Xayaburi dam project. Lao dam across Mekong.

[Admin]

World green groups will fight Lao dam across Mekong
By Janjira Pongrai
The Nation

Environmental and conservation networks in six countries have vowed to fight a big dam planned across the Mekong River at Sayabouri in Laos.

"We have been gathering signatures of people who are against this dam," Thailand's Chiang Khong Conservation Group leader Niwat Roykaew said at an international meeting in Mexico.

"We will fight to the end because the dam will cause huge trouble to so many people".

He spoke at an international meeting of dam-affected people and their allies in the city of Temacapulin.

Laos recently gave official notice to the mekong River Commission (MRC) of its plan to construct the Xayaburi dam.

Jeremy bird, chief executive officer of the MRC secretariat, said recently he would tell all country members of the matter and encourage them to find a mutual conclusion.

The 260-megawatt electric dam is expected to disrupt the lives of millions of people who live downstream from the proposed site, near the town of Luang Prabang, if it goes ahead.

The mekong is one of the world's major rivers - stretching 4,350 kilometres from China, through Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Niwat lamented yesterday that a handful of people had used their money and power to manage rivers for their benefit at great cost to large numbers of others.

He said four dams on the mekong River in China had already caused a crisis and the Xayaburi dam would make the situation even worse.

Speaking at the same meeting, International Rivers Network executive director Patrick McCully, said many dams had been dismantled in North America and Europe after people became aware of the dams' adverse impacts on the environment and ecology.

"Developing countries, however, continue to build new dams," McCully told the meeting, which concludes tomorrow.

[Admin]

Dam builders do not care about ordinary people
By The Nation
2011-03-29

Proposed dam on the Mekong should not go ahead until all social and environmental concerns are addressed

International pressure is mounting as 263 non-governmental organisations from 51 countries step up their campaign to get Thailand to cancel the proposed Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River's mainstream in northern Laos. In a recent letter sent to the governments of Laos and Thailand, the NGOs urged all parties to cancel plans to build this destructive project, saying public and international credibility are at stake, as well as the ecology of the affected area and the huge number of people who depend on it for their livelihood and food security.

Environmental groups, scientists and others who have been following this project say it has serious flaws and it represents an unacceptable threat to the lives of millions of people in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

"The dam's environmental impact assessment report, released last week, is totally inadequate," Ame Trandem of International Rivers says. The US-based group says the assessment lacks basic yet critical technical information. Other critics say the EIA was written to downplay the dam's impact on fisheries and was deliberately released late (a final decision must be made by April 23) to minimise public opposition.

Unfortunately, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, during a recent dinner with members of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand, was dazed when the issue was put to him. The PM appeared to confuse this dam - which would be built by the Thai firm Ch Karnchang but is supported by Vientiane - with another proposed by the Samak government near Ubon Ratchathani, which his government ditched; with good reason. But the PM's apparent lack of awareness of the project has raised alarm bells, because the Xayaburi Dam looms as an environmental nightmare, partly because it could open the door to a dozen or so dams on the lower Mekong and destroy vast fish resources.

Trandem, of International Rivers, says the report failed to consider transboundary impacts, despite a warning from the Mekong River Commission (MRC) that the environmental and social impacts will be irreversible and will be felt basin-wide should the project go ahead. "Given the quality of the EIA and the anticipated impacts, if this project goes ahead it would be unimaginably irresponsible," she said.

But there are fears, based partly on recent history, that the demands from environmentalists may fall on deaf ears. The Lao government appears determined to press ahead with the project - despite reports it could cause tension with Hanoi because of huge public concern in Vietnam's "rice bowl", the Mekong Delta. There are already reports of earth-moving equipment near the proposed dam site, about 30 kilometres south of Luang Prabang

The sustainability of livelihoods - for the tens of thousands who survive off fishing in Thai and Lao villages south of Chiang Khong, the vast number of Cambodians living around the huge Tonle Sap lake, and Vietnamese rice-growers in the lower reaches of the river - is not at the heart of the decision-making process.

The Xayaburi Dam is a US$3.5 billion project that was first proposed in 2007. While the dam is being pushed by Laos, it is essentially a Thai development. It would be funded by four Thai banks - Kasikorn, Siam Commercial, Bangkok Bank and Krung Thai - and about 95 per cent of the 1,260 megawatts of electricity to be generated would be sent to Egat, Thailand's state energy body. Thai environmental groups are suspicious and question how the PM could not be aware of this project, when he chairs the National Energy Commission, and must surely know Egat signed a memorandum of understanding for a power purchase agreement with Laos in July last year.

Thai villagers living adjacent to the river are fearful. At a public meeting about the dam on March 12, Kamol Konpin, the mayor of Chiang Khan, said: "As local people have already suffered from dams built upstream in China and watched the ecosystem change, we are afraid the Xayaburi Dam will bring more suffering. Our lives and livelihoods depend on the health of the Mekong River."

