Hydropower important for S’wak: Taib

MIRI: Sarawak cannot afford to have its plans to tap its hydroelectric generation potential derailed by those who had no interest in seeing the people in the state enjoying a better life, Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said here Saturday.
Branding those who opposed the plans as “struggling on a narrow single line crusade,” he said the group had failed to look at the problem of developing Sarawak as a whole.
Taib, who is also state Resource Planning and Management Minister, said Sarawak needed to convert its rich water resource into an income-generating commodity to cope with the growing expenditure faced in implementing development projects in the state.
He said part of the power generated from the hydroelectric projects in the state would be used for the development of industries in the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (Score) that had been expected to create more employment opportunities in the state and enhance its economic position.
Sarawak plans to build 12 hydroelectric dams at Ulu Air, Metjawah, Belaga, Baleh, Belepeh, Lawas, Tutoh, Limbang, Baram, Murum and Linau rivers. The plan will also see an extension to the Batang Ai Dam. All these dams are in addition to the 2,400MW Bakun Dam which will push up the total power generating capacity in Sarawak to 7,000MW by 2020, an increase of more than 600 percent from the current capacity.
Taib also said water consumers would have to share the government's burden in providing clean water supply in the state.
Dismissing the notion that the government should not charge consumers for water supply, he said the task of bringing clean water to meet the people's needs involved expenditure.
"I don't believe any state government can give free (clean) water (supply), regardless of which party is in power," he added in an apparent reference to the attempt by the PKR-led Selangor government to supply free water for people in the state.
He had earlier launched the World Water Day celebration here. - Bernama