Dams for the future, damn the past

MNS has lost her fangs!!!! Is this what becoming of our MNS now? I hope the president speaks for himself, and not me (as MNS member).

"It must have been galling for SAM when another NGO, Malaysian Nature Society's president, waded in to condemn the credibility of certain green groups, similar to SAM".

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Monday, 04 January 2010
malaysianmirror.com
Mariam Mokhtar

WHEN I first flew over Sarawak, about two decades ago, the tree-tops, from above, looked like a carpet of tempting green broccoli.

Today, the landscape resembles a scarred battleground. Deep troughs, gouged out of the land, expose red-orange soil. Logging activities scatter trees like ten-pins. Green land masses stretching to the horizon, display spiral patterns from the regimented planting of only one type of tree. Oil palm has displaced the native species.

Back then, the bus journey from Miri to Batu Niah, was an exciting bumpy ride with occasional hair-raising bends, steep gradients or deep ravines on either side of the road. Our travelling companions were the people and their livestock, living along the route.

Today, the pan-Borneo highway is a major artery and channels development into the countryside. Nevertheless, there are reports that this major road is a dirt track in places. Bad lighting, terrible communication systems and highway robberies are common. So much for development!

My first visit to a longhouse then, was a two-hour trek along a belian walkway. We gathered ferns and fresh-water snails, en-route for dinner. Food, from nature’s bounty, was plentiful.

Our arrival was greeted with much gaiety. When my host presented me with a chicken to slaughter, I didn’t know which was more petrified – the squawking chicken or me, with the knife that was placed in my hands. I was touched by the Ibans’ kind gestures and concern over my religious dietary obligations.

Today, the reality is depressing

The following morning, we washed in the clear, fast flowing river. The water was teeming with life, and later, we feasted on fish and fruits, harvested from the river-bank. We hurried quietly but respectfully past sacred burial grounds before checking the ripening golden crop in the nearby padi fields.

Today, the reality is depressing.

Various indigenous people report that some river waters are murky - the colour of milo. Children break out in a rash after playing in the water. It is also alleged that logging companies tear down their prized fruit trees. Others have claimed that padi-growing areas are ear-marked for buildings, large-scale agriculture or industry. Hunting has become increasingly difficult. With their habitat fragmented and little to feed on, deer, wild boar, bear and squirrels migrate to other distant territories or perish altogether.

But the latest revelation by James Masing, the Rural Development Minister, is as welcome as the tolling of a death-knell.

Bakun hasn’t even got off the ground, yet a further twelve mega-dams have been proposed.

And, as if acting in concert, the director of the Registrar of Societies (ROS) has threatened Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) with deregistration.

This must be pure fantasy. No formal complaint has been made against SAM. Nor has it failed to submit its annual report, which we are told is a common cause for deregistration.

It must have been galling for SAM when another NGO, Malaysian Nature Society's president, waded in to condemn the credibility of certain green groups, similar to SAM.

He is correct to state that NGOs like Greenpeace and Oxfam have been criticised in the west. Nevertheless, he must appreciate that NGOs play a vital role here, by creating awareness, engaging public support and collecting voluntary contributions. They also sometimes assist the government in delivering goods and services to needy areas.

The methods used by different NGOs vary. Some act as lobbyists or conduct programs and activities. Others provide skills and equipment. Or they investigate and document human rights violations and provide legal assistance to victims of human rights abuses. A few offer specialised technical products and services to support existing projects.

Respect those who help others

It is well documented that sections of our community lack the means and methods to request and obtain aid. Some have difficulty highlighting issues about religion, health, environmental or humanitarian needs.

Thus SAM, like the other NGOs in Malaysia, is only acting on behalf of beleaguered communities. They provide the mouthpiece and they are the link between the aggrieved party, the government, the companies involved and the wider world.

Consequently, involvement in activities against commercial logging, plantation development and dam construction, is unavoidable.

Maybe it is this unwelcome assistance to people who would otherwise be helpless, that irks the Sarawak government and its ‘pseudo-agent’, ROS.

Ironically, the arm-twisting actions of ROS may backfire.

Subtle threats against SAM will only give greater coverage, wider worldwide publicity and increasing respect for the people who are exercising their rights.

ROS may have shown an unwelcome stroke of spiteful cunning, with a director who has demeaned his office with his remarks. This intimidation might even galvanise the indigenous people and unite the various NGOs.

So, how else can the indigenous people of Sarawak highlight their issues? Via politicians who magically reappear only before election time? Or politicians who will jeopardise their own self-interests when they address the problem? Or politicians who pussyfoot around the issues?

The people experience enough difficulty raising funds to reach the nearest hospital for medical aid, never mind the extra expense organising petitions to parliament or Putrajaya.

So, SAM has alerted us to the forced relocation, the pitiful compensation if any, and the ghastly goings-on that were once shielded from us, the blissfully ignorant Malaysian public.

SAM deals with people at the ground level. In doing so, it may have inadvertently exposed, the true extent of exploitation.

It is this revelation and the potential of further embarrassments that annoy the state and federal governments, ROS and the companies that are implicit in this terrible injustice.

Malaysians may be shocked by the sheer greed and dishonesty of the individuals and companies involved. But what is unpalatable is when ROS acts as a bully for the state.

Need to reconnect with ‘real’ people

Thus, it is disturbing when James Masing claims that these dams are the ‘masterplan’ to change the people for the better.
Politicians like him need to reconnect with ‘real’ people, who have ‘real’ concerns about their future. He cannot treat the indigenous people like the metal counters and title deeds of the Monopoly board game - to be moved around at the toss of a dice.

The people are demoralised and are sick of promises for change. Modernity has robbed them of their culture, traditions, history and heritage.

They want stability. They feel threatened by progress which leaves their elderly, vulnerable; their youth, disillusioned. They see benefits going to the fat-cats in government and industry. They watch in horror when their homes, ancestral lands, burial sites and livelihood are wrecked.

We shouldn’t expect James Masing and the other senior politicians to admit their damning role in the plight of the displaced people. Nor should we expect the companies to forego their commercial gains either.

How will we stop people living in fear (of their future), and restore their faith in governance?

Ironically, James Masing tried to placate the people with “we are not there to destroy them”. Sadly, his comments reeked of hypocrisy.

MARIAM MOKHTAR has a passion for people, places and plain speaking. Don't suffer fools gladly.

Dams, bio-fuel plantations cannot be classified "green energy": NGO

November 27, 2009
The Star
By STEPHEN THEN

MIRI: Hydro-electric dam projects and biofuel-plantation projects that uproot tribal folks from their ancestral homes must be de-listed from their ''green energy'' tags and classified as ''people-destructive and eco-unfriendly'' projects, said the latest report from Survival International, a global organisation involved in protecting tribal people.

The organisation, with its headquarters in London, wants the international community and governments to stop classifying these energy-production projects as ''green projects'' if these projects ruined the lives of native communities.

Survival International Director, Stephen Corry, in an email to The Star Friday, furnished a copy of the latest report entitled ''The Most Inconvenient Truth of All'' in which the RM9bil-Bakun Dam and the RM3bil Murum Dam projects in central Sarawak were cited as among these global projects that had harmed the indigenous people and the environment.

The report also criticised similar projects in places in Africa and other continents.

It said that from South America to Borneo, the native people and the environment were suffering more intensely compared to before because of the so-called green projects being implemented by governments and rich corporations.

''Bio-fuel is being promoted all over the world as the alternative green energy to fossil fuels. However, in the pretext of going green, the reverse is actually happening.

''From South America to Borneo, we are seeing the destruction of massive areas of jungles and the ruin of ancestral homes belonging to tens of thousands of tribal people.

''Hiding behind these global push to supposedly prevent climate change by reducing the use of fossil fuels, governments and giant companies are actually using them as excuses to grab land from the natives.

''Projects that victimise the people like this and that harm the environment cannot be promoted or marketed as green projects,'' said Corry.

The Survival International report also said that many of the so-called green fuel projects being implemented across the globe were merely excuses to make money at the expense of the tribal folks and the ecosystem.

Corry said that the world community must see through this hidden agenda.

''As usual, where money is concerned and vast profits are at stake, the indigenous people throughout the world are being swept aside,'' he charged.

The report called for a complete global relook of hydro-electric dam projects and biofuel projects because these projects were causing even more harm to the people and to the environment as compared to before.

