Reference no: EM133079742

In 1986, the Malaysian Government decided to proceed with the construction of a hydroelectric dam in Bakun, an area in the predominantly forested East Malaysian State of Sarawak. At 204m in height, it would be the largest dam in South East Asia and an area the size of Singapore would be flooded. On 30 January 1994, the Prime Minister announced that the contract for constructing and operating the dam had been awarded to Ekran Bhd. At a press conference on 1 April 1995, executive chairman of Ekran Bhd. announced that the first part of its detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) had been approved by the Department of Environment (DOE). This fact was promptly denied by Director General of the DOE where he declared that the project had not been approved by the DOE. Here, some 10,000 natives of Sarawak whose habitat would be flooded and their way of life virtually destroyed, were aggrieved as they were not given a chance to be heard.

Evaluate how EIA shall be obtained for a large-scale development projects as a mean of preventing environmental destruction. Your evaluation shall be based on the above situation. Substantiate your answer with a relevant statute and relevant statutory provisions.