KUCHING: A consultative process between the affected community and the government is necessary to ascertain whether the proposed Baram hydroelectric (HEP) dam should be implemented at all.
Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau who suggested this pointed out that the prolonged blockade by a small fraction of the people affected by the project had undermined this process.
“Those people who are against the proposed Baram Dam are actually the same group who made a lot of noise when the Bakun and the Murum dams were being implemented.
“Now that both the Bakun and Murum HEP dams have been completed, they move to Baram to stir propaganda on the proposed project,” Ngau told The Borneo Post yesterday.
He said the group of people manning the blockade near Long San was closely linked to ‘Save River’, a local non-governmental organisation that has vast links with international NGOs.
“I would like to remind them that in a democratic country, the minority should not intimidate the majority. In this case, only 10 per cent of the affected people are against it, so they must give way to the majority,” Ngau pointed out.
He urged the majority of people in the affected area to support the project as it would benefit them in the long run.
According to a statement from the State Planning Unit (SPU), prior to implementing the project, there had to be a consultative process to arrive at a mutually agreed solution to settlement between affected communities and government.
SPU also pointed out the need to carry out a social and environmental impact assessment (SEIA) study covering key areas of contemporary ethnography, culture and heritage survey, and livelihood and welfare of affected communities.
It said the process to develop the proposed Baram and Baleh dams from the preliminary studies right up to their impoundment and commissioning would take at least 13 years.