The Bakun project in interior Belaga district is already 95percent completed. The flooding of the dam that measures the size of Singapore Island will start next year.

The Murum project, 70kms inland from Bakun, is just starting, with site-construction already in progress.

Court Grants Orang Asli Leave To Review Environment Department's Decision

October 30, 2009
Bernama.com

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 30 (Bernama) -- Twenty-seven Orang Asli were granted leave by the High Court here on Friday to seek a judicial review of the Department of Environment (DOE) director-general's decision to approve the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report for the Kelau Dam project in Raub, Pahang.

Justice Datuk Alizatul Khair Osman Khairuddin made the order in chambers after dismissing a preliminary objection by senior federal counsel Azizah Nawawi, of the DOE, who contended that the application was filed out of time.

Pendor Anger and 26 others, from the Senoi and Temuan indigenous tribe, filed the application at the High Court registry on Oct 9, 2007, naming the director-general of DOE and the Pahang and Malaysian governments as respondents.

They claimed that the land involved in the project was passed down to them by their ancestors and that it was where they find livelihood for their families.

They also claimed that the EIA report did not meet the DOE's Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines dan Environmental Impact Assessment Guidelines for Dams.

The applicants said the EIA report was doubtful as it failed to cover detailed and reasonable studies on the impact on wildlife as well as give data and enviromental assessment on the affected area.

They also said that they knew nothing about the EIA report which was approved by the government on April 24, 2001 until their counsel told them.

They want a declaration that the government, by approving the dam project, has breached its fiduciary duty to protect the Orang Asli, and costs and other reliefs deemed fit by the court.

The applicants were represented by counsel Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin.

-- BERNAMA

Another Great Loss of Biodiversity (Not 1 but 2 DAMned!)

More excuses to build more dams.

When they built Kenyir, they said it will last many many years.

Then they built Bakun, they said it can be exported to Peninsular Malaysia.

Now they want to build more dams (damned it) ..... and the motive?

Of course ....BALAK (timber) kepala otak hang!

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Oct 11, 2009
TNB plans to build two dams in Terengganu and Pahang
Bernama

KUALA TERENGGANU: Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) is planning to build two new hydroelectric dams, namely in Hulu Terengganu and Hulu Jelai in Pahang.

Its vice-president (Human Resources), Muhammad Razif Abdul Rahman, said the proposed dam in Hulu Terengganu would be built in Sungai Tembat and Sungai Puah with a 250megawatt (MW) capacity, while the one in Hulu Jelai would be built with a capacity of 372 MW.

While saying that it was too early to announce the estimated cost and width of the dams, Muhammad Razif, however, said that the projects would begin soon.

"Both dams will be built simultaneously and are expected to be ready by 2014," he told reporters at the Terengganulevel TNB Aidilfitri celebration, here Sunday.

He said, once completed, the dam in Hulu Terengganu would be the third in the state, after that of the Sultan Ismail Power Station in Paka and the Sultan Mahmud Power Station in Tasik Kenyir.

"The demand for power supply is not so high in Terengganu, probably just around 300 MW. We already have a power station in Paka, which has the capacity to generate 1,200 MW electricity, and another one in Tasik Kenyir with a capacity of 400 MW.

"We are connecting the two power stations to the national grid to ensure continuous supply of electricity nationwide," he said.

Muhammad Razif said the TNB had received the approval from the Terengganu Forestry Department to start the forest clearing work.

He also reiterated that the construction of the dams was vital to achieve the government's aspiration to diversify the sources of energy in the country. - Bernama

We are damned!

03 Oct 2009
By Hakim Joe
Source: http://mt.m2day.org/2008/content/view/27437/84/


Why would someone harness the power of moving liquid and transform it into a clean and usable energy? The answer is of course for the electricity that is utilized to operate the multitude of electrical and electronic devices that we have. Simple answer.

Now comes the harder question. Why would someone want to generate electricity through a giant hydroelectric plant in an area that does not demand that massive supply? Answer me that question and you can stop reading. (Admin answer: CORRUPTION!)


The Bakun Hydroelectric Plant (BHP) is located on the wrong side of the divide. The requirement for more energy emanates from the power-hungry residents of West Malaysia where flashing neon lights and air-conditioned shopping centres swallow them up by the megawatts, and not the East Malaysians where everything is rather subdued. How much electricity does one require to light up a longhouse anyway? (That was meant to be a joke…continue to vote BN and they will make certain that you people remain in longhouses watching Charlie Chaplin reruns on black and white television sets without a remote control in a congested room full of houseflies.)

Seriously though, even the West Malaysians have more than sufficient electrical energy to run all their electrical components simultaneously without having to rely on those generated by the BHP. In fact, we are drowned in it up to our nostrils that Tenaga Nasional had to payoff the Independent Power Producers (IPP) to stop their respective plants generating more electricity into the national power grid. So, why the urgent need for a hydroelectric plant capable of generating another 500 megawatts of electricity (originally 2,400MW), a plant so massive that it is only eclipsed by China’s Three Gorges Dam in Asia?

Even the original plan of rerouting the excess electricity back west through undersea cables was flawed. Yes, hydroelectric generated power is far cheaper and cleaner than the coal-fired or diesel-fired plants but when has the Malaysian government ever cared about the pollution levels in the country? (Even Petronas sells their cleaner and more expensive petroleum overseas and imports the cheaper high sulphur petroleum for use locally and the introduction of the environmental less-unfriendly RON95 was only done this year.) About the only time when they start caring is when their drivers and bodyguards find it hard to look past the windshield of their limousines.

Okay, so the West Malaysians do not require this clean energy here but what about the East Malaysians? Do they not deserve clean fresh air with their electricity? Well, of course they do but someone’s got to pollute the environment there and all the smokers and recalcitrant backyard dry leaves and rubbish burners are just not up to it, hence the intervention of the government.

To make up for cleaning the air through the production of clean hydroelectric energy (instead of coal-fired), Putrajaya in partnership with the Sarawak State Government has plans on the pipeline to retain the environmental status quo by developing a humungous pollution and toxic fumes (hydrogen fluoride, sulphur dioxide, tetrafluoromethane, hexafluoroethane, nitrogen dioxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter PM-10 and PM-2.5) generating, electricity devouring aluminium smelter within its borders, a really gigantic one judging by its proposed production capacity of a maximum of 1.5 million tons a year.

Ha! Ha! You guys over there really thought that you are going to enjoy a breath of clean air, eh? Well, think again!

Oh, by the way, the largest existing aluminium smelter being built in the world is the Emirates Aluminium (Emal) plant in Abu Dhabi, capable of producing 1.4 million tons a year when it becomes operational after 2010. When the Malaysian plant becomes operational, it will be the largest in the world – Malaysia Boleh! (A Heads of Agreement has been signed between Rio Tinto and Cahaya Mata Sarawak Berhad in 2007.) More on CMS later.

Before we start with the serious stuff, let us look at the damned dam. If anyone reading this article thinks that a dam lasts almost forever, think again. Hydroelectric plants are not considered a renewable plant where constant maintenance will keep it going perpetually. (The engineers might think that their magical skills are all that is required to keep the dam going on indefinitely but this is a hypothetical scenario as the oldest serving dam is only 110 years old.)

The water might still flow but the dam cannot be salvaged after its expected lifespan and require decommissioning. Similar to our Buatan Malaysia products, they tend to be problematic right past their expiry date. Concrete under constant pressure fails after a fixed period of time. Nothing lasts forever and even God does not build things to last forever.

The International Commission on Large Dams (ICOLD) predicts a lifespan of 100 years (under present engineering designs) for those that are not maintained at all and double that for those that are well-maintained. It goes without saying that these predictions are made with the clause that the dams exist in a perfect environment. The ICOLD tracks all large dams (over 100-meters tall) in the world and at least 300 have experienced accidents. These were not all catastrophic failures, but if you are an engineer in charge of building an enormous dam, you definitely want to give some thought to what can go wrong. Remember Murphy’s Law.

Even the World Bank is sceptical of such mega load-bearing structures that they had stopped financing it completely. Additionally, if you are a resident living downhill where the dam is situated, you must seriously want to consider the calibre of Mara graduates. (That was another joke! To all Mara graduates, “stay cool lah!”)

