MALAYSIA   

Police arrest eight tribespeople protesting dam

NOVEMBER 07, 2013

Police on Thursday arrested eight tribespeople blocking access to a dam which they say will displace them from their land.

Penans protested at road side infront the
 police makeshift near the Murum dam

Police arrested the eight Penans including two teenagers, took down banners and dismantled wooden barriers on the road to the remote US$1.3 billion (RM4.1 billion) Murum dam in Sarawak state, said activist Raymond Abin.

Abin, an official with the NGO, Save Sarawak's Rivers Network, said some 100 other Penans remained at the site to continue the blockade.

"The authorities find that this is the only way to deal with the people - refusing to deal with their demands," Abin told AFP. "The easy way is to arrest them in order to intimidate and threaten them."

A police official confirmed eight were in custody, but declined to comment further. Abin said the Penans were not told the reason for their arrest.

The Penans set up the blockade in September to demand RM500,000 ringgit for the loss of their land, property and livelihood.

The dam is expected to flood 245 square kilometres and cause 1,500 Penan and 80 Kenyah natives to lose their homes.

Sarawak Energy said the 944-megawatt dam began filling in late September and would be completed within 14 months.

It added that relocation of affected natives was set to be completed by year-end and insisted that displaced villagers were being compensated fairly.

The company dismissed the protest as "instigated" by activists.

The Murum dam is one of a series of hydroelectric facilities planned by the Sarawak state government as it pushes economic development in one of Malaysia's poorest states.

But the building spree in the resource-rich state along the powerful jungle rivers has been dogged by controversy.

Activists allege corruption, while natives complain it has flooded rainforests and uprooted thousands of people.

Hundreds of Malaysian tribespeople have blockaded the construction site of the nearby Baram dam.

While the Baram dam is expected to generate 1,200 megawatts of power, activists claim it will flood 400 square kilometres of rainforest and displace 20,000 tribespeople.

Sarawak's longtime chief minister Taib Mahmud has faced mounting accusations of enriching himself and cronies through a stranglehold on the state's economy, charges which he denies. 

- AFP, November 7, 2013.

Bakun Dam saga enters next chapter

20 April 2011

Behind The News - Yap Leng Kuen

Should project be viewed as a business deal or part of state development?

THE protracted story of the Bakun Hydroelectric Dam project, instead of ending soon, may be just going into its next chapter.

The latest saga in the tariff pricing disagreement between Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd, owner and developer of the dam, and Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB), the offtaker and state utility board, is entering its fourth scenario.

The first round of talks just after the completion of the dam looked at its possible sale or lease; subsequently, Sarawak expressed its intention to buy over the dam.

News surfaced recently that the sale of Bakun was off and that it would be operated on a joint-venture basis.

The latest is that SEB has proposed to buy a 30% stake in the project.

The power negotiations too have undergone three changes from earlier suggestions of flat to escalating tariffs. Currently, the offer is for a starting tariff of six sen per KwH.

In February this year, SEB had indicated it was willing to pay six sen per kwh but Sarawak Hidro said it needed a flat rate of 9.5 sen per kwh on a 30-year concession.

On an escalating basis, SEB had offered 5.4 sen per kwh at 1.5% per annum (inclusive of a one sen water tariff to the state); Sarawak Hidro had countered with 6.75 sen per kwh, also at 1.5% per annum.

The power purchase agreement (PPA) negotiations went on a rocky path last month with different instructions from the state and federal governments. Early last month, the PPA talks were ordered off by the state and later in the same month, the federal government expressed the desire for the PPA to be concluded as soon as possible.

The question here is whether the Bakun Dam project should be viewed as a purely business deal or part of the socio-economic development of Sarawak?

As a business deal, the Government should make every effort to recover its investments.

If it wants to play its developmental role, it may consider taking a hit and absorbing some losses while helping Sarawak to achieve its industrial goals.

Under the study conducted by PwC, it is believed that the Bakun project is valued at between RM8bil and RM10bil; however, Sarawak's latest tariff offer of six sen per kwh values it at only RM6bil.

In contrast, coal-fired tariffs cost 28 sen per kwh.

Some ask if giving a hefty discount is justified, as more expensive dams are coming up. They say it is not fair that power from Bakun has to be sold cheaply to subsidise the construction of these additional dams.

Others want to know why the cost of transmission via the new grid system is much higher, at over four sen per kwh compared with the cost of only one sen in the peninsula.

Sarawak has said it needs 6.000MW-7,000MW of power by 2020. Bakun has a capacity for 2,400MW and Murum is able to produce 944MW.

Others still pose questions on why polluting industries should take advantage of the cheap, clean power from Bakun.

These heavy industries located in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) have rebutted that they use advanced technology that do not pose a threat to the environment.

Scare tactics have been used which speculated on the possibility that the Bakun Dam project could end up being a white elephant if industries were not attracted to soak up the power at competitive rates.

