Seven-month flooding of the 205m-deep Bakun reservoir begins

By STEPHEN THEN
stephenthen@thestar.com.my

Photos by ZULAZHAR SHEBLEE

AN EERIE silence has descended on the Bakun Valley in central Sarawak following the impoundment of the Bakun Dam starting last Wednesday.

StarMetro visited the site 24 hours after the flooding start

ed and found it deserted.

The more than 4,000 workers who laboured at the site during the height of the dam’s construction from 1996 to this year have left. So have the hundreds of trucks, excavators, shovels, four-wheel drives and drilling and blasting machinery.

Gush: Water released from a diversion tunnel at the dam.

Many have been transported to the Murum Valley, 70km in

land for the construction of the Murum Dam.

The housing quarters in Bakun built by dam developer and manager Sarawak Hidro were also deserted except for several bungalows occupied by the engineers and site manag

ers overseeing the flooding of the reservoir.

They will be there for the next seven months or so until the 205m-high dam

is completely flooded.

New fate: The dried up downstream of Sungai Balui caused by the impoundment.

Once the water is at the 195m mark, the turbines can be tested.

When this is successfully done and electricity generation starts, only a handful of technical staff will be left in Bakun.

“All these areas will be flooded,” said Sarawak Hidro managing director and chief engineer Zulkifle Osman while sweeping his hands across the Bakun Valley from a high vantage point.

“Not many of us (Sarawak Hidro staff) are left. The physical construction is completed except for a few finishing touches.”

Sad moment: Akid Lopeng (right) and her daughter Akid Sidek reminiscing over the dried up downstream of Sungai Balui caused by the impoundment of the Bakum dam.

The Balui River, on which the dam is sited, is rising after the river diversion tunnels were closed last Wednesday.

Bakun folk and Sarawak Hidro are in the process of saving priceless ancestral heritage and rare flora and fauna.

Denis Hang Bilang, the Bakun joint committee secretary for Lepuun, Lebu Kulit, Uma Bakah, Uma Lesung and Uma Balui Ukap, said last Wednesday that Zulkifle had agreed that Sarawak Hidro would liaise with Sarawak Museum to salvage ancestral heritage ranging from burial remains to monuments of warriors from ancient times.

“Sarawak Hidro will also build a jetty and a rest house for our use and will forward our remaining grouses on compensation and land claims to the Prime Minister,” he added.

Source: The Star

URL: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=%2F2010%2F10%2F19%2Fsarawak%2F7245601&sec=sarawak