Anti-dam movement warns political pacts of going ahead with Papar dam

 

An anti-dam NGO based in Ulu Papar, Sabah, has sent a strong message that it will reject any Sabah state government that supports the proposed Papar dam amid the ongoing state election.

In a statement, the Taskforce Against Kaiduan Dam (Takad), which claimed to represent 3,000 villagers from nine villages that would be affected if the dam is built, urged that whoever comes to power to cancel the RM3 billion dam project.

"We do not want a government that supports the Papar dam," stressed Takad chairperson Diana Sipail (above), without naming any political pacts contesting in the state polls.

Originally named the Kaiduan dam, the controversial project was proposed by the previous BN administration in 2008.

Warisan and Pakatan Harapan had pledged to scrap the dam in the run- up to the 2018 general election, which they later did.

However, they later announced the Papar dam project, citing a need to increase water supply in the state. Then-chief minister Mohd Shafie Apdal also argued that the new dam was under a different district.

Taskforce Against Kaiduan Dam (Takad)

Sipail, who spoke on the issue at a virtual press conference jointly organised with the National Human Rights Network, argued that both dams are one and the same as the same villages and the same people would be affected by its construction.

"The Papar dam will flood the seven villages in Ulu Papar in the Penampang district and cause two other villages to be relocated as they are too close to the Papar River," she said.

She added that the Papar dam would also have a severe impact on the Crocker mountain range which sits along the west coast of Sabah and is a Unesco biosphere reserve.

The dam is expected to be between 150 to 200 meters high and will inundate 522 hectares of land

The massive project, which is in the Moyog constituency, is expected to be a difficult hurdle for Warisan candidate Darell Leiking.

Two of Leiking's opponents in Moyog - LDP and PCS - are taking the stance of opposing the dam project.

Takad, which had been campaigning against the dam project for the past 11 years, had previously campaigned for Harapan and Warisan during the 14th general election.

This chiefly because the group had been won over by their promise to cancel Kaiduan Dam project. - Mkini