Maintaining a dam is not easy either. With such a massive structure and its corresponding parts, a lot of predetermined inspection periods must be conducted properly and diligently. The powerhouse equipment can and will suffer a breakdown, the spillways will erode, the steel pipes might crack, the valves will fail, the retaining concrete wall might also suffer a crack at the bottom, the water will silt up, the sluice gates might get jammed, and a hell of a lot of other things can happen like someone might do a 911 with a hijacked plane or Thor might have forgotten to wear his bifocals and accidentally strikes it repeatedly (with lightning). Additionally, did you know that the construction of a large dam can artificially cause earthquakes to happen in areas previously thought to be seismically inactive? (28 earthquakes were registered in Sabah and Sarawak in the period between 1965 and 1994, the highest being a 5.8 tremor in 1976.)

The most powerful artificially induced earthquake caused by the construction of a huge dam (over 100-meters in height) is thought to be the 6.5 tremor that had it epicentre directly under the 103-meter Koyna Dam reservoir in Maharashtra, Western India in 1967 which flattened the village of Koynanagar causing 180 deaths. There have been 24 dams which have induced earthquakes of magnitude 4.4 and above (in recorded history) and in 17 cases, the tremors occurred within three years of initial Impoundment of the water. The Bakun Dam is 205 meters high, over twice the 100-metre height regarded by dam experts as likely to trigger off seismic activities.

The two worst accidents happened in 1963 and 1975 in Italy and China respectively. A huge rock fall into the Vajont Dam reservoir in Italy sent an enormous splash of water over the top causing a tsunami more than 80 stories high, sweeping downstream and wiping out several villages causing the deaths of almost 2,000 people. Massive rainfalls (record 41.7 inch within 24 hours) caused the failure of the Banqiao Dam in China where millions were left homeless and a victim count exceeding 200,000. Altogether this 1-in-2,000 year chance flood caused 62 dams to fail in a domino effect where the accumulated water from one uphill dam crashes into the following dam and the accumulated water from both dams crashes into the third dam and so forth. Nothing to do with a lack of maintenance and the Banqiao Dam was designed to handle an additional 12 inch of rainfall a day (which was already an overkill) but the sedimentation caused by the rainfall choked the spillways. Overall, 15.738 billion tons of water was released triggering a 10km wide wave only 7 meters high rushing downhill at a speed of approximately 50km per hour and wiping out an area 55 kilometers long, 15 kilometers wide, and created temporary lakes as large as 12,000 square kilometers. BTW, the 1-in-2000 year deluge was caused by Super Typhoon Nina (T7503), the second deadliest tropical Pacific typhoon in history with winds up to 250km/h at its peak.

Okay, enough of the horror stories let us now look at the initial profits before construction starts. What? Oh yes, this is one of those rare construction projects that earns money from the onset. To facilitate the site being ready, the area surrounding the construction site must initially be cleared and that means timber. In fact, access roads leading to the site must be built and that means more timber as the BHP is located inside the virgin rainforest of Sarawak’s interior. Let us do a wee bit of math here – the shortest route between two points is a straight line but why settle for clearing only the trees that is in the way between these two points when one is able to maximise profits if the route takes us past the densest rainforest in the region? So, instead of clearing the forest between Point A and Point B, we can reroute it from Point A to Point C onwards to Point D and then to Point E before we make a sweeping curve back to Point B. The overall yield is estimated to be in the region of 12 million cubic meters of timber from the deforestation of 56,000 hectares of virgin rainforest. The harvest is estimated to be able to fetch RM1.2 billion in total (1995 estimates) of which a quarter was harvested.

Enough said. Let us look at the history of the BHP. Initially conceived in the early 60’s, it finally got the go-ahead in 1986 when TDM gave it the thumbs up (as opposed to the thumbs down given to Mohd Isa in the Bagan Pinang by-election) and preliminary studies were conducted to assess the feasibility of constructing a 205-meter high dam capable of producing 2,400MW of hydroelectric juice annually. This was at a time when Malaysia was slowly recovering from the 1985 recession and by 1990, the boasts of having the largest hydroelectric dam in Asia (China’s 3 Gorges Dam was not conceived yet) came back to haunt the Malaysian government as they were forced to shelf it due to the low demand for electricity and high cost of building it. Strike One.

As a stubborn man who can never accept no for an answer, TDM revived the US$5.2 billion “deal of the century” project again in September 1993 and awarded it to Ekran Berhad (without a public tender exercise) in 1994. (Ekran’s CEO’s wife is the now infamous “I don’t know what is projected cashflow” former PKA General Manager and PKFZ MD Datin O.C. Phang.) One of the major shareholders of Ekran is Rasip Harun. Who is he? Rasip is the business partner of Tun Daim Zainuddin (who happens to be the Finance Minister at that time). Coincidence? Rasip is also the partner of Robert Tan Hua Choon (another one of Daim’s business partners) who controlled Jasa Kita Sdn Bhd, a company involved in the Maika Telekoms share diversion. Remember Samy’s proxy company Clearway Sdn Bhd? Robert Tan’s driver (Baharuddin M. Arip) happened to be a director of that company. Rich driver indeed! (Probably comes to work in a Lamborghini.)

How did a Chinaman from Sarawak lay his hands on “the deal of the century”? TDM is after all no Cina Apek lover and his continuation of support for the NEP only serves to reinforce his ambition to see his cronies get enriched in government projects, and there are certainly more than enough of these people to serve his needs. Okay, one good deed deserves another and TDM is merely reciprocating a “debt of honour”.

The story goes like this. Ting Pek Khiing was a two-bit small time construction subcontractor picking up low-margin construction jobs in Sarawak but he had a reputation as the “Speed Demon” where no jobs are too complicated or too short a period to complete. His “never say die until you meet the God of Hades” attitude soon caught the eye of Emperor Abdul Taib Mahmud, and they soon found each others’ company “enriching”. Being a crafty Chinaman, he soon latched on to the Emperor’s two princes (Mahmud Abu Bekir and Sulaiman Abdul Rahman) and they formed a company seeking timber concessions from the Sarawak government. To Ting, it seemed like all his Christmas(es) have arrived together. On the other side of the horizon, TDM found himself in a pickle after sending out gilded invitations to the high and mighty of the international aerospace industry to kick off his inaugural international air show on Langkawi Island. No, there is nothing wrong with the air show except that the construction of the new convention resort is ambling along at such a pace that the invited guests might start fighting for the park benches after their arrival. The ever so helpful Taib knew of this and recommended Ting to TDM. Now, TDM does not suffer fools gladly and Ting’s “can do” motto was soon put to the test. Ting went on to slap together the remainder of the resort in a record breaking three months, saving TDM the embarrassment of ever having his invited guests sleep in the open, and earned himself the nickname of Ting Pek “Speed” Khiing. A star is born (no, not Barbara Streisand).

Ting, whose total knowledge about building a dam can probably fit on a single line on an A4 paper, hired Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) of Zurich and Companhia Brasileira de Projetos e Obras (CBPO) of Brazil as the contractors and formed a construction consortium consisting of Ekran Berhad, Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), the government of Sarawak, Sarawak Electricity Supply Corporation (Sesco), and Malaysia Mining Corporation Bhd (MMC) – Syed Mokhtar was bound to have some kind of involvement in TDM’s projects.

So, how does one go about building a dam? Well, first you need to clear the land, and I mean “clear the bloody land” and that includes any indigenous people living there. Wildlife? Get rid of them all. Foliage and vegetation? Clear them out. Man-made structures? Flatten them. Timber? Keep and sell them.

Negotiations soon started between the indigenous people and state government. The almost 9,000 natives will be relocated to Sungai Asap under the Asap Resettlement Scheme (Operation Exodus) and each family be given 3 hectares of land gratis. This is of course pending on the outcome of the EIA report. (The natives eventually received 3 acres each, not 3 hectares as promised – suckers!)

Financing of this massive project was shady, to say the least. Investment capital was announced as a matter of fact stating only that the Sarawak government together with Ekran will provide 51% of the financing and the remaining 49% will be harvested from money-growing-trees. Okay, fair enough but how will abang-adik provide for the 51% which amounted to RM7.65 billion? Initially, Ekran launched a rights issue to finance the building of the dam, but it was pitifully undersubscribed (Ting had to eventually payout RM500 million). Well, EPF allegedly chipped in RM3 billion, the Pension Trust Fund for Bakun contributed RM400 million, and Hicom and TNB made up the rest. More of it later on.

