Tuesday 27 January 2015

Go for small dams, Mahathir tells Sarawak government



KUCHING, Jan 27, 2015: Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he prefers Sarawak to build a smaller, not mega, dams as being proposed by the state government.

"Mega dams destroy the environment,  forests, inundate large areas of land and displace many people," he said in his keynote address at the opening of the International Energy Week 2015 here.

Sarawak, under former Chief Minister Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, had plans to build 12 mega dams which are capable of generating about 30,000MW of electricity.

Only Batang Ai dam (100MW)  is in operational while Murum dam (944MW) has just been completed.