This Long Paren villager is tasked with maintaining the micro-hydro dam at his village.
KUCHING: The micro-hydro dam project that is successfully implemented at Long Lawen – a Kenyah village in Belaga – is ideal for implementation at remote villages in the upper Baram, says Save Rivers Sarawak chairman Peter Kallang.
Save Rivers Sarawak, he added, would work with other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the elected representative in the area to implement micro-hydro projects in rural Baram,
“The implementation of such projects in rural areas, especially in Baram, under the ‘Baram Conservation Initiative’ is most viable and sustainable in the long run.
“It is in pursuit of an alternative development model under the initiative that we have decided to learn from Long Lawen,” Kallang said when contacted yesterday.
He said the micro-hydro equipment used in Long Lawen cost only about RM50,000 to RM60,000.
“But the total cost of implementation would be at least RM200,000 as we need to get the pipes, wiring and poles to distribute power from the micro-hydro to residents of the 50-door village,” said Kallang.
He said he was confident that the Long Lawen micro-hydro project could be copied and implemented in other remote villages in Baram. He was on Thursday leading a 12-member delegation from Baram to visit the village.
“The Baram delegation is deeply inspired by the Long Lawen Kenyah community for their ability to produce enough power from its micro-hydro plant to light up every 50 family in the village.
“As such, we want the government to pursue the community-centred development project because it is their right to choose the kind of development they want.”
He added that the ‘Baram Conservation Initiative’ was a community-driven effort meant to protect the rainforest, establish sustainable livelihood, and prevent the expansion of large-scale commercial agriculture and extractive industries in the region.
Kallang said the Kenyahs of Long Lawen originally came from Long Gang who resisted the Bakun Resettlement Scheme to settle at Sungai Asap.
He said they had been able to build a community-managed micro-hydro project after they resettled in Long Lawen and the project had been running without major disruption since 2002.
Meanwhile, Gara Jalong, headman of Long Lawen was proud to explain to the visitors that a key feature contributing to the project’s success was the participation of the community in the installation and operation of the micro-hydro project.
Gara said the villagers were charged only a nominal fee, which then would be used to pay a
villager to maintain the system.
Another good thing about the micro-hydro project, Gara said, was that it required minimal technical knowledge to maintain, which meant that it could be easily replicated in other rural settings.
“Micro-hydro is a model that we can follow. This is what we want. We want the government to bring this type of development to us,” said Panai Irang, a delegate from Ba Abang, a Penan village in middle Baram, which would have been submerged by the impoundment of the now-cancelled Baram dam.
“We want to live on our ancestral land and alternative energy schemes like micro-hydro provide the development that we need in our communities without the destruction of our environment and culture.”