Disaster looming over Bakun

Joseph Tawie | August 25, 2011

KUCHING: An impending disaster is looming over Bakun Dam following the state government’s failure to implement the recommendations detailed in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report, according to environmentalist Dr Ellie Luhat.

Luhat, who is the chairman of Bakun Community Safety Committee (BCSC), warned that disaster would strike the area in the next three to five years.

“There was a study of the EIA reports where recommendations were made. But somehow when the implementation was done, these recommendations were forgotten.

“One of the recommendations was that we get rid of as much as possible the biomass – the trees, branches, twigs, scrubs, and plants – before the dam is to be impounded.

“But they failed to get rid of all these.

“Over the years, these trees, branches and twigs will get rotten and become very toxic to the water and fish.

“According to the EIA reports, if they are not removed, such toxic can cause environmental disaster in three to five years’ time,” he told FMT.

The RM7.2billion Bakun Dam has come under severe criticism over its shoddy construction, safety, displacement of the indigenous communities, health hazards and its impact on the environment

Deaths and isolation

Earlier this week, it was reported that some 30,000 residents in the Kapit, Belaga and Nanga Merit upriver areas were cut off from the rest of the world because the voluminous Rajang River had depleted following the impoundment of the Bakun Dam.

The current dry spell and the channelling of the Rajang water to the Bakun Dam were blamed for the situation.

State Land Development Minister James Masing in an immediate reaction said he anticipated the situation to worsen.

His pessimism was further confirmed when the management of Bakun hydro-electric dam reportedly said that the water is expected to be released through the spillways in October.

Said Luhat: “We have to anticipate this (disaster) will occur… there were signs but no one is observing all these things.”

“The EIA recommendations must be implemented,” he said.

Early this month, some 10 people working in the Bakun area had reportedly died of mysterious ailments.

But state health director Dr Zulkifli Jantan quashed speculations of mysterious diseases and “curses from angry spirits” in the Bakun area when he confirmed that some of the deaths were due to “melioidosis” and “leptospirosis” diseases.

(Leptospirosis is present in rat urine while melioidosis is a water-and-earth-borne bacteria. The symptoms of the former include dry cough, fever, headache, diarrhoea and vomiting. Symptoms of the latter include pain in chest, bones, or joints and skin infections.)

Luhat, who had brought the deaths to light, said: “Now the cause has been confirmed. I believe what has been revealed by the director is only the tip of the iceberg.”