belaga area, is the father-in-law of the Minister of Social Development and Urbanisation, Dr James Masing, who also happens to be chairman of the Bakun Trust Fund (BTF). Nyipa is chairman of the Bakun Hydro-electric Development Committee (BDC), a private group set up years ago to gather Orang Ulu entrepreneurs together to make a bid for the many contract works in Bakun.

Millionaires lure

When the original RM13.4 billion Bakun dam stalled and work stopped, many of these Orang Ulu entrepreneurs found themselves greatly in debt to banks and finance companies over the purchase of heavy machinery and plants. One man was said to have signed guarantees for close to RM80 million.

They had earlier apparently heeded the government's call to take advantage of the new opportunities for making money and had thus made all the necessary preparations and investments. They had clearly been lured by politicians' claim that the Bakun dam, once implemented, would create at least 200 millionaires.

Now many of them are in dire straits, unable to service loans, and many have been declared bankrupts. Nyipa Bato's latest appeal is for the government to do something to help these people by distributing contracts to the 32 companies that have been set up under the auspices of BDC once work in Bakun resumes on a large scale

At a press conference in Kuching to which only several newspapers were invited, the BDC chairman asked the government to form a committee to urgently look into ways of helping the Orang Ulu and to make sure they would not again be left out as the last time.

Nyipa also asked the Bakun Hydro-electric Corporation Bhd (BHEC) to make good on its promise, without delay, to donate RM5 million to the Bakun Trust Fund (BTF). Ekran Bhd boss Ting Pek Khing had promised to make the BHEC donation when he took over the project.

Dr James Masing in his capacity as BTF chairman had also repeatedly asked for the donation to be paid, on top of the RM10 million that the federal and state governments had already given to help with the education of Orang Ulu children.

Foreign expertise

Energy, Telecommunications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie made a special flight to Kuching last weekend "to give local journalists the opportunity to raise questions concerning the revived Bakun project" after the federal government's earlier announcement in Kuala Lumpur.

According to Moggie, the project which would now cost a little less at around RM9 billion, although its generating capacity would remain at 2400 megawatts. The undersea cables would no longer be part of it and the project would be divided into three components - dam construction, mechanical engineering works (purchase and installation of turbines and other equipment) and overhead transmission lines.

He said the dam construction work would go largely to locals while foreign expertise would be needed for the other two components, namely, the purchase and installation of the generating equipment and the transmission lines to carry power to different parts of Borneo where it is required.

The statement had prompted BDC officials to go public last week with a statement which is seen basically as pointing out to the government the dire financial straits facing many Orang Ulu entrepreneurs after the project was last stopped and why the government should now make sure they do something to help these people.

Serious repercussions

The statement, coming as it did so close to the state elections, has clearly caused a lot of red faces, and put a great deal of pressure on the authorities about doing something. Failure to address the issue could cost the Barisan Nasional votes - something which it would want to avoid, especially in areas where the opposition is seen to be making good grounds.

According to observers, Bakun could be a major issue for the BN government to decide when the elections are to be held.

"If they don't handle this one well, it could have serious repercussions in a lot of areas," according to one political observer.

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TONY THIEN is a freelance journalist based in Kuching.

Wednesday March 7

Bakun dam: Nasty shock in store for consumers
Kua Kia Soong

2:58pm, Wed: Malaysians who are all smarting from the announcement of the 50 to 100 percent increase in water tariffs even before the Sungai Selangor dam is ready, should wake up to what’s in store for them in electricity tariffs when the Bakun project gets going.

Malaysian consumers should be reminded that we have already paid nearly RM1 billion to the failed businessmen who the Malaysian government told us earlier were capable of handling the Bakun dam project without public money.

Our EPF has also thrown good money down the drain by providing soft loans to these failed Bakun contractors. The worst dividends by EPF since the 1970s can be attributed to these generous soft loans to failed businessmen as well as dubious flings on the stock market.

Malaysian consumers should ask these points of the Bakun project:

Where will the money come from?

If the Sg Selangor dam project is anything to go by, we see that Puncak Niaga has pulled out of the project and Gamuda is having problems with their road projects as well. Very soon the main contractor will have to be bailed out and the government will explain that theirs is an “essential service”.

