KUCHING: The construction of the proposed Baleh hydroelectric power (HEP) dam is not expected to face any resettlement problems but a Customs, Immigration Quarantine (CIQ) post at Long Singut must be built as the dam area is expected stretch up to the border with Kalimantan.
Bringing the issue up yesterday, Baleh assemblyman Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing said the CIQ post at Long Singut ,a transit settlement located at the upper reaches of the Baleh River, had to be built to prevent the influx of illegal immigrants from Indonesia.
“Long Singut itself is a known transit point where people from the other side of the border could easily reach and they would use it to come to our state. So there is an urgency in building the CIQ there even before the proposed Baleh HEP dam is built,” Masing told The Borneo Post here yesterday.
He warned that if the matter was not addressed urgently, it would be even much easier for the people from West Kalimantan to come over to Sarawak once the dam was completed in the near future.
“As such the CIQ should be our top priority now that the government has given a green light for the dam to be built,” said the Land Development Minister.
On resettlement, Masing said there were about 30 longhouses along the Baleh River which might be affected by the construction of road leading to the site of the dam but no longhouse will be affected by the impoundment of the dam.
“The dam site is situated upstream where there are no inhabitants. It is built up on higher grounds above the longhouses. No longhouse is affected. So resettlement is not necessary,” Massing reiterated.
However, he pointed out that the road linking Kapit to the dam site may pass through some longhouses but he was uncertain at this stage if any longhouses would be affected by road building.
As such, Masing welcomed the project because following the construction of the dam will be road connectivity.
“With the building of the dam and the subsequent road connectivity, the furthest longhouse in Baleh will be accessible by road. It will be interesting to see what kind of development will be brought about by road connectivity,” stressed Masing.
SEB chief executive officer Datuk Torstein Dale Sjotveit recently told a national English daily that the company had tendered out three of eight major work packages for Baleh HEP dam project, adding that the tenders for the project’s explosive magazine and diversion tunnels packages had closed and the bidders were now being evaluated.
The Balleh HEP has a generating capacity of 1,400 MW.-Borneo Post
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