Najib: Negotiations on Bakun dam sale yet to be concluded

BELAGA, Jan 15 — Some assessments, particularly in terms of cost, still need to be done before the sale of the Bakun hydroelectric project to the Sarawak government is finalised, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

He said negotiations were still on between the federal and Sarawak governments on the costs involved as well as several other matters.

However, Najib declined to disclose a timeline for the negotiations to be concluded when asked about progress on the matter during a press conference after attending a “Meet-the-People” session at the Uma Belor longhouse in the Sungai Asap resettlement scheme here today.

Najib, who was accompanied Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and federal and Sarawak ministers in meeting the people of the Ulu Belor longhouse, had earlier been scheduled to make a visit to the Bakun Dam but bad weather prevented his helicopter from making the flight from Bintulu.

The Bakun project whose full capacity is 2,400 megawatts is expected to generate an initial 300MW by June.

Costing RM7.3 billion, the project is owned by Sarawak Hidro Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Finance Minister Inc.

Covering an area of 69,500 hectares, impoundment of the dam began on October 13 last year. — Bernama