Although the government claims that the cost of the Bakun project has been cut to less than RM10 billion, international financiers reckon that the cost is closer to RM20 billion. Based on the previous cost breakdown of the Bakun project, the submarine cables made up two-thirds of the total cost. The government now says that, without the cables, the new dam project alone will cut the cost by only one-third. Malaysian consumers should demand an explanation.

The original justification by the government for the Bakun project - that no government funds would be involved - has been violated. We’ve been told that the project will proceed in stages. What is likely to happen, as with many other such projects, is that these contracts will be farmed out to foreign contractors.

Questioning the costs

Foreign contractors are famously expensive and not necessarily very competent. The British House of Commons Select Committee Report on the Pergau project in Kelantan, another costly dam, concluded that:

“Pergau, at the higher price of Ł397 million (RM2.2 billion), would be ‘a very bad buy’ and a burden on Malaysian consumers.” (UK National Audit Office, London, Oct 22, 1993)

The contractor for the Pergau dam was Balfour Beatty/Cementation International (See footnote).

On Dec 17, 1990, I raised the scandal of Malaysian consumers having to pay RM1 billion for seven gas turbines at Paka when they should have only cost RM500 million. I have also questioned the cost of the two treatment plants charged by Splash in the Sungai Selangor project, i.e. RM900 million, when they should only cost half that sum. The list goes on ad nauseum.

Our local contractors who get the concessions invariably farm them out to foreign contractors. But these foreign contractors are not necessarily competent. Dong Ah, the South Korean company handling the diversion tunnels at Bakun, is responsible for the collapse of the Songsu bridge in Seoul a few years ago.

Lahmeyer, a consultant in the last Bakun project, was involved in the Chixoy hydroelectric plant at Guatemala, while Harza, another consultant in the last Bakun project, was linked to the problems of the Tarbela dam in Pakistan.

Malaysian consumers should also ask: If the government cannot properly maintain the two dams at Cameron Highlands and Kenyir, which are plagued by heavy siltation and hyacinth proliferation, how are they going to be able to handle the Bakun dam which will be even more prone to soil erosion and siltation?

Tell us the impending electricity tariffs now

The government is the regulator of electricity in the country and should tell consumers the tariffs that will be charged in the near future when the Bakun project gets going. The estimate must be calculated and electricity tariffs must not be sprung on to consumers in the way the water tariffs have been sprung on us recently.

Under the last Bakun project, Ekran was going to sell Bakun power at more than 18 sen when the other independent power producers are already selling at the astronomical 15.5 sen to Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), whose production cost was only 9 sen! If hydro-production is supposed to be so efficient, why should Bakun energy cost so much?

To be fair to consumers, there should be established a Utilities Commission in the country since consumers are at the mercy of highway toll, water and electricity monopolies. To justify tariff increases, there should be public audits of these contractors and concessionaires. As it is, consumers are not compensated when there are so many fiascos involving water and power cuts, muddy water or power surges.

As for the dam projects, there must be comfort guarantees for consumers and downstream residents in the event of a dam collapse or diversion tunnel collapse. Can we sue? Judging by the course of the Highland Towers collapse, that redress is not straightforward.

Consumers demand transparency

Based on the record of the Selangor and Sarawak state governments, they cannot be trusted with costs nor safety because of conflict of interests. The involvement of the children of the Sarawak chief minister in the Bakun project is well known. The fact-finding mission to the resettlement scheme at Sungai Asap to which the Bakun indigenous peoples have been displaced, has uncovered the scandal that they were moved there even when the state government agency had failed to obtain a certificate of fitness for the scheme.

So is the involvement of KDEB, the Selangor state government’s subsidiary in the Sg Selangor dam project. Thus far, the emergency response plans of the Selangor and Bakun dams have not been made known to the residents downstream. I have questioned the adequacy of soil tests done on the reservoir site of the Sg Selangor dam and reiterate my call to the federal government to verify these tests.

Consumers deserve a responsible National Energy Policy

The manner in which the Bakun dam has been justified - from the original 2,400MW with submarine cable to West Malaysia, to a downscaled 500MW dam, now back to 2,400MW without submarine cable - smacks of very irresponsible policy making. Almost certainly, no serious attempt has been made to justify the project in terms of energy needs and supply.

The original submarine cables were justified by the claim that Bakun would be supplying West Malaysia. Now we are told that the surplus energy will be used instead for Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei and Kalimantan. Has there been a strong commitment from Brunei and Indonesia or are we just hoping there will be a demand in the future? There is no reason why Indonesia should want our energy when they have access to cheap waxy crude in Kalimantan.