Let us look at the two main contractors. First, ABB. Not a very good sign already. This is the same company under the same management that sold seven gas turbines valued at $500 million for $1 billion each to TNB. (Wonder where the excess money went to.) Then there is CBFO, the company that built both the Itaipu and Xingu dams in Brazil. Both went over budget by 488% and 100% respectively. Great, eh? And then there is the preliminary work performed by South Korea's Dong-Ah Construction and Industrial Co, the same company that built the Songsu Bridge over the Han River in central Seoul which collapsed killing 32 people in 1994. Getting better, right? Fortunately the 1997 Asian economic crisis brought things to a screeching halt after construction started in 1996. Strike Two.

Due payments were then made to Dong-Ah (RM400 million) for completing the river diversion tunnels, Global Upline (RM60 million) for completing the auxiliary coffer dams and an undisclosed sum (rumoured to be in the region of RM1.8 billion) to Ekran as compensation for kicking them out. The government had also turned over a sum of RM1 billion to the Bakun Dam Consortium for the purchase of 8 hydropower turbines (the contract eventually went to IMPSA of Argentina and Alstom of France). BTW, Global Upline belongs to Ting as well.

IMPSA managing director Juan Aguero later revealed that they had secured the contract to design, manufacture, assemble and commission 4 of the 8 turbines at the Bakun project for RM300 million. The math doesn’t work out correctly, agree? If 4 turbines cost a total of RM300 million, 8 turbines should cost twice that amount, i.e. RM300 million times 2 equals RM600 million. So, where is the other RM400 million? Maybe the dog ate it or is this a case of what we call “escalating inflation”?

In 2000, plans were renewed to revive the project. Sarawak Hidro, a 100% government-owned company was established to take control of the construction of the Bakun Dam. The initial plans to transmit the additional electricity back to West Malaysia was now abandoned as the cabling project cost more than the remaining construction of the dam.

In 2002, the new main contractor was named. The Malaysia-China Hydro JV (MCH), a 70:30 consortium led by Sime Engineering Berhad of Malaysia (a subsidiary of Sime Darby) and Sino-Hydro Corporation of China. Other members of the consortium are WCT Berhad, MTD Capital, Ahmad Zaki Resources, Syarikat Ismail and Edward & Sons. Dato' Mohamad Shukri Baharom is the Chairman of this company and also the executive VP of Sime Darby Group's Energy & Utilities Division. The new completion date was summarily revised to February 2008.

Two years later, the engineering consulting firm JR Knowles of the UK (no relation to the sexy “PAS kata haram” Beyoncé Knowles) was hired to study the delays in the construction of the dam. The spanking newly revised and freshly amended completion date is now sometime in 2010 (probably February the 30th.) Also in 2004, Global Upline (owned by Ting) was allegedly awarded the contract to clear the biomass in the flood basin. One company (under the name of Pacific Chemicals and also owned by Ting) had already “cleared” a quarter of it (in 1995) and another was “just coming back to finish off the job” in an alternative form.

Let us leave the construction side of things and access the feasibility of using the excess energy being churned by the 8 turbines. Here is where the aluminium smelter comes in. Forget about the non-income generating toxic gases for awhile and concentrate on the electrical usage. This mega smelter requires 50% of the total electricity produced by the Bakun Dam and that means a huge and constant income for Sesco (1,200MW at a selling price of RM0.286 per unit equals RM343.2 million a year. The current IPP selling price to TNB is RM0.017 per unit. The total margin would be RM322.8 million a year.). Additionally, it will provide an extra 4,700 jobs. Wow! We can even construct huge fans in arrays and blow it in the direction of Indonesia if they do not control their annual forest fires! Double Wow!

As mentioned above, the two suspects in this joint venture are Rio Tinto (largest aluminium manufacturer in the world) and CMS. Never heard of Cahaya Mata Sarawak Berhad before? Well, it was called Cement Manufacturers Sarawak Berhad when it started business in 1974 producing Portland cement as a state-owned firm. It was in the 90’s that it was privatised from a state-owned public-listed company into a private sector public-listed conglomerate. Why would someone takeover such a dull company? Let’s look at what CMS owned before they were privatised - PPES Quarry, Steel Industries Sarawak and PCMS, all profitable companies. After the takeover, CMS continued consolidating their company by purchasing Syrakusa Sdn Bhd and Concordance Sdn Bhd, via cash and share swaps. In a reverse takeover, the owners of these two companies acquired CMS and began injecting their other assets into it including Bank Utama, Sarawak Securities and Archipelago Shipping. CMS is now a diversified conglomerate involved in stock brokering, road construction, water filtration and treatment, quarry operations, civil and structural engineering, steel bar manufacturing, trading of construction materials, cement production, technology, education, financial services and investment holdings. No prizes for guessing who owns CMS – the Mahmud family. Oh, by the way, Taib Mahmud’s spouse Laila and his children are the majority shareholders of Sitehost Plc, Australia, which owns the 380-room Adelaide Hilton Hotel. Company records dated December 2000 show them holding 95 percent of the company or 9.5 million (Aussie dollars) fully paid up shares. One question: How much does a hotel cost anyway? Another family member (Taib’s brother Onn Mahmud) along with his daughter and son in law owns SAKTO Corporation, a major real estate operator of non-residential buildings in Ottawa, owning and managing more than half a million square feet of prime office space with affiliate offices in the US, UK, Asia and Australia. They also own SAKTO Development Corporation, a multi-million dollar development and construction company in Ottawa.

Back to the construction site. In 2007, the government once again revived the cabling project. The new estimates (from TNB) are approximately RM9 billion. Others put it as high as RM20 billion, depending on the number of cables involved. These include the Bakun to Bintulu HVAC double circuit overhead lines for a distance of 160 km, Bakun to Tanjung Parih HVDC overhead line for a distance of 670 km, Tanjung Parih to Tanjung Tenggara submarine cable for a distance of 670 km and the Tanjung Tenggara to Kuantan landline to connect to the national grid. The government in fact invited Sumitomo Corp of Japan to do a feasibility study report and assist in the laying of the submarine cable. The longest existing submarine cable is the 580km NorNed undersea connection linking Norway and the Netherlands.

The once revised 500MW capacity is once again back to the original figure of 2,4000MW with 1,600MW being rerouted back west and the completion date has been pushed further back by another year. This is done with the assumption that Rio Tinto would back out of the aluminium smelter deal. However plans are being drawn to construct yet another dam (the 1,000MW Murum Dam in the Upper Rejang Basin of central Sarawak) and concept studies are being prepared for the construction of an enormous 20,000MW hydroelectric dam along the Rejang River rivalling China’s 22,500MW Three Gorges Dam.

In 2008, Sime Darby announced that the company will not be taking up the offer of an equity stake in the Bakun project. This prompted the government to search for another shareholder and at the beginning of this year, TNB and Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) were granted permission by the federal government to form a special purpose vehicle to jointly takeover the entire project from Sarawak Hidro through a leasing agreement. Additionally, the Xinhua News Agency published a report on its website revealing that four Chinese state-owned enterprises, including China Sinohydro Corp, had been "downgraded" because of "safety or environmental pollution accidents". Sinohydro is one of seven firms in the Malaysia-China Hydro Joint Venture consortium working on the Bakun Dam.

The proposed public tender for the undersea cable laying process is expected to be held next year. The manufacture of these RM4 billion cables was promised to FCW Holdings way back at the onset of the project by TDM but anything could happen now that the government is under a new administration. (FCW Holdings is owned by Ting and allegedly also by one of TDM’s son.)

One last thing, the planning of the dam was conducted with no public accessibility to vital feasibility studies, no process of public feedback on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) process and limited consultation procedures with the indigenous peoples. Feasibility studies and reports commissioned by the government on the Bakun project have been classified under the Official Secrets Act (OSA), meaning it is a criminal offense for anyone to see or use their information. Not all of the appendices, interim and final reports of the EIAs have been made accessible to the general public. Project proponents have refused to meet critics in any open discussion.

Cost overruns? Maybe, but one won’t get to hear about it as this information is classified (unless MT gets their hands on it). Let’s just put it this way – if a RM1.8 billion project situated in nearby Klang can balloon to a staggering RM12.5 billion, what are the chances that a US$5.2 billion (approximately RM26.3 billion) project situated in the middle of the forest in Sarawak, coming in on budget?