Looking at the power requirements of Peninsular Malaysia beyond 2015, this power from Bakun may be transmitted back to the peninsula. Is it worth it to revive the idea of building the undersea transmission line especially in the wake of the nuclear scare and the limit on Malaysia's carbon footprint under the now expired Kyoto Protocol?

Already the pressure is on to conclude the tariff negotiations. Sarawak has signed non-binding agreements with four companies to supply power. Their plants are at the preliminary stages of planning and construction.

Source: The Star Online

URL: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/4/20/business/8516081&sec=business

State govt to meet PM to finalise Bakun purchase

3 December 2010

KUCHING: The state government will meet up with the Prime Minister to finalise the buying over of Bakun dam from the federal government, revealed Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.

The Bakun Dam project is worth a staggering RM7.3 billion and is owned by the Ministry of Finance Incorporated.

Sarawak has shown keen interest to acquire the dam as it needed extra power to implement its’ projects under the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE).

“We are going to have a meeting with the prime minister (on the Bakun Dam). We are waiting for him to arrange his time,” Taib told the media after launching the Sarawak Foundry and Engineering Industry Association Building and Automotive and Wielding Institute of Sarawak at Demak Laut Industrial Estate Phase II, here yesterday.

Sarawak has placed RM7 billion to bid for Bakun Dam.

Meanwhile, Taib who is also the Minister of Planning and Resources Management said Sarawak was targeting to harness 7,000 megawatts of power, mainly from hydro-electricity by 2020 to attract investors into SCORE.

He said among the projects that would require high-intensive power supply are aluminium smelting plants, magnesium plants, pulp and paper plants, glass panel plants and shipbuilding.

Source: The Borneo Post Online

URL: http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=78343

Cahya Mata Sarawak benefits from rollout of SCORE projects

June 5, 2010, Saturday

KUCHING: Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMS) revealed that its construction materials and manufacturing divisions continued to do well, compensating for the weakness faced in other divisions as core net profit reversed from a loss in the first quarter of the financial year 2009 (1QFY09) to RM12.1 million in the first quarter of 2010.A research report released by CIMB Investment Bank Bhd (CIMB Investment) recently noted that its revenue eased by one per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) as an 88 per cent slump in construction revenue wiped out the 15 to 18 per cent y-o-y increase in revenue from the manufacturing and construction material divisions.

The research report highlighted that CMS’ other divisions saw marginal declines in their toplines as group earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) margin expanded from 11 per cent in
1QFY09 to 13 per cent this period, driven by a five percentage point uptick in construction materials EBIT margin to 15 per cent.

EBIT margin for other profitable divisions such as manufacturing and construction, added the research firm, was between six per cent and 21 per cent.

CIMB Investment stated that the construction outlook under the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) was likely to pick up pace as various projects were likely to be rolled out in the medium term.

There was also a change in the research house’s valuation basis from 20 per cent discount to a 10 per cent. This lower discount, it added, reflected the improved construction sector outlook even though there was still no clarity on the progress of its aluminium smelter project in SCORE.

The research house indicated that the rollout of projects under SCORE was likely to gain momentum in the medium term, which could be one of the key features under the 10th Malaysian Plan. (10MP).

Source: http://www.theborneopost.com/?p=34675

What SCORE?

Written by: Dr. john Brian Anthony

No body seem to know what SCORE is.

I asked around people in town, government servants, private company’s managers, local level BN politicians, ordinary folks in coffee shop if they know what SCORE is all about.

Everybody seemed to have heard of it, but really non (not one) knows what is the concept of SCORE and what is going on in SCORE. If no body knows what SCORE is all about, how can they participated and contribute to the success of SCORE.

Personally, I have seen SCORE brochure prepared by “foreign experts / consultants”. The brochure really explain nothing or even contain useful information.

Read more here: http://dayakbaru.com/weblog08/2010/05/27/what-score/#more-8118

Chan allays concerns over Bakun power for peninsula

12 February 2010

By JACK WONG

KUCHING: The electricity generated by the Bakun hydro-electric dam in the upper Rejang River basin in central Sarawak will be exported to Peninsular Malaysia as planned.

This is because the power requirements of the energy-intensive industries to be set up in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) will be met by other hydro dams to be built.

Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri George Chan Hong Nam said Sarawak Energy Bhd’s (SEB) Murum hydro dam project, currently under construction upstream of the Bakun dam, would generate 900MW when completed by 2013.

He said the Bakun dam would initially supply power to industries like aluminium smelters to be set up in SCORE until the proposed submarine cables to transmit power from Sarawak to the peninsula were ready.

“There is no need for concern,’’ said Chan, who is also state Industrial Development Minister, when asked about a StarBiz report yesterday regarding uncertainty being raised on whether Bakun power would be sold to Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) for use in the peninsula as the electricity was needed to power the proposed aluminium smelters to be built in SCORE.

Doubts have also been raised on the fate of the proposed submarine cables if power from the Bakun dam is to be consumed by Sarawak’s energy-intensive industries.

