Bakun Dam ‘Unsafe’! – Exclusive Evidence on Corner-Cutting and Sloppy Construction Practices
By Sarawak Report
Devastating information has come into the hands of Sarawak Report, which throws terrifying doubt over the safety of the Bakun Dam!
Inside information, which includes documents, photographs and videos, has been passed over to us by former a Quality Controller, who says concerns about sloppy procedures and cost-cutting measures were ignored by the bosses at Sinohydro.
The sensational video footage [below] clearly shows workers hosing extra water into the cement mixers before it is pumped into the dam, which is visible in the background. Our information is that this forbidden practice was endemic on the project and that poor quality control procedures allowed it to happen.
It is well-known that the Chinese contractors were under extreme pressure from the Malaysian Government during the period up to 2009 to get the dam finished as quickly and cheaply as possible, after a series of delays and cost over-runs.
The informant who spoke to Sarawak Report told us:
“We compromised all the time to speed up the project”
The total failure of Quality Control that amounted to negligence
Ready to inundate – Bakun was Taib’s pet project. It has been bailed out by the Employee Provident Fund, Malaysia’s main public service pension fund.
Bakun has been filling since last October and it is now just 15 meters short of full inundation. An area the size of Singapore has been flooded to accommodate the hydro-electric project, which sits up-river of tens of thousands of inhabitants, including the major city of Sibu.
However many believe that it will turn out to be a White Elephant as no genuine use has been found to justify its construction. Now the whole integrity of the project is thrown into question by the major concerns our information will now raise over the safety of its construction.
The key problem, according to our informant, has been a total failure of the Quality Control measures, which are supposed to ensure the dam is built to proper specifications.
He complains that there were “definitely not enough” Quality Controllers hired for the project and that therefore it was impossible to carry out adequate supervision across the many different work points on the enormous site.
