Fujii receives a memento from Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Alfred Jabu Numpang. Also seen is Sarawak Energy Bhd CEO Datuk Torstein Dale Sjotveit.

LUBOK ANTU: Batang Ai hydroelectric power (HEP) dam project manager Tetsuo Fujii remembers how workers had to work every day without a holiday to complete the project. 

Fujii, who worked for Okamura Corporation – the contractor for the first phase of Batang Ai HEP’s construction – said the crew worked 365 days a year.

“We divided our crews into two shifts and one shift would continuously work for two weeks,” he explained.

He said the long work days would be rewarded with two days off, which most workers would spend in Kuching.

“At that time the road condition from Kuching to here (Batang Ai) was very bad. It took us six hours from Kuching to the site,” he recalled, adding most workers on a break ended up spending the time driving. Fujii said due to their efforts, the dam was completed on time.

In 1981, he headed a team to build the diversion tunnel, the first phase of the dam’s construction. After finishing the diversion tunnel, Fujii remained at Batang Ai to lead the second phase of the project as the general manager of the joint venture company Okamura and Maeda.

Fujii retired from Okamura 20 years ago and now works as managing director of Tanjung Manis Global Sdn Bhd, an environmental company.

Batang Ai HEP was launched by former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on Aug 21, 1985.