High tension cables: Villagers win injunction

Chinese New Year has come early for the 6,000 residents at the Kampung Sungai Terentang new village in Rawang.

This comes after the Court of Appeal yesterday unanimously set aside a High Court decision and granted the villagers an injunction to prevent Tenaga Nasional Bhd from continuing its work to put-up high tension towers in their area.

The residents who had been staying there since the 1950's were up in arms against the power utility company which started work by erecting two 60 metre high towers, one at the front and the other at the back of the village two years ago.

TNB had also began work to put up the 275kw high voltage tension cable lines that would divide the village into two, expose residents to the dangers of electro magnetic waves which could cause cancer, leaukaemia among children and infertility among women.

Justice Suriyadi Halim Omar, who led a three member panel comprising Justice Zainun Ali and Justice Ahmad Maarop, ruled that TNB had abused its powers under Section 13 of the Electricity Supply Act 1990 in encroaching people's land.

The panel, however, did not give a full judgment on the case.

Two alternatives

Resident Ong See Tong and 23 others had filed the suit seeking TNB to stop work as it had abused the provision under the Electricity Supply Act and on the principle of prudent avoidance that is when there is danger posed by a particular project such as the high tension cables, the court should rule in favour of the residents.

Representing the residents were counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and William Leong, while veteran counsel Dr Cyrus Das represented TNB.

On June 21, 2007, TNB had issued the notice under Section 13 to 51 residents that it would build the high powered transmission line through the village as part of the Central Area Reinforcement (CAR) project.

The High Court had on Dec 7, 2007, dismissed the application but the villagers appealed to the Court of Appeal resulting in yesterday's judgment.

When contacted, Leong, who is also the Selayang MP, said the project posed a danger as it sits in the middle of the new village and a Chinese primary school.

He said studies prove the dangers of the high powered transmission grid and therefore, the residents were worried of their safety.

"The villagers are relieved with the decision as they were afraid the project would endanger their health. TNB had offered money and compensation but the residents were determined to fight,” he said.

Meanwhile, Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim said the state government respected the court ruling.

"The state government respects the decision and will give full cooperation to TNB to go on with their CAR project using the alternative routes given before," he told a press conference in Shah Alam yesterday.

The two alternatives, explained Khalid, are an "alternative route through less densely populated areas or underground cables that have been gazetted by the state government.”

The RM324 million CAR project began in July 2005 and was supposed to have been completed in August 2007.

The project involved the laying of 60km of 275kV transmission cables using TNB's old transmissions route.