Hulu Rajang - Bakun Dam

Bakun Dam

Located within the constituency is the infamous Bakun Dam, which once completed will be the largest dam in Asia, outside of China.

The construction of the dam was delayed several times due to economic circumstances, in particular the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997. The federal government decided to continue the project, as billions of ringgit had already been spent on it. However during the early implementation stage, the plan was scaled down in order to reduce cost.

Nevertheless in January 2007, the Malaysian federal government announced its intention to reactivate the initial plan in its original size to transfer the power generated by the dam to Peninsular Malaysia via a submarine power cable.

The submarine cable will span a distance of 670 kilometres and reach the shore of Peninsular Malaysia at Yong Peng, at the state of Johor, southeastern part of the peninsular.It is expected to be completed the earliest by 2012.Before flowing through the submarine cable, the electricity will flow from Bakun to the western tip of Sarawak via over head electric transmission cables traversing a distance of 700 kilometres.The additional project is expected to cost between RM9 billion and RM10 billions.

Energy generated from the dam is expected to also benefit Sarawak, Sabah, neighbouring Kalimantan in Indonesia and southern Philippines.

The construction of the dam, however, has been accused of uprooting 11,000 Orang Ulu from their traditional homes, clear-cutting hundred of square kilometers of ancient virgin tropical rainforest with consequent losses of hundreds of endangered plants and endangered animals, and forever changing the natural environment of Sarawak.