The opposition coalition today expressed deep concern on the cabinet's decision to revive the Bakun hydro-electric dam project on its original scale, adding that there is no justification at all for such a huge dam.

Leaders of Barisan Alternatif's four component parties outlined several reasons for their concern in a joint statement released today.

They said that there is no demand in Sabah and Sarawak for the 2,400 megawatts of electricity that the dam can generate and the life-span of the dam may not even reach the 50 years projected earlier as siltation was occurring at a rapid rate.

They added that the miserable living conditions of the indigenous people who were resettled suggest that the project has also not benefited the local community.

"Why the cabinet decided to revive the project rather than build a smaller dam as proposed by Tenaga Nasional is a mystery.

"BA is of the view that the 500 megawatt dam that Tenaga had proposed in 1999 is economically and ecologically more feasible," they said.

They added that a smaller but more efficient dam would also have a 'multiplier effect' upon the local economy as a lot of economic activities will proliferate.

"BA would like to see small-time business people in the Bakun area in particular benefit from these economic activities.

"It would be a pity if all the goodies are channelled to big conglomerates linked to powerful Sarawak politicians," they said.

Discrepancy

There have been discrepant projections of the cost of the revived project that will not include the initial plan to install a costly 600km undersea cable to supply electricity to the peninsula.

Last Wednesday, Energy, Communications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie announced the cost to be between RM5 billion and RM6 billion, half the original cost of RM13 billion.

However, a few days later, Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin put it at RM9 billion. There has been no clarification as to why there is a discrepancy of a few billion ringgit between the two ministers' calculations.

Sarawak-based conglomerate Cahya Mata Sarawak, whose acting group chief executive officer is Sulaiman Abdul Rahman Taib, a son of the state's Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, stands to profit from the project as it is the sole producer of cement there.

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