MIRI: The Pelieran-Murum Penan Affairs Committee and residents of Penan villages affected by the proposed Murum Hydroelectric Dam project want to have a say in the ‘Social and Environmental Impact Assessment’ report.As such, they are urging the state government not to approve the report until they and members of the public had scrutinised it.
In a press release issued by chairman Surang Alung, the committee said various parties which claimed to be doing some studies related to the Murum dam project had visited them on and off throughout the whole of last year.
“We were told that the government had carried out the Social and Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) in order to study the impacts of the Murum dam project on our community.
“Up till now we still do not know the actual progress, whether the said studies and the SEIA report, as well as other related reports, have been completed and ready for public scrutiny.
“We would like to state here that, before the approval is given to the said SEIA report, we urge the government, especially the authority concerned, the Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB), to provide an opportunity to the public at large to scrutinise the SEIA report. And most importantly, our opinions and feedbacks on the said SEIA report should be seriously taken into account,” they said.
They reasoned that as they were directly affected by the dam project, they should be continually updated on its progress.
The government, they added, should also brief them on specific development plans that were related to the resettlement programme.
Sumber : BorneoPost Online
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