ANOTHER WATER DAM IN SIPITANG/TENOM?

By : DR NICHOLAS JAMES GUNTOBON

IT HAD come to our knowledge that the Federal Government and the State Government have plans to build even more water dams in Sabah, and one that is imminent is the proposed hydro-electric dam over Sungai Padas in upper Tomani at the border of Tenom and Sipitang districts.

With the failure of the proposed Tambatuon Dam over Kadamaian River in Kota Belud, the authority shifted to new locations. There is no problem with building water dams, but the government must plan them well. And in this case a responsible government must take into account the people, the natives as stakeholders in the project.

Not only the villagers in the vicinity of a proposed dam would be adversely affected but others as well, either negatively or positively, just like in the many cases in neigbouring Sarawak. Unless of course if you build a dam in a non-populated area.

In the proposed Ulu Tomani Hydro-Electric Dam, it was said the 125 meter-dam would create a 12 kilometre length of reservoir all the way up to Meligan and Ketanun rivers in Sipitang.

State Reform Party (STAR) while welcoming government efforts to provide steadier electricity and water supply, we also note that such high-impact projects must engage the views and apprehension of the people and local leaders in the vicinity.

Do not isolate them from your planning or else the projects would be harder to sell. The trend of the current government in not getting the people to participate in decision-making early in such projects is regrettable. It seems these leaders never learned their lessons.

We can save public money if we carry out, even at feasibility stage, high-impact projects by engaging the local populations. As we all know, lands-related matters are hot buttons now in Sabah, the authority should better be more transparent and open in their development plans. No one like the word "relocations" especially involving a government that has its image tarnished as far as dams are concerned.

We are also always apprehensive on the safety audit of such big infrastructure projects like water dams, as many public projects do not seem to match with safety standard. One case that continues to raise question is the Kimanis-Keningau Road itself. Did it pass its safety audit ?

In many parts of the Kimanis road, it seem the steep area is just too extremely long for vehicle to stand, raising unanswered queries from the public. We should not take for granted that the proposed water dams are safety-compliant under such absent of stringent monitoring as in the case of a collapsed Trengganu's newly built stadium not very long time ago.

We call on the authority to be transparent and responsible, and not just bulldoze its projects for reasons best known to them.