Bakun Dam ‘is an economic rip-off’
By Joseph Tawie, Free Malaysia Today
The construction of the Bakun and seven other dams plus the coal-fired power plants are economic rip-offs – they are Sarawak’s own get-rich-quick schemes.
“The massive sums involved in building these large dams would certainly guarantee handsome profits for the privileged project proponents,” said See Chee How, Sarawak PKR information chief.
“This is not development for Sarawak, but an economic rip-off. Sarawak-owned get-rich-quick schemes have exhausted our timber resources.
“Almost all our agricultural land have been leased out,” he said when commenting on the astronomical costs of constructing the Bakun Dam.
PKR, he said, wants the government to set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry or a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry to find out the final costs of the Bakun hydro-electric project and where the money has gone to.
“The commission should also re-examine the cost-benefit analysis and the economic viability of the Bakun project,” said See.
See added that the original cost was estimated at RM3.95 billion in 1983 and RM4.09 billion in 1985. With cost overruns and compensation for delays and interests, the final tag is believed to have escalated to RM15 billion today.
“But Malaysians have been kept in the dark as to the final costs and where the substantial additional sums have gone to,” he said.
