South Korea’s Dong Ah Construction has said that it is two months ahead of schedule on its river diversion tunnel as part of Malaysia’s controversial 2,400 MW Bakun hydro-electric project.
Dong Ah project manager Jung Hyunik said: “We are ahead by at least two months.”
Work on the tunnel resumed last November after being suspended by the Asian financial crisis in 1997.
The tunnel project, which will divert the Bakun river in Sarawak from the dam site, is the first stage of the US$3.5 billion dam scheme to go ahead.
The Malaysian government is expected to invite tenders for the main dam construction in July or August next year.
Construction is planned to start in 2002 with completion in about five years.
But the dam has been criticised for causing environmental damage including the forced relocation of more than 9,000 indigenous villagers.
On present electricity growth rates of between 6%-12% cent a year, the Bakun dam, with eight turbine generators, will meet the power needs of both Sarawak and neighbouring Sabah for 20 years.
