SEB conducts SEIA on proposed Baram HEP Dam to determine feasibility

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KUCHING: Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), project developer of the proposed Baram hydroelectric power (HEP) dam, is currently carrying out the Social Environmental Impact Assessement (SEIA) and soil investigation as part of the feasibility study undertaken during the pre-project implementation phase, its project director Tan Chuan Ngan said today.

He said the findings from the feasibility study would form the basis for the decision on the proposed Baram HEP by the state government after all the studies had been done.

“We have been very clear in our communication with the affected communities that no construction work on the dam has taken place in Baram. The only work that was conducted on the ground was the preliminary soil investigation by our contractor for purposes of ascertaining the site condition as part of the assessment process,” he said in a statement issued by SEB here.

He said in recent weeks, the anti-HEP project non-governmental organisations in Baram had been rallying the indigenous communities in Baram to join in the protest against the preliminary feasibility works undertaken by the contractor appointed by SEB to determine the condition of the site.

Hence, it was shocking to discover that core samples taken from the soil investigation that had been carried out earlier were destroyed by the protestors, he said.

Prior consent from village headmen and the Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) had been obtained before the work started and up until Oct 23 this year, he said, the soil investigation work was going on smoothly and done with the goodwill of the communities. — BERNAMA