Yahoo News 26 Sep 10;
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – The Malaysian state of Sarawak has offered the federal government 1.94 billion dollars to acquire the problem-hit Bakun dam in Borneo, a report said Sunday.
Condemned as a catastrophe for the environment and tribal people, the mega-dam, which is nearing completion, has been battling suggestions it could become a giant white elephant in the relatively undeveloped state.
"We have made our bid. The bid is flexible in the sense that if the method of payment can be made lighter we can increase a bit more, but there is limit to what we can pay," chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud was quoted as saying by Bernama news agency.
Sarawak state offered 6.0 billion ringgit (1.94 billion dollars), the report said. The Star daily reported in July that the federal government was seeking 8.0 billion ringgit.
Veteran opposition lawmaker Lim Kit Siang said that the offer would effectively constitute a bailout of the troubled project.
"In all appearances it seems it is a bailout. If it is so, it is at the expense of state coffers in Sarawak. I think Malaysians are entitled to full details of the sale," he told AFP.
Transparency International has labelled Bakun a "monument of corruption", while newspaper reports questioned how Malaysia's government can ever recover the money it has sunk into the project.
The dam, which involves flooding an area the size of Singapore, has been dogged by delays and setbacks since its approval in 1993.
Most recently, it has struggled to get the state government's permission to begin flooding.
There has also been fierce criticism over its environmental impact and over the botched relocation of 15,000 indigenous people.