If this homework has not yet been done by the Malaysian government, it is very irresponsible planning and Malaysian consumers will be paying for this folly in the near future.

I have pointed out in my 1996 publication, Malaysia’s Energy Crisis: The Real Issues that the problem with the Malaysian energy industry is one of mismanagement. How else do we justify more than 10,000 power breakdowns a year when there is a reserve margin of more than 50 percent? There is also a problem of wrong priorities in favour of independent power producers. This has resulted in a totally irresponsible policy that encourages electricity consumption in order to keep TNB’s profit margin healthy rather than encouraging energy conservation.

A responsible National Energy Policy should first produce an energy needs inventory giving reliable data on production and use by domestic and industrial sources, encouraging energy savings and more renewable sources of energy production.

There are other options to trying to be the energy super producer of the region and screaming the Ah-Q-esque ‘Malaysia Boleh! We can try to be an energy supermarket instead by relying on cheap Burmese gas, cheap waxy crude from Kalimantan and also cheap power from Thailand. All this cheap power can help to fuel the much talked-about Asean grid.

Whatever happened to the much-touted ‘paradigm shift’ by our nation’s leaders?

Footnote

The building of the hydroelectric dam on the Pergau River in Kelantan began in 1991, partly with funds from the UK foreign aid budget. Concurrently, the Malaysian government bought around Ł1 billion (RM5.8 billion) worth of arms from the UK. The suggested linkage of arms deals to aid become the subject of a UK government enquiry from March 1994.

In November 1994 a British High Court ruled as illegal British foreign secretary Douglas Hurd's allocation of Ł234 million (RM1.4 billion) towards the funding of the dam, on the grounds that it was not of economic or humanitarian benefit to the Malaysian people. The dam is the largest aid project ever financed by the UK and the contract was given to British companies Balfour Beatty/Cementation International.

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DR KUA KIA SOONG is a director of Suaram, a non-governmental organisation.

Saturday March 3

Bakun: Billion ringgit political fantasy fancy
WORLDVIEW
Harun Rashid

3:25pm, Sat: The more civilised countries of the world have enlightened leadership. Important decisions are discussed and debated, to arrive at the best and highest use of the available resources of the country.

Decisions which require judgement, as in the allocation of funds for large projects, require maturity, education and intelligence. Civilised countries have institutions in place which ensure that major expenditures will also receive thorough scrutiny by the taxpayers. In some countries all funding must originate with the elected representatives of the people.

In Kuala Lumpur there is a federal parliament building. Its presence suggests there are elected representatives thereabout, carrying on parliamentary functions. It is a phantom and a farce. The parliament does not control the government. The prime minister controls the government. The parliament building is not a factor in Malaysian affairs. Malaysia is not a democracy. It has a third rate, third world leadership.

The existence of a parliament is something of a charade, shallowly supported, suggesting proposed projects are perused with perspicacity, and passed into law only after prolonged, prudent parlay and palaver by prepared parliamentarians. Only the presence of lively opposition members with hammering questions keeps the Umno-BN seat-sitters awake, if not alert.

In reality, Malaysia has a cabinet of ministers who make all decisions, informed of the prime minister's wishes. The cabinet is not a deliberative body. They do not put their always unanimous decisions to a vote of the parliament. That is considered a mere waste of time. Cabinet decisions are announced as law to be placed in the codes, immediately effective. Only the routine pronouncements of ministers make swifter law.

The cabinet ministers are chosen by the prime minister, and serve at his pleasure. Choreography is essential. Mental dexterity is essential in dodging journalist's questions. Education in ethics is a negative, as is sensitivity to veracity. As with federal court judge appointments, literacy ranks below leg-licking loyalty. One must assume a sense of humor is operative, as cabinet activities and decisions are often announced in an atmosphere of joviality and levity. The ministers enjoy spending the public's money.

Fresh bullion

This week the cabinet announced that the stalled Bakun Dam project is to be kick-started to life. The idea is to bail the millions now buried by bringing fresh bullion to the bargain, in the amount of RM9 billion. This is only a preliminary estimate of final costs, the customary procedure in Malaysian mega-projects.

