MIRI – Environmental watchdog group Save Rivers will launch ground protests if state authorities revive mega dam projects in Sarawak.
Its chairman Peter Kallang said the organisation was worried about the indications from the state’s power supply agency that mega dams are being planned as energy sources from future development in the state as well as neighbouring Kalimantan.
He referred to Sarawak Energy Bhd which had tabled a working paper on large dams as a long-term source of “clean” energy at a recent Asean conference on renewable energy in Kuching.
“Based on what was discussed in the conference, they are planning to revive mega dams in Sarawak such as Baram Dam in northern Sarawak.
“We will surely launch protests to stop any such mega dams projects in Sarawak.
“How can such mega dams be green energy when they destroy so much of the ecosystem and seriously damage the environment?” Kallang asked in a press statement today.
He said the late former Sarawak chief minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem had, when he was alive, aborted all plans for mega dams in Sarawak due to their vast negative impact on the land and rivers.
It would be a disaster if the present state administration revives such mega dams now, Kallang said.
Sarawak already has four huge dams in the form of Bakun Dam in Belaga district, Batang Ai Dam in Lubok Antu district, Murum Dam, and the under-construction Baleh Dam, both in Belaga district.
State leaders had also recently said there are plans to generate more power in order to sell to the new Indonesian capital Nusantara being built in Kalimantan. – The Vibes, December 2, 2022
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