The two aluminium smelter projects will be developed respectively by the joint ventures between GIIG Holdings Sdn Bhd and Aluminium Corp of China Ltd as well as between Rio Tinto Alcan and Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd.

The Bakun dam, which is developed by Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd, has an installed capacity of 2,400MW.

It is expected to produce its first 300MW by the end of this year and to be fully operational by 2011.

The first of the proposed submarine cables, according to Sarawak Hiro managing director Zulkifle Osman recently, is only expected to be completed in 2016, and the second cable a year later.

Each of the cable will transmit 800MW.

Under a heads of agreement signed by SEB and TNB in 2008, SEB is expected to sell 3,000MW to TNB from 2017 to 2020, and export an additional 5,000MW to TNB from 2021 to 2030.

Sarawak has the potential to generate some 20,000MW through hydro dam projects by 2030.

SEB, which generates and distributes electricity in Sarawak, was taken private by the Sarawak government recently.

Chan said the development of the proposed hydro dams had been timed to meet the requirements of industries.

These state-owned dams, like Murum, will replace Bakun to supply energy to indusrties in SCORE once Bakun starts to export its electricity to the peninsula.

The proposed dams planned by SEB include in Baram (1,000MW) and Balleh (900MW) which will be built by 2015 and 2016 respectively.

The proposed Balleh dam is also located in the upper Rejang River basin.

SEB has plans to also develop more coal-powered power stations.

Source: The Star
Link: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/2/12/business/20100212073333&sec=business

US$1b JV smelter for Sarawak

10 February 2010

By B.K. SIDHU

Syed Mokhtar’s GIIG to team up with China’s Aluminium Corp

bksidhu@thestar.com.my

PUTRAJAYA: GIIG Holdings Sdn Bhd, a company controlled by billionaire Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, and Aluminium Corp of China Ltd (Chalco), the world’s second largest producer of alumina, have teamed up to jointly develop an aluminium smelter plant in Samalaju Industrial Park in Bintulu, Sarawak at the cost of US$1bil.

The smelter plant will have an initial annual production capacity of 330,000 tonnes but it could rise to 1.25 million tonnes.

GIIG director Shahrir Shariff said construction of the plant would begin in the first quarter of next year, with completion expected in 36 months.

The project would source power from the 2,400MW Bakun dam.

Smelter Asia Sdn Bhd will be the special purpose vehicle that will develop the smelter plant, and it will have three shareholders, namely GIIG Holdings Sdn Bhd, Chalco and a Sarawak company.

Details on the equity portion for the shareholding structure were not provided as it was still being worked out but Shahrir told reporters after the signing ceremony yesterday that Malaysian shareholders would hold a majority stake in the venture.

Both GIIG and Chalco entered into a heads of agreement yesterday to develop the smelter plant, witnessed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and former premier Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The idea of setting up an aluminium smelter in Sarawak was first mooted in 2002 to capture part of the growing demand for aluminium in Asia, with plans to use excess power from the Bakun Project.

With the agreement inked, Shahrir said talks with Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) for the purchase of power for the smelter project would resume and that he hoped to “get a reasonable rate for the supply of energy for the plant.’’ The plant would need 600MW of power.

“We are looking at debt and equity funding for the smelter and talking to some Chinese and other banks,’’ he said when asked on how the project would be funded.

Chalco’s shares are jointly listed on the New York Stock Exchange and the stock exchanges of Hong Kong and Shanghai.

It owns and operates 31 companies and subsidiaries across China, has assets worth US$20bil and recorded group revenue of US$11.3bil for 2008.

Najib said the JV between Malaysia and China to develop an aluminium smelting plant in Samalaju Industrial Park reflected the confidence the Chinese government and investors had in making large investments in the country, and in Sarawak specifically.

“This gives a positive sign to the investment climate in Malaysia. I hope this marks a recovery in economy this year. Many more foreign investments should be flowing into our country,’’ Najib said.

He added that the development of the smelting industry in Sarawak would also provide a strong drive in the development of Score (Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy).

Industries that use energy and that can generate high income, as well as high-value and high-tech industries can be located in Sarawak, according to Najib.

Smelter Asia will be the second smelter project in the Samalaju Industrial Park, after another project by Salco, which is a 40:60 joint venture between Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd and Rio Tinto Alcan (a subsidiary of Rito Tinto Aluminium, a leading global mining company based in Australia).

On whether there was still room to locate large smelting plants in Sarawak, Najib said: “Two licences have been given out. That is the commitment by the Government. We just have to work out the supply of power.”

He did not name the licensee but Smelter Asia said it had obtained all the necessary licences from the International Trade and Industry Ministry while it is learnt that Comalco, now known as Rio Tinto, also has a licence to set up a smelter plant in Sarawak.

Last month the State Grid of China, the world’s largest utility company, inked an agreement with 1Malaysia Development Bhd as the former has plans to invest in Sarawak’s economic corridor.

Some of the projects these parties may jointly pursue include an aluminium smelter and three hydropower plants, but details are still sketchy.

Source: The Star
Link: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2010/2/10/business/5647727&sec=business