The old estimate, however, was higher. It has been reduced by eliminating expensive submarine cables which were to deliver excess power generated across the South China Sea to peninsular Malaysia. The excess generating capacity is now to remain on standby in Borneo fueling future development.

In a previous column (Watery problem for Bakun power, Jan 16, 2001), the technical feasibility of the submarine cables was questioned, and the elimination appears a tardy acknowledgment of the tethers of technology. All power is now to be distributed within the island of Borneo.

But Borneo has no desperate need for such expensive electrical power, nor for water. The Bakun dam is thus another field-of-dreams megaproject providing power well beyond any realistic requirement. The finance minister says he has found the money, to be supplied by a foreign fund. Asked if it is in hand, he hesitates. "We are still talking," he says.

Election time largesse

Given the present investment climate, there is unlikely to be any foreign fund willing to support this environmental disaster. The necessary economic fundamentals are full of fault. Annual interest at today's rates would be around RM1 billion, which the government cannot afford. The sale of electricity in Borneo cannot generate this large sum, even if demand should increase significantly.

Malaysia has many serious problems, but the supply of electricity for Borneo is not one of them. One thus seeks another reason the cabinet announces its decision at this time. The more suspicious is the coming state elections in Sarawak. Election time largesse is expected, but a dam is different, offering mega-novelty. In addition to routine gifts ... paved roads, electricity, water, bicycles, sarongs and coconut fetching monkeys ... one may now add the jobs and subcontracts a revived Bakun dam project promises.

A second reason is the dire shortage of US dollars Malaysia needs to stave off collapse of the economy. Recently a government agency was caught trying to foist fake bonds worth US$5 billion on the London banks as collateral for a loan. Lately the prime minister has been pushing a variation of the Robin Hood story to twist money out of "the rich countries".

Now this large project is to be funded by the foreign bond market. Repayment is for later, when all present parties are safe in retirement retreats free from the nuisance of extradition. If this is the game, it is certainly an obvious one, and has poor prospects.

Foreign funds

If it is not to be dismissed as just another hollow pre-election promise, the finance minister must name a specific source for the foreign funds. If he cannot, there can be nothing further of substance. The tacit admission that the submarine cables were always fictional posits the present policy as prelude to further phantasms of political fancy.

In the Malaysian parody of democratic government, the cabinet lacks prudence. In this affair they appear again dangling, dancing and prancing in a puppet parade, the all-powerful prime minister holding their strings.

While this basket of Bakun bread is baking, the country of Malaysia is burning.

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HARUN RASHID is a scientist avidly interested in the application of Islamic principles in international affairs. The promotion of goodwill through civilisational dialogue motivates his writing. His Worldview column is a personal analysis of Malaysian affairs from a global perspective.

Monday March 5

Making the best of an unwanted dam
Tony Thien

2:10pm, Mon: So much has been said by so many about the wisdom or otherwise in the government’s decision to revive the billion-dollar hydro-electricity project at Bakun. But exactly how does the ordinary men in the street, say, in Kuching, Sibu, Miri and Bintulu feel about it? Does Sarawak, and for that matter Malaysia, really need a gigantic-sized hydro-electricity dam? Indeed, do we need one at all?

Before anything else, it must be said that the issue is, firstly, about electricity and whether a hydro dam of 2,400 megawatts capacity that is smacked right in the heart of Sarawak's rainforest areas, where there live some 10,000 indigenous people, is the right way to go about it.

Over the years, even long before the idea became a reality when Ekran started work on it only to leave it unfinished afterwards and the federal government had to take it back, there was already strong opposition to it from environmental groups.

The authorities on their part justified the start of work by obtaining some kind of a green light from an environmental impact assessment study undertaken by University Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), among others.

Much money has poured in to clear the site, to get the South Korean construction firm Dong Ah to build the diversion tunnels, and to get the initial phase of the project off the ground before the move to the next but much bigger phase (the civil and engineering work on the dam proper).

Much money, too, has been spent not only on opening up a new road from Bintulu to the Bakun site but also in resettling some 10,000 people who had been living in longhouses in and around the area into new sites. The new homes together with other amenities are supposed to offer something much better in life for them, and there are supposed to be plenty of opportunities for new jobs and for making money from new ventures.

The question is whether such expectations have been or are being fulfilled? The authorities of course can only expect trouble if the reality has fallen short of expectations.

