SEIA Study On Proposed Murum Project

July 23, 2009 15:51 PM

BINTULU, July 23 (Bernama) -- Sarawak will embark on a Social Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) on the proposed Murum hydroelectric project near Belaga soon, the first of its kind ever to be carried out in the country.

State planning unit's principal assistant director (environment and natural resources) Andrew Tukau Salang said an independent consultant would be appointed to carry out the study.

He said this when presenting a paper on development plans for the state and human rights consideration at a forum, 'Implementing Hydroelectric and Reservoir Dam Projects While Preserving Human Rights and the Environment' here on Thursday.

Organised by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam), the forum was attended by over 60 participants representing communities affected by dam development projects, non-governmental organisations and several government agencies.

Salang said SEIA's implementation came as another initiative by the government to comply with local and international laws on environmental preservation measures in their development programmes.

Andrew said the study would see social impacts of the project to be covered in greater detail, in addition to prescribed activities, development impacts, environmental assessment and mitigation measures previously included under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

He noted that the study would be an important aspect to the preparation of the Murum hydroelectric project which had been planned to have an installed capacity of 944 MegaWatt (MW) of electricity to meet the energy needs of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) development program.

"The state is determined to make Murum a benchmark for future dam developments and it will be different from the previous projects," he added.

-- BERNAMA