KUCHING: The floating debris which flowed down the Baleh River last weekend was triggered by heavy rain in the upper Baleh area, says the Sarawak Forest Department.
Its director Hamden Mohamed said the logjam incident was caused by the accumulation of wood debris at the Baleh dam project site which then came out through diversion channels into the Rajang River.
He said this finding was based on ground verification and aerial surveillance by the department and other agencies such as the Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB), Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB) and Sarawak Energy Bhd (SEB) on Aug 22.
“An extreme heavy downpour of more than 100mm on Aug 21 triggered the movement of the debris and massive surface run-off.
“However, the situation has subsided after the rains stopped in the upper Baleh area,” he said in a statement on Thursday (Aug 26).
The logjam was highlighted on Sunday (Aug 22) by Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Masing, who blamed timber concessionaires operating in the upper reaches of the Baleh River for the problem and urged the state government to stop renewing timber licences in the area.
Hamden said the state government had approved salvage logging activities, subject to full compliance of harvesting rules and regulations since 2015 in the area to be submerged by the Baleh dam project.
He said the affected timber licensees and contractors were jointly responsible for the logjam incident and to clear and remove the debris.
“The Forest Department will tighten our monitoring measures to ensure that there is no recurrence of this unfortunate incident in the future,” he said.
Hamden also said a special task force would be set up to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident and find solutions to mitigate the issue.
The task force will be led by the state Urban Development and Natural Resources Ministry and consist of relevant government departments, agencies and stakeholders.