Jinxed dam? Perhaps, but one thing is certain – we (the taxpayers) are damned.

--------------

Malaysia Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) has been going cuckoo.

Ranking for Malaysia has been sliding down.....

Source : http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2008

2001 - 36

2002 - 33

2003 - 37

2004 - 39

2005 - 39

2006 - 44

2007 - 43

2008 - 47

Dams a curse from hell, say Orang Ulu

Joseph Tawie
malaysianmirror.com
15 September 2009

KUCHING - The Orang Ulu communities of Kayan, Penan and Kenyah have stressed their opposition to the Sarawak Government’s plan to proceed with the construction of the Baram and Murum dams, explaining that they will virtually drown almost all their properties, lands, fruit trees, graveyards and cultural heritage.

In Baram, some 20,000 people from 30 or more longhouses and villages along the Baram River valley, locally known as Telang Usan, will be affected and displaced by the dam, said Philip Jau of Long Laput when he and four other Orang Ulu representatives met the press at a hotel in Kuching today.

About 38,900 hectares (389 sq km) of forest and land, the bulk of it is native customary land consisting of temuda, cultivated lands, gardens, villages, churches, graveyards, community forests and sites of historical significance will be submerged.

Not moving an inch

“Our YBs (elected representatives) say that the dam is a blessing from God, but we say it is a curse from Hell,” he said, and insisted that they would not move an inch from their present villages and longhouses.

“We have seen how the people of Sg Asap suffer after they have been moved out of their villages and longhouses in Belaga because of the Bakun dam. Their lives are worse than they were before,” he said.

Jau declared: “We will fight to the end, and there are so many ways to fight them (government); one is through the elections and another is through the court and yet another is through the United Nations.”

“Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak talks about 1Malaysia with the people given preference and yet we the Orang Ulu have been sidelined, our plight and our problems ignored.

“What the state government is doing to the Orang Ulu is contrary to the wishes of the prime minister,” he added.

A 55-year-old tua kampong, Panai Irang of Long Sepatai Akar, Baram, said that he and his Penan people could not live in water and if the dam was to be built, they would perish together with the water.

Signature campaigns

Speaking in Penan, he said: “Our greatest worry is that the dam is going to flood our villages, our properties and our land on which we have planted fruit trees and we have learnt to cultivate on land to survive. That is why we don’t want the dam to be built.

“Not only the Penans are worried, but also other communities like the Kayans, Kenyahs and others,” he said, pointing out that this was the message his people wanted to convey to the authorities.

Expressing similar sentiments was Johannes Luhat of Kpg Long San, who said that they had initiated a signature campaign among the Orang Ulu communities against the dam project.

“So far we have collected more than 200 signatures. More are coming as we have sent our men to the ground,” he said, adding that after the signatures had been collected, they would submit a petition bearing those signatures to both the State and Federal governments.

Luhat made it very clear that they were not anti-development. “Sure we want development such as roads, hospitals, schools, rural electrification projects, but not a project such as the Baram dam which will destroy our lives and livelihood.”

Like their counterparts from Baram, two representatives from Belaga, Bujang Jalong and Suie Along also expressed their opposition against the construction of the Murum dam in their area.

Lives have turned for the worst

Suie said: “Both of us are representing some 1,000 Penans of Long Wat, Long Luar, Long Tangau, Long Menapa, Long Singu, Long Malim and Long Ubain villages along the Sungai Peleiran-Murum.

“We come to Kuching not to ‘makan angin’ (leisure) but with a heavy heart, full of worry and sadness and to tell the world of our plight after the construction of Murum dam has started,” he said.

Suie said that all their villages, longhouses, lands, gardens, properties and graveyards as well as their hunting grounds would be destroyed and flooded by the dam.

“We are then forced to move out from our villages to an unknown area,” he said, adding that they were aware that the government had failed to provide better living to those who had been affected by the Bakun and Batang Ai dams.

The people of Sg Asap faced serious social, economic and a host of other problems, he said.

The Penan Talun, Long Belangan have been suffering and their lives are worst now than they were in their previous villages.

“We know the impact will be on our livelihood, our community and on our generation,” he said, expressing the hope that the government should cease immediately the construction of the dam.

Taib family's CMS to benefit from dam

Anil Netto Sep 30, 08
Malaysiakini

Who will foot the bill for the resettlement of those affected by the new RM3 billion Murum dam?

''Is it Sarawak Energy (Berhad) or will it be passed on directly to the state government and hence the taxpayer,'' asked one Sarawak-based activist, who declined to be identified.

In the case of Bakun, the mega-dam in central Sarawak which is still under construction, compensation to indigenous people and resettlement cost the Sarawak and federal governments over RM876 million.

''But there are still Bakun residents who have not received compensation even though they left the Bakun area 10 years ago,'' noted the auditor-general in his 2007 annual report.

Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), which is 65 percent owned by the Sarawak state government, will fund the Murum dam. It was reported in June that SEB would issue bonds to finance the project.

SEB has been in negotiations with infrastructure firm Cahaya Mata Sarawak (CMS) and the multinational Rio Tinto Alcan to supply 900-1,200MW of electricity to power a huge smelter. A power purchase agreement was supposed to have been signed by Aug 31, and there has been no news since.

Both CMS and Rio Tinto are in a consortium, the Sarawak Aluminium Company (Salco), to build the US$2 billion aluminium smelter with an initial annual capacity of 550,000 tonnes, which could later be expanded to 1.5 million tonnes. The smelter is located in the Similajau area of Sarawak, not far from the proposed Murum and Bakun dams.

Rio Tinto Alcan, which has a 60 percent stake in Salco, owns bauxite mines, alumina refineries and aluminium smelters around the world.

CMS, a listed infrastructure firm controlled by Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud's family, is a major producer and supplier of steel, cement and other construction materials in the state. Taib (photo, far left) has been chief minister of Sarawak for more than 25 years.

According to the firm's 2007 annual report, the substantial shareholders of CMS are the chief minister's daughters, Jamilah Hamidah and Hanifah Hajar, son-in-law Syed Ahmad Alwee Alsree, and family concern Majaharta Sdn Bhd, each with a 14 percent stake.

Taib's wife Lejla has an 11 percent stake while sons, Sulaiman Abdul Rahman and Mahmud Abu Bekir, own 9 percent each.

Taib's brother-in-law, Aziz Husain, on the other hand, happens to be managing director of SEB.

Why the need of so many dams?

Sarawak plans to lure such energy-hungry industries by providing an abundant supply of cheap electricity within the 320-km long Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score), an economic development region, managed by the state, where abundant power would be supplied to energy-intensive private industries.

Score, launched by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in February 2008, aims to tap into the state's 20,000MW hydropower potential by building even more dams in the longer term.

Sarawak's current installed capacity is just 980MW, adequate for its current needs of about 750MW, but it aims to expand its hydro capacity to 7,000MW or more over the next decade by building a string of 12 dams along the various rivers in the state.

While smelters could create jobs and contribute to GDP, the funding for the dams required to supply cheap electricity will have to be raised by the state or borrowed from public pension funds (as in the case of Bakun).

And while indigenous communities are displaced, many foreign workers will have to be brought in for the construction of the dams. And then there are the
environmental costs.

''Will that justify building Murum at a probable estimated cost of RM3 billion, with likely cost overruns to RM5 billion?'' asked a Sarawak-based academic, who declined to be identified.

In the case of Bakun, ''cost over-runs of RM708 million were approved by the Finance Ministry even though the contract was for a fixed lump sum with all risks to be borne by the main contractor (a consortium of private Malaysian companies and China interests),'' chided the auditor-general in his report.

Sarawak Hidro, the Bakun dam developer, has outstanding borrowings (as at end-2007) of RM3.4 billion. It had received RM3 billion from a state-managed workers' pension fund, the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) in 2007, and RM400 million from a state-owned pension trust fund in 2002.

The EPF loan is guaranteed by the federal government. The federal government had also allocated RM1.8 billion for the project between 1997 and 2004. Sarawak Hidro has already spent RM4 billion on the project.

Natives: Better bomb us now

So is Murum really necessary?

''For energy needs in Sarawak, we don't need the Murum, because Bakun is more than enough to supply the state's needs,'' says Raymond Abin of the Borneo Resource Institute (Brimas). ''Of course, (much of) this will not go to the really rural areas but will supply industry's needs."