To be fair, many families have become extremely well-to-do because of compensation money. To be fair also, only those who are dissatisfied with the quantum and/or are still not getting anything by way of financial compensation from the Land & Survey Department because of one reason or another cannot be expected to be happy at all.

Even among the indigenous groups, some who felt they could have made more but did not from some of the Bakun-related projects are naturally not happy. They speak their minds quite loudly, and through various non-governmental groups they have made their views known both within and outside the country.

But what about the ordinary Sarawakians who live in the towns in Sarawak who one day may be asked to shoulder the cost, directly or indirectly, if for some reason the billion-dollar Bakun project did not bring the results as originally expected?

Most of them were probably puzzled at the international outcry from opposition and environmental groups that first greeted the announcement on Bakun years ago before it was built or when it was under construction. But if at all there was some inclination of interest in the future of such a project they would only be interested to know where all that power is going or who is going to really buy them.

Original size

That question was of course answered then when the government said an undersea cable was going to be built to bring much of the Bakun electricity to Peninsular Malaysia. The attitude then was, "OK, if you're going to spend so much money and can sell all that power, that should be all right."

But it is different now. The federal government which has spent more than RM1 billion in taking over the project and will now have to find something like RM9 billion or more to complete the project according to the original size, has decided that the power is not now going to the peninsular after all.

This has, of course, not come as much of a surprise as the prototype technology to carry the power via undersea cable over such long distances and through international waters remains basically untested.

Can Bakun dam, when it is eventually completed in, say, six years' time be able to see that much of its power will find the market? Even though conditions in Indonesian Kalimantan presently may not be favourable for investment not only because of the recent human carnage but also because there is virtually a complete absence of some basic infrastructure, the situation may or will change then.

But Indonesian Kalimantan is not without its own hydro-electricity dam. There is one in South Kalimantan - it was built in the 1960s with the help of the then Soviet Union. I visited the dam in 1966 after Confrontasi officially ended. It supplies power to homes and factories in and around Bandjermasin, capital of South Kalimantan.

Most industries (mainly wood-based and palm oil) across the border are found only in and around cities or towns and are too far perhaps for power to be transmitted by overhead lines from Bakun.

This leaves Bakun with Sarawak itself, Sabah and possibly Brunei. It will be more realistic to suggest that Bakun will eventually supply to the Sarawak and Sabah market, if only because Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) is now running the power utility board in Sabah.

Sarawak now consumes about a little shy under 700 megawatts, and assuming that the annual growth is around 10 percent, that means by the time Bakun is completed the total consumption of the state will be a little less than 1,200 megawatts.

Present generating capacity using hydro (Batang Ai), diesel, coal and gas from the various stations throughout the state is around 800 megawatts, and there are plans to increase this capacity by another 100 megawatts by next year.

This means with Bakun's 2,400 megawatts (actual generation will be much less, maybe around 1,700 to 1,800 megawatts allowing for several factors, including loss and rainfall conditions), there will nevertheless be a huge excess of power. However, when officials announced Bakun would be revived recently according to its original size, they also said production of power would be phased according to requirements.

No choice

What this means is that even when it is 100 percent completed, say, at the scheduled time, or earlier, it would not be operating at full capacity. Critics would naturally ask, "Why then have to plan and build such a big hydro power plant?"

This is more of a case that the government really has no choice having designed the hydro dam in that scale and having spent so much already on the initial construction phase, the resettlement and other related infrastructure such as roads.

There is going to be a lot of power available, and the Sarawak government would clearly have to tell the federal government that it is going to be necessary to site some energy-intensive industries. One such industry that has been talked about and that is certain to be opposed again by environmental groups is the proposed aluminium ore manufacturing plant.

If and when such a plant is finally confirmed there will be a need too to build another port in Bintulu for bulk carriers. Original estimates for such a port run into a couple of billion ringgit.

Sarawak is rich in natural and mineral resources, and planning for a power bank of some 3,000 megawatts by the end of the decade does not seem to be overly ambitious. Ordinary Sarawakians are well aware how the spin-off effects from the resumption in the dam building works will benefit people.

Many contractors and sub-contractors got their hands badly burnt the last time when they invested in the first place for the Bakun project. Perhaps these people should be given another chance, at least to recoup some of their losses and to make some money.

Many local contractors have learned from the lessons and will be very careful because they are not likely to plunge head-on into new deals unless they are certain of the main contractor's sound financial position and integrity.

