Bakun Dam, Hydroelectric power station in Belaga District, Sarawak, Malaysia

Bakun Dam is a hydroelectric installation on the Balui River in Sarawak that impounds water across a vast area to generate electricity. The facility combines concrete structures, spillway channels, and turbine halls positioned within the river valley.

Surveys began in the early 1960s and the project was approved in 1986, then shelved in 1990. Revived in 1993 under Mahathir Mohamad and awarded to Ekran Berhad in 1994, it was halted again in 1997 by the Asian financial crisis. A third attempt from May 2000 through state-owned Sarawak Hidro finished the dam, which came online on 6 August 2011.

Around 9,000 residents of the Balui valley were resettled at Sungai Asap longhouse village near Bakun before the reservoir filled. The reservoir's 695 km² surface formed 18 islands, and by February 2010 water at 228 m had submerged new farms, burial grounds and longhouses.

The site is reachable by road, though the remote location requires planning for access from larger towns nearby. Visitors should prepare for limited on-site facilities and check for any access restrictions before arriving.

The reservoir covers 695 square kilometres with a catchment of 14,750 square kilometres and holds 43,800 million cubic metres of water. Its maximum operating level is 228 metres, and at that level 18 islands form in the lake.