KUCHING: Residents from four villages affected by the construction of the RM310 million Bengoh Dam will not moved until the government pay full compensations on their houses, crops, lands and their other properties.
The government has only compensated their houses and lands that are filled by the dam’s water, but not their farm lands and their NCR lands.
Thus, the affected 359 villages demanded the government to pay everything to them before they move out to the resettlement area in Kampung Semadang.
The RM310 million Bengoh Dam project began in August 2007 and is set to be fully completed in December this year despite a slight delay.
Coordinator for the Bengoh Dam Resettlement Committee, Pemanca Austin Dimin when queried about issues admitted that there are few unsettled matters which need to be addressed.
“It was true that the affected people wanted all their land to be compensated including those land which are not filled with the dam’s water,” he said.
He said a total of 1,600 people from the four villages – Kampung Taba Sait, Rejoi, Bojong and Semban were affected by the project.
“There are 155 families who are now squatting in their parent’s house and had demanded the government give them a free house at the resettlement area if they need to move there,” said Dimin.
Dimin said 204 units of houses costing RM48,000 each unit will be built at the resettlement to be purchased by the resettlers.
He said the government is now looking into the social aspect of the affected residents as there was no social aspect studies conducted prior to the implementation of the project.
The RCC technology also ensures a good and lasting dam, which has been proven in many developed countries.
The Bengoh Dam is the second project in
The slight delay was also due to multiple factors including heavy rain at the end of last year and early this year.
The production of raw water from the Bengoh Dam is anticipated to meet the increasing demand of the city and greater Kuching and Samarahan area until 2030.
Once completed, the dam would store about 144.1 million cubic metres of water, hence increasing the daily raw water production at the Batu Kitang treatment plant from 786 to 2047 mega litres per day (MLD).
Presently the reservoir at Batu Kitang, which provides most of the domestic and industrial water supply in Kuching, only has a capacity of 786 MLD while the current demand for water in Kuching alone is 635 MLD.
The concern now was to complete the resettlement programme involving 359 families affected by the project.
The building of roads that link Kampung Semadang and the resettlement area began early this year, and is about 70 percent completed.
Syarikat Perumahan National Berhad (SPNB) will provide allocation and build the houses for the affected villagers, but so far at the moment is site clearing is underway.
Earlier this year Energy, Green Technology and Water Minister Datuk Peter Chin had said he would talk to Syarikat Perumahan National Berhad (SPNB) to speed up the allocations and build the houses for the affected villagers as fast as possible and the affected families are expected to move to the resettlement area in June next year.
Naim Holdings Berhad is the main contractor for both the Bengoh Dam and the connecting road to the resettlement area.
Chin has also said the state government was also seriously looking at redesigning the dam into a three mega watt mini-hydro, which will be connected to the main grid.