"The impression among many sceptics is that these are all self-serving projects," said another senior academic in a Sarawak-based university, carefully weighing his words while requesting anonymity.

All these funds are not helping the most affected communities like the Penan.

''This is not development for the Penan. This is not assisting the Penan,'' says Weng, a Penan whose home will be submerged. ''This is killing the Penan. As our old headman said before, better bomb us now than 'kill' us slowly!''

- IPS

Sarawak begins work on new RM3 bil dam

Anil Netto Sep 29, 08
Malaysiakini

Preliminary work on a RM3 billion dam in Murum in Sarawak has again put the spotlight on the government’s controversial scheme to build a string of 12 dams in the next decade to tap cheap electricity in the state.

Its advocates say that the proposed 944MW Murum dam, near the site of the contentious 2,400MW Bakun dam, still under construction, in the upper Rejang basin in central Sarawak will boost job opportunities, diversify sources of electricity generation and draw new investment.

But while private firms may benefit from the dam construction work and cheap electricity, critics argue that the human cost, the financial burden and risk to the state and the public, and the environmental cost could be too high.

Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), 65 percent owned by the Sarawak government, officially informed Bursa Malaysia on Sept 2 that the Murum dam project had been awarded to China's Three Gorges Project Corporation, which reportedly submitted the lowest bid among eight companies.

SEB also told the Malaysian stock exchange the same day that a ''detailed environmental impact assessment has been submitted to the relevant authorities for final approval'' - which means that the project was awarded before the final approval of the detailed EIA was obtained.

While the state is using its resources to build the dams, about 1,000 indigenous folk in the Murum Dam catchment area will lose their homeland. Most of these are Penan, amongst the last of the world's hunter-gatherers, living near the Murum, Plieran and Danum rivers and tributaries.

New dam lies in Bakun catchment area

Weng, a Penan, whose longhouse - traditional wooden houses - and ancestral land will be flooded, laments: ''The good things we ask for, they (the government) do not give. We ask for schools, clinics, but till now we have yet to see them. What we don't want, what is bad for us, that they provide - logging, oil palm plantations, acacia plantations...''

The haste to commence work on the dam leaves activists worried that there might not be proper consultation and inadequate work on the resettlement of one of the most marginalised and disenfranchised peoples in the country.

The experience of the problem-ridden Bakun dam, whose reservoir area will cover 695 sq km, is hardly inspiring. The RM8 billion Bakun dam is expected to be completed in June 2010 and start
generating power in 2012.

Some 11,000 indigenous people - mainly Kenyah, Kayan, Lahanan, Ukit and Penan - were displaced and just over 9,000 of them were transferred to a resettlement scheme in Asap River from 1997. A delegation from the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), visiting the area in 2006, found shoddy housing, poor drainage and roads, delays and disputes in the compensation payment.

Critics point out that a large portion of the dams' catchment areas has already been degraded by massive plantation developments.

"The whole Bakun catchment is being destroyed by logging and plantation," points out Raymond Abin, programme development officer at the Borneo Resources Institute (Brimas), a group working closely with indigenous communities to monitor environmental and development issues. Forests have been logged to plant oil palm, pulp and wood tree plantations.

Moreover, the Murum dam, just 60km upstream from Bakun, lies in one of the three main catchment areas for Bakun.

''Has any work been done on cumulative impacts? How will all this affect the micro-climate or local climate, the hydrological regimes, the animal life of the area, already much devastated by the logging and plantation development?'' asked a Sarawak-based academic, who declined to be named.

''Indeed, how will Murum affect Bakun? Doesn't the public deserve to know the results of these cumulative impact assessments?'' the academic added.

Uncertainty over Bakun-generated power

The plan for the Murum dam comes at a time when uncertainty hangs over what to do with all the electricity to be generated from the 205-metre high Bakun dam.

The original plan was to transmit the electricity via cables under the South China Sea to the peninsula, making it the world's longest undersea electricity transmission. But in 2001, the plan was changed to confine the supply to Sarawak and neighbouring Sabah.

In 2005, however, the government decided it would not be cost effective to transmit electricity to Sabah because of the distance. The cabinet decided the following year to once again channel Bakun's electricity to the peninsula even though the peninsula currently has a comfortable reserve
capacity.

SEB entered into a ‘heads of agreement’ this May to supply 3,000MW of electricity to national electricity corporation Tenaga Nasional Bhd in the peninsula from 2017 and another 5,000MW from 2021.

But these plans were thrown into uncertainty after Sime Darby, a government-linked corporation, worried about the plan's viability, pulled out in August from an understanding to lead the laying of RM15 billion undersea cables.

The electricity from the Bakun dam will now be channelled to the aluminium smelter plants until the Murum dam is ready, the Sarawak Energy managing director said in June. If and when the submarine cables are laid in the South China Sea, the electricity from Bakun would then be channelled to the peninsula.

The Scandalous Dam

The Sarawak dams: Multiple follies
Kua Kia Soong

Aug 26, 08

Malaysiakini

The recent announcement that the Sarawak government intends to build 12 more dams in Sarawak apart from the ill-fated Bakun dam is cause for concern.

It is a cause for grave concern. Malaysian tax payers, Malaysian forests and Malaysian indigenous people will again be the main victims of this misconceived plan.

The stop starting since the damned project was first proposed in the seventies, the proposal and abandonment of the aluminium smelter, the upsizing and downsizing of the dam, the inclusion or exclusion of the undersea cable project are all symptomatic of a wanton disregard for planning. Let me remind Malaysians of the ludicrous inconsistencies of official policy on this damned project.

In 1980, the Bakun dam was proposed with a power generating capacity of 2400MW even though the projected energy needs for the whole of Sarawak was only 200MW in 1990.

The project was thus coupled with the proposal to build the world’s longest (650km) undersea cable to transmit electricity to the peninsula. An aluminium smelter at Bintulu was also proposed to take up the surplus energy.

In 1986, the project was abandoned because of the economic recession although then Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced just before the UN Conference on Environment & Development in Rio that this was "proof of Malaysia’s commitment to the environment".

In 1993, with the upturn in the Malaysian economy, the government once again announced the revival of the Bakun hydro-electric plant project.

To cushion the expected protests, the then Energy Minister S Samy Vellu gave Parliament a poetic description of a "series of cascading dams" and not one large dam as had been originally proposed.

Before long, it was announced that the Bakun dam would be a massive 205-metre high concrete face rockfill dam, one of the highest dams of its kind in the world and it would flood an area the size of Singapore Island.

The undersea cable was again part of the project. There was also a plan for an aluminium plant, a pulp and paper plant, the world’s biggest steel plant and a high-tension and high-voltage wire industry.

Then in 1997, with the onset of the Asian financial crisis, the Bakun project was put on hold for the second time. But the scandal was, while the anthropologists in all Malaysian universities were sound asleep, the government proceeded to remove 10,000 indigenous people made up of fifteen different ethnic groups from their ancestral lands.

All this happened while the project was on hold and Malaysians shouted "Malaysia Boleh!"

In 1999, after the economy had recovered, the government again announced that the project would be resumed, albeit on a smaller scale of 500MW capacity.

Before long in 2001, the 2400MW scale was once again proposed although the submarine cable had been shelved. Today, we read reports about the government and companies still contemplating this hare-brained scheme which is now estimated to cost a whopping RM21 billion!

Not only that, we now hear that 12 more hydroelectric dams will be generating a total capacity of 7000MW by 2020 – an increase of 600 percent from its current capacity!

Who pays?

Ultimately it will be the Malaysian consumers who pay for this expensive figment of the chief minister’s wild imagination. Enough tax payers’ money has been wasted - Sarawak Hidro has already spent some RM1.5 billion on the project.

The human cost has been immeasurable - 10,000 indigenous people have been removed from their ancestral lands in 1998 even while the project had been shelved.

If the prime minister really wants to know the state of the Malaysian energy industry, he should ask for independent audits on every power station in the country. These should preferably be done by reputable international audit authorities from outside Malaysia.

We are told that TNB is now selling off property, power stations are not working at full capacity and that the electricity industry is hugely indebted.

Right now, the country is being fed conflicting reports about energy demand. There is supposed to be a 43 percent oversupply of electricity capacity in peninsula Malaysia.

Experienced Bakun dam watchers will tell you such conflicting and mutually contradictory assertions have been used by dam proponents to justify every flip flop of this misconceived project.