"It is only right and proper that there should be an open system for bidding for the Bakun project and that only international contractors with good and proven track records should be invited to put in their bids," according to a local engineering consultant.

"We don't want to have to go through what we did in the past."

Open tender

Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Dr George Chan had made it known that the state government would like the project to be put up for open international tender in an open and transparent basis.

While most people accept that following the federal cabinet's decision that work will go ahead in Bakun to build a 2,400-megawatt hydro electricity dam, the authorites are being urged to look at the welfare and living conditions of the indigenous population who have resettled at Sungai Asap.

"Look at their requests for more space for farming, look at the conditions of the houses that have been built, look at the various amenities, and look at their other problems as well as needs," a local native inhabitant told malaysiakini recently.

"It is not enough just to offer and make compensation for their lands, to build new longhouses, some schools and clinics," he said. " In life they need more than that. Foremost, when jobs are available priority must be given to locals. This applies to big and small contract works."

A local environmentalist said since Bakun is definitely going ahead, it may not be enough just to rely on the Department of Environment and/or the Sarawak Natural Resources and Environment Board to monitor the situation at all times. "This is because they are largely seen as too close to the powers-that-be and may have some vested interests."

"It is better for funds to be set aside to get independent monitoring groups to carry out a regular audit so that when work gets underway in a big scale locals with the calibre and education can also be involved in discussions on key decisions concerning the protection of the environment."

He suggested that the government should be prepared to be transparent and accountable at all times in order to minimise disruptions or complaints and to address environment-related issues that might crop from time to time before, during and after the implementation of this hydro power plant in central Sarawak.

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TONY THIEN is a freelance writer based in Kuching.

Friday March 2

Bakun dam unnecessary, says activist
Leong Kar Yen

7:50pm, Fri: The building of the multi-billion ringgit Bakun hydro-electric dam in Sarawak may not be necessary as there are alternative sources of energy in both Sabah and Sarawak, according to a community-based consultancy firm based in the state.

“I do not think that we need so much power as we have alternative sources of energy. We have coal mines and also other hydro-electric projects and I think in the not to far future other more renewable energy sources would be available,” said Ideal Time coordinator Wong Meng Chu.

On Wednesday, Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie announced that the Bakun dam project would be revived with an estimated cost of between RM5 billion and RM6 billion, half the original cost of RM13 billion.

The revised plan does not include the installation of a costly 600km undersea cable to supply electricity to the peninsula following the decision to scrap that part of the plan.

However according to The Star daily today, Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin had announced that the cost of the dam would be RM9 billion.

Efforts to contact both Moggie and the ministry’s parliamentary secretary Chia Kwang Chye failed.

Cost to double

The Star also mentioned in a separate report that Sarawak-based conglomerate Cahya Mata Sarawak, whose acting group CEO is Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, stood to profit from the project. It added that the company was the sole producer of cement there.

When asked to comment on the cost of the project, Ideal Time’s Wong warned that it could rise above the ceiling price quoted by Moggie.

“If they go ahead with the project, it will cost double by the time it is completed,” he said.

When asked how long the dam would last, Wong said that the life span was definitely shorter than what was stated in its Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.

“Based on the EIA, the life span is 50 years, but on the upper stream of Bakun, timber has been taken and siltation is occurring at a fast pace, meaning that the earlier EIA is no longer accurate. The life span of the dam has shortened,” he said.

Meanwhile according to a former resident at Bakun, the project had cost him and his father their village, home and land.

“We were not given any kind of compensation and we were very angry but did not complain because we were afraid of losing in court,” Ismail Taja told malaysiakini in a telephone interview.

According to the 26-year-old kindergarten supervisor at the Miri-based Indigenous Peoples Development Centre (IPDC), his fellow villagers at Kampung Lemurung at Bakun were forcibly displaced.

“We were very afraid when they came (to evict us). The local authorities were there, as well as M-16 armed police personnel,” he added.

When he was evicted, he and his father, who is a highland padi farmer, were forced to abandon their 50-acre plot of land.

Disaster area

Coordinator for the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns, Colin Nicholas, when contacted said that the authorities had ‘bulldozed’ their way into the area.

“There is no need for the Bakun dam. The authorities have bulldozed their way into the community and they have clearly imposed their will on the people there despite many protests,’ he said.

