Malaysia gives megadam green light

By South East Asia correspondent Simon Ingram

The Malaysian Government has decided to proceed with construction of a huge hydroelectric power project on the island of Borneo, despite the vociferous objections of environmentalists.

The Bakun Dam project, expected to cost some $3.6bn, was one of a number of grandiose schemes suspended for lack of funds at the height of the recent Asian financial crash.

The dam is part of Mahathir Mohamad's ambitions for Malaysia

The dam's construction - involving the flooding of vast areas of rainforest and the displacement of some 10,000 tribespeople - remains as controversial as ever.

Plans for the Bakun hydroelectric scheme were first drawn up in the 1980s, but it later became an integral part of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's ambitions of pitching Malaysia into the ranks of Asia's most developed nations.

Reservoir the size of Singapore

The scheme entails building a 200m-high dam across the Rejang River deep in the jungles of Sarawak in Malaysian Borneo.

The lake behind the dam will flood an area the size of Singapore and force the relocation of thousands of people.

A large tract of rainforest was to be flooded

From the start, critics said Malaysia had no need for the dam's 2400 megawatts of electricity.

This is a point bound to be reinforced by the decision to drop one of project's costliest elements: cables that would have carried the dam's electrical power hundreds of kilometres under the South China Sea to the much larger population centres on the Malaysian peninsula.

Announcing the resumption of work on the project, the Energy Minister, Leo Moggie, said the dam's entire capacity would be utilised in Sarawak or the neighbouring Malaysian State of Sabah.

Sales to Brunei and Indonesia are also possible.

'Megalomaniacs dream'

Environmentalists say Borneo's power requirements are already satisfied.

One campaigner described the Bakun Dam as a megalomaniac's dream - unaffordable and unnecessary.

For Dr Mahathir, shelving the project during the height of the Asian financial slump was a bitter disappointment.

Now, with the Malaysian economy growing fast again, he plainly believes the time is right to push ahead with a scheme expected to take up to six years to complete.