Apart from the economic cost and the wastage, how are investors supposed to plan for the long-term and medium term? What is the long-term plan for Bakun? Can Bakun compete with the rest of the world or for that matter, Indonesia?

Aluminium smelters to take up the bulk of Bakun electricity have been mentioned ever since the conception of the Bakun dam project because they are such voracious consumers of energy.

Even so, has there ever been any proper assessment of the market viability of such a project with the cheaper operating costs in China?

Does it matter that the co-owner of one of the smelters is none other than Cahaya Mata Sarawak (CMS) Bhd Group that is controlled by Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s family business interest?

Scandalous flaws in planning

Clearly, Bakun energy and Sarawak’s tin pot governance do not inspire confidence in investors. First it was Alcoa, and then Rio Tinto also had second thoughts about investing in Sarawak.

Concerned NGOs have all along called for the abandonment of this monstrous Bakun dam project because it is economically ill-conceived, socially disruptive and environmentally disastrous.

The environmental destruction is evident many miles downstream since the whole Bakun area has been logged by those who have already been paid by Sarawak Hidro.

The social atrophy among the 10,000 displaced indigenous people at the Sungei Asap resettlement scheme remains the wicked testimony of the Mahathir-Taib era. The empty promises and damned lives of the displaced people as forewarned by the concerned NGOs in 1999 have now been played out.

The economic viability of the Bakun dam project has been in doubt from the beginning and the new scheme to build 12 more dams merely represents multiple follies and a scandalous flaw in planning.

---------------------------------------------------
DR KUA KIA SOONG is director of Suaram.

Damn the dams!

Goh Leng Chua
Aug 23, 08 3:56pm
Malaysiakini

It is stated by an environmentalist: “In the conflict between nature and resource development, nature invariably loses”. The jungle rhetoric of the environmentalist is likely to be drowned by the economic benefits and the money spinning opportunities afforded by development to the nation.

If we take the two paths separately to the partial exclusion of the other, it is small wonder we end up with either damning the 12 dams or damning critics of the dams. Protectionist emotions and national pride should not be allowed to erode our approach for the mutual benefit of people and its environment. While it is the Sarawak government that dictates its own future, it is equally prudent to consider the views of third parties rather than damning them as outsider interference in our destiny. If it is the future generation’s interest that we all wish to preserve and protect, we must realise that every child and environmentalist too has his/her story to tell.

EIAs

Why are environmentalists concerned? Every development undoubtedly have some significant impacts on the environment, some of which are unavoidable and irreversible. Many are nonetheless avoidable or could be mitigated when properly planned by proponents of the projects. Federal laws (Environment Quality Act 1974) require EIA reports on development impacts to be done and made public. These stricter federal requirements do not apply to Sarawak, exempting the 12 dams from EIA requirements. It was pointed out that such approval process under Sarawak’s Natural Resources and Environmental (Amendment) Ordinance 1993 leaves much to be desired in terms of transparency and accountability. State EIAs are not being scrutinized by the public, which is the main stakeholder of the environment.

It is also feared that the Sarawak government in order to support the consumption of extra electricity to be generated by the 12 dams, could offer lax environmental control to attract more industrial activities such as the proposed aluminium smelter plant in Similajau resulting in consequential environmental degradation.

Understandably, calls have been echoed to amend the state’s outdated environment laws to face the challenges of the 21st century in line with federal standards and beyond. After 45 years of independence, surely our leaders have transformed Sarawak into a knowledgeable society. The government would not be accused of such projects being covered with a veil of secrecy. What have Sarawakians got to loose if the changes make Sarawak greener?

Physical impacts

With the 12 dams being planned throughout Sarawak, the physical impacts are extensive and culturally invasive. Many of the reservoir sites are currently grounds for shifting cultivation, traditional hunting and fishing by the residents. Timber harvesting by licensed concession operators is probably the largest use within and outside the catchment areas. Site clearing and biomass removal will initiate unavoidable erosion and chronic sedimentation, with immediate impacts on the river hydrology, adversely affecting water quality and endangering aquatic life and public health in the region.

However, with modern environment technology and pools of expertise on hand the environmental impacts could be duly addressed. Mitigation measures include biomass removal plan, an Integrated Catchment Management plan on land use, reforestation in denuded areas, anti-poaching enforcement, and gazetting wider forest areas to be conserved as catchment zone protected for posterity.

It was pointed out by Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Haji Fadillah Yusof that the earthquake fault line is in the northern region of Sarawak and the potential for earthquake is in the range of 3.5 to 5.5 on the Richter scale, according to seismic study by the Malaysian Science Academy. It is therefore imperative that risk assessment on seismic hazard be duly conducted and precautionary measures be in place to respond to any eventuality. From information available, the Bakun dam would be able to withstand any seismic shocks up to 7.5 on the Richter scale. A comfortable risk margin is indeed a comforting assurance.

Overland and underwater transmission

Of concerns also are the overland transmission corridor and access roads to towers and the overhead transmission lines with their electric and magnetic fields (EMF), which tend to be ignored in many EIA reports. However, as the areas are sparsely populated, transmission line realignment avoiding human settlement would comply with the precautionary principle of the Rio Dedaration.

Exporting electricity efficiently and cheaply to Peninsula Malaysia through the planned four 500 HV DC submarine cables, each of 670 km from Sarawak’s shores depends on many equations. Marine quality of the underwater cables to withstand deterioration, storms, seabed movements, sabotage and acts of war. The government of Malaysia will have to be implicated in providing the protective shield since provision of electricity is a national matter. The 1999 and latest statewide blackouts are reminders of the complexities in the electricity supply grid.

Terrestrial and aquatic resources

Spiral effects to terrestrial resources, wildlife and endangered species are mostly unavoidable particularly along the riverine habitat. Mitigation measure involve monitoring, rescuing animals, establishment of conservation units and implementation of national parks and reserves nearby the sites.

Aquatic impacts in the inundation zone, upstream and downstream of the dam include direct displacement of habitat, alteration of water quality and impediments to fish migration. Such effects can be mitigated with reduction of logging in the catchment, erosion minimization measures, rehabilitation of aquatic lives and reservoir aquaculture.

Social impacts

Social impacts on the indigenous residents who depend on shifting cultivation, hunting and fishing are a very important aspect of the environmental impact of the dams. Traditional lifestyles and economies of the indigenous people would be changed. Such social-economical-cultural impacts will prove challenging to the Government’s ingenuity in its resettlement exercise. Uprooting cultures have never been a popular option. However, seen from a positive angle, Professor Hood Salleh maintains that “the importance of resettlement comes in as the primary rationale for a long term restructing of Sarawak society”. Eradication of poverty and the imbalance between urban rich and rural poor must be the survival instinct to adapt to the 21st century within the green odyssey. “We must bring them into the mainstream of development”, declared the Chief Minister. It may be different from the present lifestyle but it promises to be a better future. Only the staunchest of sceptics would imprison the natives to a past which cannot survive the future.

Economic benefits and sustainability

What dreams may come from the dams? There are numerous beneficial earnings from the infrastructure construction works, the dam construction, the logging operations, the paper-pulp milling, manufacturing of the cable for the electricity transmission, the production of cement, aluminium, steel and so forth. The spin-off industries will also create thousands of jobs and business opportunities for Malaysians. The local people will step forward to face socio-economic development in the new era. In SCORE, no one should be left scoreless.

However, the government is not unaware of the caution needed. Economists fear localized inflation for Sarawak as extensive and expansive projects push up prices of essential commodities, materials and services.

Further, the new activities and industries will bring with them the accompanying environmental woes, which need to be dealt with by yet another set of environmental protection programmes relating to the activities. Hence, the government would capitalize on these to bring about environment research in association with the universities and relevant government bodies.

With the participation of Malaysians in these projects, it will ensure the cultivation and development of local technology and expertise that would give the locals a better standing to compete in the global market. The strategic alliances with foreign partners would facilitate the transfer of technology and expertise to local companies. It will also strengthen Malaysia’s foreign exchange position, in addition to the carbon-credit trading with Sarawak could do with polluting nations and industrialists in our globalised world.

In most countries particularly the developing countries, economic growth is essential to finance the investment necessary to prevent pollution and improve the environment by better resource allocation. Here lies the paradox. It is therefore essential that economic and environmental well-beings are mutually reinforcing and it is for society to manage economic growth in such a way that it is sustainable. Although environmental degradation can threaten economic growth, it is also recognized that growth brings potential environmental benefits. It may bring improvements in technology which will lower the cost of preventing environmental damage.

