ENVIRONMENT-MALAYSIA: Big Questions Over Giant Dam Project (1) An Inter Press Service Feature
KUALA LUMPUR, Dic 02 (IPS) - Malaysia's mammoth Bakun Dam has yet to rise amid the lush greenery of eastern state of Sarawak but it has already chalked up a number of firsts.
It is the country's largest hydroelectric scheme, its biggest privatisation project. Bakun is also South-east Asia's largest dam and will put in place the world's longest undersea power cable.
The dam is to secure booming Malaysia's energy needs into the next century. But the size of the dam project, which will flood a 700-sq km area as big as Singapore, does not impress critics. They worry about the effects of tinkering with nature on a massive scale and the reasons why the government keenly pushes the project.
Doubts are not eased by the secrecy that surrounds much of it. Gurmit Singh, adviser to Malaysia's Environmental Protection Society, says environmentalists have little access to detailed data about the dam, including eight studies on it.
"We were told the studies are covered by the official secrets act. But if the project is really so good, why not release them? We think something funny is going on," Singh says.
The Bakun Dam project was resurrected by the government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in September 1993, 10 years after it scrapped the idea amid recession and widespread protests.
In January this year, Mahathir said the 5.9 billion-dollar Bakun project would be undertaken by Ekran, headed by Sarawak-based magnate Ting Pek Khiing. In early November, Mahathir looked on as Ting submitted the Bakun blueprints ahead of schedule.
Environmental objections to 210-meter high dam, which will be twice as tall as Egypt's Aswan Dam, stem from fears it would harm the ecosystem, damage habitat for flora and fauna, lead to increased saline intrusion and disrupt farming practices.
There are concerns that pressure from the weight of impounded water may trigger tremors. Dam failures have been caused by overtopping due to inadequate spillway capacity, and the European Ecological Action Group worries about new dams built in countries with little or no experience with them.
The dam -- which can produce up to 2,400 megawatts of energy and account for 25 percent of Malaysia's power -- will displace some 8,500 native Orang Ulu people in 15 villages. They will be resettled in a 50,000 hectare area and compensated for lost burial grounds, lands and crops.
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