SARAWAK’S Utilities Minister Stephen Rundi hinted that the state government could revisit the highly controversial proposal to build a mega hydroelectric dam on the Baram River as requests from neighbouring countries for power grow.

“We cannot look at development in a static manner,” Rundi said when he was asked at a news conference in Kuching today if requests from Sabah, Brunei and particularly Kalimantan for the state to sell them power meant more dams will have to be built.

He said the state government will have to look into it (the moratorium on the Baram dam) “when there is a need, when… it’s worth it for us.

“They keep asking for more.”

Rundi said the state is “in no hurry to reopen Baram or build another one or two large dams” to generate power to meet the state’s and export demand.

“We’ll hold on for a while. We are also concerned about the environment and the livelihood of the locals.

“It’s not all about business and making money. It’s also about social impact.

“There are so many other ways for us to get our source of energy,” he said, and gave the proposal for cascading of dams and solar farms as other alternative power generation sources.

Former chief minister Adenan Satem in 2015 placed a moratorium on the RM4 billion Baram dam project “to listen” to the ethnic tribesmen’s grouses.

The indigenous people had waged a bitter campaign to stop the construction of the dam since 2013.

The dam if built could submerge 400 sq km of their rainforest and displace 20,000 of the tribesmen there.

Rundi, alluding to Indonesia’s plan to relocate its capital to Kalimantan, said in his opening address of the International Energy Week 2020 that new developments in Indonesia’s part of Borneo “will give great benefit to Sarawak through SEB (Sarawak Electricity Bhd) to supply energy”.

He said since there is little excess of power at the moment, “we have to balance our need and the need for export”.

“When we have more than enough surplus, then I think it’s good for us to supply outside Sarawak, including Brunei.”

Rundi said apart from revisiting Baram or building large dams, the state has also looked at other new sources, like solar energy and joint ventures with foreign partners to exploit potential energy markets outside the state.

He said SEB may not have to build more dams in the state if the state-owned power company is able to find Indonesian partners to develop hydro power in Kalimantan.

The minister said there are good proposals received by some Indonesian hydro power companies and if they become a reality, “that’s the way forward”.

“If that’s the case, then energy is a real business for us.” – November 15, 2019.