Nicholas also warned of an environmental disaster occurring should anything go wrong with dam.

“The place would be a disaster area if anything should happen to the dam. There is also a need for governmental transparency in terms of the cost,” he said.

Raymond Apin, Borneo Research Institute programme officer was quoted yesterday as saying that the dam was expected to be built on an area which often experiences tremors from earthquakes originating in Sumatra or the Philippines.

“The tremors are destructive to the dam. If anything happens, the whole Rejang basin would be flooded,” he said.

Thursday March 1

Revived Bakun dam will not benefit local community
Susan Loone

6:10pm, Thu: The revival of the revised Bakun hydroelectric project by the government will only benefit certain individuals and not the local community, said a non-governmental organisation in Sarawak.

Borneo Research Institute programme officer Raymond Apin told malaysiakini today that studies have shown that the project is neither economically viable nor safe for the local community.

“It would be impossible to cover the cost as the revised project will no longer be supplying electricity to Peninsular Malaysia. The demand for electricity here is very low,” said Apin.

“Who will benefit from it all? Of course, it is the people who were given the privilege to handle the project,” he added.

Yesterday, Energy Minister Leo Moggie announced that the Bakun dam project would be revived with an estimated cost of between RM5 billion and RM6 billion, half that of the original cost of RM13 billion.

The revised plan does not include the installation of a costly 600km undersea cable to supply electricity to the peninsula.

According to Moggie, a government-owned company, the Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation, will take over from the previously aborted project. The original builder of the dam, Ekran, abandoned the project after the economic downturn a few years ago and was compensated by the government to the tune of RM500 million for “work already done”.

Moggie said that the Bakun dam project, which will start operations in 2005, was revised because higher demand for power is now expected in Sarawak, Sabah and other parts of Borneo in the next five years.

“We will implement construction of the dam to the full original height with a capacity of 2,400 megawatts, so it will be based on the original design,” he said.

Economically not viable

Apin said that apart from being economically not viable, the project brings many social problems as hundreds of illegal immigrants have crossed the border from the Philippines and Indonesia to do logging work at the dam site.

He added that the dam is also expected to be built on an area which often experiences tremors from earthquakes in Sumatra or Philippines, posing a great danger to the local community.

“The tremors are destructive to the dam. If anything happens, the whole Rejang basin would be flooded,” he added.

According to Apin, as many as 60 families who refused to resettle have yet to find proper homes as they were not compensated by the state government.

“Those who accepted the new settlements found themselves squeezed into very small land areas that are not cultivatable,” he added.

“In the new settlements, more space and better land conditions are reserved for plantation companies rather than the local community.”

Apin said that usable land is reserved for oil palm companies such as Shin Yang, Sam Ling and Ekran, and these companies expect the local community to work in their plantations though the people would rather grow food.

He reported that the housing provided in the settlements was not in accordance to that promised in the relocation plan, forcing villagers to move elsewhere.

The families affected are from the Long Geng, Kenyah and Long Bulan community. They were living in Longlawan (Paleiran) and Sang Anau, but have now moved up to Koyan and Asap.

The Long Jawit community from Batu Kalo refused to move with them and found alternative housing in Bukau. They are staying on with the full knowledge that they would have to be evicted one day because the land now belonged to the state government.

Money politics

Meanwhile, human rights organisation Suaram director Dr Kua Kia Soong said the government has done a great injustice to the people of Sarawak by reviving the Bakun dam project despite protests by many concerned groups.

“The government is irresponsible on this and needs to explain to the people why so much money need to spend on a project which does not benefit the local community,” he told malaysiakini.

“They (government) have wasted enough of our money without proper planning. I understand the Employees Provident Fund had also been used for this project. The government needs to explain why,” he added.

“The dam, with a capacity of 2,400 megawatts, is unjustified since the original amount needed is 500 megawatts for Sabah and Sarawak. This shows that the government has not done enough planning.”

He added that Indonesia’s Kalimantan produce cheaper energy and it would be doubtful that there will be demand for electricity generated by Bakun.

DAP chairman Lim Kit Siang said that it is clear that the announcement of the cabinet to revive the project is to influence the impending Sarawak state general elections.

“They (Barisan Nasional) are hoping to win votes by promising mega-development projects for the state - another example of money politics on the grand scale,” said the opposition leader.