KL may scale back dam project

KL may scale back dam project

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia may scale back plans to build Southeast Asia's largest hydroelectric dam in Sarawak state on Borneo island due to insufficient demand for energy, a weekly newspaper said Sunday.

The Bakun scheme is designed to have eight turbines generating 300 megawatts each but it may be reduced to only four turbines, effectively cutting capacity by half to only 1,200 megawatt, the Edge weekly quoted sources as saying.

Dam operator Sarawak Hidro, which is wholly-owned by the finance ministry, is weighing an original plan to build up capacity gradually in phases as and when demand picks up, the sources said.

"That is one of the considerations being looked into. The main problem now is that Bakun is being built to generate a maximum of 2,400 megawatts but except for the aluminium smelter which is willing to take 1,000 megawatts, there are no firm takers for the remaining power," said a source.

The smelter refers to a US$2-billion project in Sarawak state by GIIG Capital, which is controlled by tycoon Syed Mokhtar Albukhary, but the fate of this project itself is in question after its Dubai-based partner pulled out last month. -- AFP