Bakun Dam now in Sarawak hands

BAKUN: The 210m-high Bakun hydroelectric dam is now under the full control of Sarawak, which means the state government will take charge of power generation and supply statewide.

It became official after Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak travelled to the dam in central Sarawak for the handing-over ceremony in the presence of Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg and Bakun community chiefs and villagers.

The dam was built in 1996 at a cost of RM9bil and was under the management of Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd, which operated under the Finance Ministry.

Following the handover, Sarawak energy provider Sarawak Energy Bhd takes full control.

Najib said he was “returning” Bakun Dam, which was developed when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was prime minister.

“Tun Mahathir built Bakun Dam, but it was controlled by the Federal Government. So at that time, although Bakun was in Sarawak, its power generation was controlled by the Federal Government in the peninsula.

“Now, I hand over Bakun to you since it belongs to Sarawak.

“Sarawak will have total control now over electricity generation and supply. Sarawak now also has the cheapest electricity tariff in Malaysia,” the Prime Minister said at the ceremony.

He added that Sarawak’s power tariff was 28.2 sen per kilowatt hour, compared to 39.45 sen in the peninsula and 34.52 sen in Sabah.

Under the handover deal, Sarawak will pay Putrajaya RM2.5bil, with the state government taking over the remaining RM6.4bil debt.

Najib, who is on a two-day working visit to the state, said Bakun was the biggest dam in the region and was capable of generating 2,400MW.

He said with full control of the dam, Sarawak would attract mega investments in heavy industry as the state produced cheap energy in abundance, which was also green.

Addressing a meet-the-people session and the launch of the Marudi Bridge project later, Najib said the Federal Govern­ment had a masterplan for continuous development of Sarawak.

The Prime Minister said the masterplan could be realised because he had an excellent relationship with Abang Johari.

“We want Sarawak to move forward continuously because it has great potential for development,” he said.

Najib added that in his desire to see Sarawak develop further, he had visited the state 60 times in connection with 161 prog­rammes since he took over as Prime Minister in 2009.