Further, it has proven that higher income levels and better lifestyles go hand in hand with greater environmental concern and willingness if not expectation to see a rising share of the national wealth spent on environmental protection, which may improve on the absorptive capacity of our planet to heal itself. It is perhaps time that the many battles between environmentalists and business people should shift from the question of saving the environment to saving the business in order to save the environment.

The language of wealth creation through environmental preservation is more likely to be listened to by environmentalists and businessmen alike. Like man’s two legs, each must supplement each other in order for the body of development to push on. The world of business and the world of nature do not have to collide. One Earth: Our Common Future.

The environment is where we all live and development is for what we all need and the two are inseparable, maintains the United Nations Brundtland Commission. In terms of sustainable development scenario, the Commission favours a transition to renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro-power.

This is in line with Malaysia’s four-fuel diversification strategy. Development of renewable green energy resources can and must go on, provided it is accompanied by sustainable management programmes. The idea of interdependence between economic growth and environmental protection found expression in the Brundtland phrase “Sustainable Development”.

Every environmentally aware politician is in favour of it. It is recognition by those in power of the finite planet’s limits which all development must respect. It reminds and makes people to consider the stock of natural resources that will be available to future generations. In the survival conflict between a costly depleting fossil resource and a cheaper renewable green energy, fossil fuel invariably loses.

Politicians as much as environmentalists are the same vehicle for knowledge and information on environmental matters to be disseminated. With the worldwide attention focused on the hydro-project and the concerns generated locally, Sarawak with its acquired knowledge and experience will be responsible for Malaysia’ birth from its gestation stage of environmental awareness to ecological conscientiousness. As environmental degradation begins in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that environmental degradation ends.

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GOH LENG CHUA is a retired lawyer and a keen observer of environmental affairs. He lives in Kuching.

Sarawak's 12 new dams alarm environmentalists

Fauwaz Abdul Aziz
Jun 19, 08 1:46pm
http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/84715

Sarawak has proposed to build 12 massive dams in the next decade to harness its hydroelectric power, putting the state in a collision course with environmentalists.

The bold plan, which has not been made public, has irked activists who fear further destruction to Sarawak’s rainforests - considered as one of the world’s oldest - and the forcible relocation of thousands of indigenous peoples.

While the state does not need more power, it hopes to generate electricity for energy-guzzling industries and for export - both to Peninsular Malaysia and neighbouring Indonesia.

Half of the power produced by the controversial Bakun dam is expected to be consumed by an aluminum smelter to be built in Bintulu by mining multinational Rio Tinto, while the rest will be transported to Peninsular Malaysia through undersea cables.

The mega-smelter is a joint project between Rio Tinto and Cahya Mata Sarawak, a conglomerate owned by family members of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Document made public ‘accidentally’

Sarawak’s bold ambition of generating a colossal 7,000MW of electricity between 2008 and 2020 - which include the 2,400MW Bakun dam - was unwittingly revealed in document made available on a China-based website.

The document appeared to be a slide presentation made by Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) managing director Abdul Aziz Husain in October last year at the China-Asean Power Cooperation and Development Forum in Nanning, China.

According to Abdul Aziz, Sarawak's rivers have the potential to generate a total of 20,000KW of power.

Published ‘accidentally’ on the website dedicated to the international forum, it was discovered by Switzerland-based NGO Bruno Manser Fonds (BMF).

According to BMF, an organisation set up by Swiss environmentalist Burno Manser who spent six years with Sarawak’s Penan and subsequently went missing in 2000, the document has since been removed.

But before the document was taken down, BMF was able to make a copy and it is now made available on the organisation’s website [available as PDF file].

A quick search on the Internet revealed such a document - entitled ‘Chinese Power Plants in Malaysia – Present & Future Development’ - had existed, but can no longer be found.

Mulu National Park at risk

The 48-page document provides the specific locations of the 12 new hydropower plants, aside from Bakun dam, which is to be completed in 2010 [see map].

The construction of the RM3.2 billion Bakun dam - the region’s largest dam - wiped out a swatch of rainforests the size of Singapore and displaced 10,000 indigenous peoples.

Understandably, environmentalists fear the worst on hearing the state government’s proposal for another dozen of hydropower plants.

If the plan, described by BMF as “excessive”, is to proceed, hundreds of Sarawak’s native communities in Sarawak’s interior will lose their traditional lands and have to be relocated to elsewhere.

“It is to be expected that all of the proposed dams will adversely affect indigenous communities living in Borneo's unique tropical rainforest environment,” warned BMF in a press statement.

National treasures such as the world-renowned Mulu National Park may also fall victim when parts of it will be submerged under the planned 220 megawatts dam on the Tutoh river in northeastern Sarawak.

The Mulu National Park is listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) as a world heritage site because of its biodiversity and its extensive network of caves.

No public participation in EIAs

BMF slammed the state government for its lack of transparency in land and forest matters, pointing out that Sarawak legislation does not obligate developers to include public participation in the environmental impact assessment (EIA) process.

The NGO also decried that the natives, as in the past, are likely to be “doomed to pay the price for the production of export energy”.

None of SEB’s top officials, including Abdul Aziz, could be reached for comments.

Meanwhile, state DAP deputy chairperson Chiew Chin Sing said the state government should put the interests of Sarawak people before those of multinational corporations.

The Kidurong state assemblyperson added that delivering electricity through 700km of undersea cables to Peninsular Malaysia would result in tremendous wastage.

“Also we cannot deny the indigenous communities their right to their land,” Chiew told Malaysiakini yesterday.

Expanding Mengkuang Dam - Is it environmentally wise? (Part I)

Another project is on the pipeline. Expanding a dam 4 times the size of the present Mengkuang Dam. Will it be another white elephant?

If you look down from a plane over Bukit Mertajam, you will notice that the hills around Mengkuang Dam are relatively low. Could they provide enough water to fill up the extra large dam?


The picture below was taken on 4th April 2007. It was quite full because for the past few months, it has been raining heavily around the dam. But until early 2007, the dam had been very low.
To prove that there are not enough water to feed the dam, I organised a hike on 12 May 07. These were my findings:

1. There are 12 streams - several are seasonal.
2. Fishing, rubbish and camping at Mengkuang Dam.
3. Illegal immigrants and occupants in catchment area.
4. Illegal trees cutting and harvesting of bamboo.
5. Farmers staying in catchment area.
6. Rich in fauna and flora.

In this report, I will show the 12 streams below:

All the streams were numbered from anti-clockwise.1st Stream - this stream could be flowing from a house above the slope. It flows under the road to the dam.

2nd Stream. This is the only sensible large stream - not even capable of naming it as river.

3rd Stream. This could be a seasonal stream.

4th Stream. Durians and other fruiting trees were found in the catchment area. Fertilizer could be flowing into the dam.

5th Stream. Found on the motorized path. Difinately a seasonal stream.


6th Stream. Barren and hardly any water under a wooden bridge. Rain water just rush down.

7th Stream. Tickling water during this raining days. No water during drought.

8th Stream. The illegal immigrants' huts were near this small stream. Pipe was seen diverting the water to the huts.

9th Stream. This stream flows direct into the dam from huge boulder.

10th Stream. This was the sensible clean stream that flow the whole year. Even the kayak rowers knew about this stream and they frequent this stream to bathe.

11th Stream. This stream was tapped upstream to supply water to another second group of illegal immigrants. (1.5km away from the first group)

12th Stream. It was dry on our visit. I believe it is only flowing when it rains.

Conclusion:

With little water to feed the dam, enlarging the dam doesn't make any sense. But according to the CM, water from Muda River will be pumped to fill Mengkuang Dam. Water from Muda River is filled with silt and eventually, the large Mengkuang Dam will get shallower and the carrying capacity will be back to square one.

There is no point acquiring land for catchment and dam building if farmers and illegals are free to occupy them.

There are some big trees and interesting fauna found in the catchment area. We saw a group of butterflies and interesting bird life in the area too.

In my next issue, I will show case some interesting findings worth protecting.

So, do you think enlarging this dam is neccessary? BTW, in Calcutta, the Indians store their water in huge water tanks as large as several football fields. No silting, no evaporation and no loss of water through the ground. Can we follow them to build tanks?