Video: Cursed Baram Dam

News: PKR: Press Metal Sarawak waiting for Taib’s nod

KUCHING: Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, whose family owns Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS), is unperturbed by global mining giant Rio Tinto PLC’s RM7 billion ‘pullout’ because another investor, Press Metal Sarawak, is believed to be “ready and waiting” to start an aluminium smelter plant.

Press Metal, which has been operating in Mukah since September 2009, is already producing some 300,000 metric tonnes of various aluminium products.

It is apparently one of the two investors which Taib had alluded to in his response to Rio Tinto’s decision to scrap plans to invest RM7 billion in an aluminium smelting plant here.

Press Metal is a Malaysian-based aluminium company with extensive global presence.

The existence of the Mukah plant however only came to light last year after longhouse residents at Rumah Bansan, and five other longhouses in Mukah, claimed they have been suffering from a ‘mysterious’ illness causing their skins to be itchy, various skin diseases, headaches, coughing, breathing difficulties and other health problems.

The villagers claimed that fish, vegetables, fruit trees and the surrounding areas were also affected and blamed their difficulties to the nearby aluminium plant.

Said state PKR vice-chairman See Chee How, when commenting on Rio Tinto’s decision: “Losing the ‘anchor’ aluminium smelting plant project could be a blessing in disguise.

“It’s an opportunity for the Sarawak state government to review its decision and drop its plan to construct the 12 mammoth (hydro-electric) dams in Sarawak.

“However, we are aware that Press Metal Sarawak may step in to replace Rio Tinto Alcan.”
Laxed laws

See, who is the Batu Lintang assemblyman, Sarawak’s relaxed environmental protection legislatures and policies was appealing to multi-national conglomerates.

“Together with the other multi-national conglomerates which are interested to exploit our cheaper hydropower resources and our relaxed environmental protection legislatures and policies, Sarawak will be pervaded by the world most polluting industries in aluminium smelting, manganese smelting, ferro-alloy smelting and polycrystalline silicon plant

“Until today, Sarawakians are kept in the dark as to the environmental impact these industries will have on the state and the Similajau region in particular,” See said.

He also pointed out that it was unlikely that these industries will create job opportunites for locals.

“We are skeptical that these industries will create job opportunities for local Sarawakians as it is reliably learned that one of the manganese smelting companies had doubted the capability of locals to withstand the heat and it has already engaged an employment agency to recruit workers from India and China.

“In addition, these industries will not be generating revenues for the state as they are enjoying a 10-year tax exemption which is the very reasons these industries are setting up their smelting plants in Sarawak,” he said.

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/03/30/pkr-press-metal-sarawak-waiting-for-taibs-nod/

News: Tengah: More companies keen to pursue smelter project with CMS

KUCHING: The termination of agreements by Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMS) and Rio Tinto Aluminium (M) Sdn Bhd (RTA) along with Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) for an aluminium smelter plant in Bintulu does not mean an end to the proposed project.

According to Second Resource Planning and Environment Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan there are many companies waiting in line to take over RTA’s place.

“In any case, we have actually a long list of keen takers from China and the Middle East. They are ready to take up whatever access power that we have,” he said.

Awang Tengah said the agreements between CMS and Rio Tinto along with SEB were terminated by mutual agreement after a failed negotiation on electricity tariff.

He said the state did not incur any loss due to the termination of the agreements.

“After a long discussion and negotiation, unfortunately we fail to come to the commercial agreement with regards to the electricity tariffs. The parties involved could not agree to the commercial agreement, hence RTA agreed to terminate the agreements.

“Our main concern is not who will take up the place, but how my men can allocate power to the investors as the Bakun Hydro is almost all committed. We hope for the Murum Hydro to be completed soon to provide power for more investors and energy intensive industries.

“Currently at Samalaju there are four (heavy industries) on the ground, and recently we have approved 20 more,” Tengah revealed.

Announcing the termination of the agreements on Tuesday, CMS Group managing director Datuk Richard Curtis said CMS had for several years been working to establish the aluminium smelter project.

However, the parties involved had not been able to finalise commercial power supply terms with SEB to meet the parties’ current financial considerations and economic imperatives.

“As a result RTA and CMS have agreed that they would cease to pursue plans to jointly develop the proposed aluminium smelter in Samalaju but remain open to other future possible collaborations,” said Curtis.


Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/3/29/sarawak/11005374&sec=sarawak

News: Taib confident CMS-Rio Tinto no-deal won’t affect SCORE, sees new player coming

KUCHING: The scrapping of plans for an aluminium smelter project in Bintulu by Cahya Mata Sarawak Bhd (CMS) and Rio Tinto Aluminium (M) Sdn Bhd (RTA) will not affect the implementation of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE).

Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said the termination of the agreements by both parties along with Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) did not matter because there were two other companies in the waiting list for aluminium smelter projects.

“In fact, I am short of power at the moment for aluminium (smelters). I can only accommodate one at a time, so if this one is not on it doesn’t matter.

“Probably there’s another one that will come in, it’s in the waiting list,” he told reporters after launching the Malaysian Red Crescent Society Kuching Chapter’s flag day yesterday.

Taib said he was informed that Rio Tinto was undergoing restructuring and did not want to participate in the smelter project at this stage, although it might come back later.

”I think there must be some offer - I don’t know, I’m just guessing - by someone else...with CMS probably, so they don’t want to be tied down.

”As far as Rio Tinto is concerned, they said they’re not going to go for the first phase only. If later on they decide to do it, they will do the whole thing straightaway,” he added.

CMS had announced in a statement on Tuesday that it had terminated its Heads of Agreement and memorandum of understanding with RTA and SEB after commercial power supply terms could not be finalised.

”As a result, RTA and CMS have agreed that they would cease to pursue plans to jointly develop an aluminium smelter at Similajau in Sarawak but remain open to other future possible collaborations,” the statement added.

The Heads of Agreement was signed in August 2007 for the RM7bil smelter project, which was supposed to have an annual capacity of 1.5 million tonnes, while SEB signed the MoU with CMS and RTA in February 2008 to start negotiations on supplying power to the project.

Source: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/3/29/sarawak/11005094&sec=sarawak

News: Scrapping smelter deal: Taib’s political game

KUCHING: Global mining giant Rio Tinto PLC’s “pullout” from Sarawak may be temporary in view of the 13th general election, the uproar over Lynas in Pahang and the fact that Chief Minister Taib Mahmud has not been able to buy the Bakun Dam from the federal government.

Based on this reality, Sarawak DAP treasurer Violet Yong believes that “they might resume negotiations after the election”.

“Announcing the project [pullout by Rio Tinto] just before the general election is a political gimmick. Also, the reason for the termination is not because they did not agree to the purchase of the price of electricity.

“To me, one of the reasons is that the election is very near. And they [BN leaders] are worried that they will face the same consequences as that of Lynas.

“They have to wait, I think, until after the election; then only they will know whether Pakatan Rakyat takes over the government or not,” she said.

Taib yesterday said Sarawak Corridor for Renewable Energy (SCORE) will not be affected by Rio Tinto’s decision to cancel its RM6.1 billion aluminium smelting project in the state.

“So, as far as Rio Tinto is concerned, they said the company is not going to go for the first phase only and is not going to participate at this stage because they do not want to be tied down,” Taib said.

Based on Taib’s comment that Rio Tinto is likely to return, Yong, who is the Pending assemblywoman, said that Taib could also be waiting to settle outstanding issues with the federal government over the Bakun Dam.

Polluted industry
“We know that Taib wants to buy the Bakun Dam, but Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak has issued a statement that his administration will not sell it to Sarawak.

“We know there is a confrontation between the state and the federal governments. Is Sarawak using the back-door pressure (the termination of the agreement) to force the federal government to sell the Bakun Dam?

“To me, the smelter project is only benefiting the cronies of the state government and not the people of Sarawak and not the Malaysian people as a whole.

“We know that the Bakun Dam is a ‘white elephant’. With the cancellation of the aluminium smelting project, it makes the dam a bigger ‘white elephant’,” she added.

Yong said the only way to bring a “permanent closure” to the smelting plant deal is for Sarawakians to vote for Pakatan Rakyat.

“From the beginning until now, the DAP stand is always very firm: we are against the aluminium smelting plant because this is a very polluted industry and many countries have rejected such industry.

“The Barisan Nasional does not want us to use it as an issue in the coming general election,” Yong said.
DAP had used the issue in the last state election when its candidate, Chiew Chu Sing, trounced Sarawak
United People’s Party-BN candidate Henry Ling in the Kidurong seat with a 6,930- vote majority.

Source: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2012/03/29/scrapping-smelter-deal-taibs-political-game/