If the Xayaburi Dam goes ahead, more than 2,100 people will have to be resettled and a further 202,000 living near the dam will be directly affected by impacts on the river's ecology and fisheries. More than 41 fish species, including the Mekong giant catfish, will face the threat of extinction, according to fish experts and environmentalists.

Last October, a strategic environmental assessment (SEA), commissioned by the MRC, recommended a 10-year deferment in decision-making on dams on the Mekong mainstream, including the Xayaburi, due to an incomplete state of knowledge and the huge environmental and social risks. But the attitude of the builders, purchaser and financiers tells a different story. They continue to be indifferent to the recommendations and warnings.

As responsible members of the global community, Thailand, Egat, Ch Karnchang and the four Thai banks have a moral obligation to consider the well-being of people who will be directly affected by the dam's construction. At the very least, there should be a delay in approving dams on the lower Mekong to ensure a comprehensive understanding of all possible negative effects. The risks involved are simply too great.

[Admin]

Locals fight against Xayaburi dam project
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation 2011-04-06

Some 400 people from provinces along the Mekong River in the North and Northeast gathered yesterday in Nong Khai's Si Chiang Mai district to voice their opposition against Laos' proposed Xayaburi hydropower project, which they believe will have a negative impact on their lives.

The protesters also signed a letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, asking him to block the plan to purchase electricity from the project.

The Laotian authorities have granted a concession to Thailand's construction firm Ch Karnchang to build a massive 1,260 MW dam on the Mekong River's mainstream at the Kaeng Luang rapids, 30 kilometres from Xayaburi town. Some 95 per cent of the electricity would be sold to Thailand.

However, the protesters said this dam would affect thousands of people directly, and millions more indirectly due to its impact on the Mekong and its connected ecosystems.

"We will get more than 20,000 signatures from people in the North and Northeast who will be affected by the dam and submit it to the PM later this month asking him to stop plans to purchase electricity," Niwat Roikaew, a member of Chiang Rai's Chiang Khong Conservationist Network, said.

Conservationist Hannarong Yaowalers said the government should listen to other countries downstream of the Mekong, notably Cambodia and Vietnam, which are against the project.

"Thai people are against this project and want the government to look at the damage caused by existing Chinese dams in the Mekong," he said. He added that it was unnecessary for Thailand to purchase electricity from the Xayaburi project because it had already agreed to buy power from many projects in Laos.

The 29year powerpurchase pact between Laos and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand is expected to be signed soon, with four large banks in Thailand providing a credit facility worth Bt80 billion, said Prasert Marittanaporn, Ch Karnchang's director and executive vice president.

[Admin]

Xayaburi dam work begins on sly
THAI CONSTRUCTION GIANT, LAOS IGNORE MEKONG CONCERNS
Published: 17/04/2011 at 12:00 AM
Bangkok Post: Newspaper section: News
 
Construction work around a controversial dam in Laos which is expected to provide cheap energy to Thailand is well underway despite the project not yet receiving official approval.

An investigation by the Bangkok Post Sunday which visited the area surrounding the Xayaburi dam on the Lower Mekong River last week found major road works under construction and villagers preparing to be relocated.

Several of the villagers said they were to receive as little as US$15 (450 baht) in compensation for moving from the area.

Trucks and backhoes bearing the name of Ch Karnchang, the Thai company jointly involved in the $3.5 billion project with the Lao government, were seen clearing and grading roads.

Mekong River Commission (MRC) members Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia are due to meet this Tuesday to decide whether to approve the project.

Vietnam and Cambodia are opposed to the dam, which has also raised concerns among environmentalists and activists who say it has circumvented proper environmental impact studies.

However, the decision is not binding on any of the countries and any one member can go ahead with a project if it wants.

Our investigation revealed road work being undertaken over more than 30km from Ban Nara village to Ban Talan and Ban Houay Souy, which is near the proposed site for the dam.

According to villagers living near the dam site, the road work started about five months ago.

This was one month after the Lao government submitted the documents required for consultation to the MRC, which included an environmental impact assessment, for review.

From Ban Nara village, about 17km from the Tha Dua pier where people cross the Mekong River to gain access to Xayaburi, there is a potholed two-lane road running parallel to the river.

But as the road veers to Ban Talan and Ban Houay Souy on the mountainside of the river, it has been widened to five to eight metres with a hard level surface.

Backhoes were seen digging by the roadside, and about 10km from Ban Nara village, dozens of trucks and backhoes were parked at a temporary construction camp. They bear the name Ch Karnchang, which has set up a subsidiary in Laos called Xayaburi Power to carry out construction and operate the dam project.

About 3km further on, there is a larger camp with heavy machinery, fuel tanks, cement mills, food stalls and grocery shops. Some workers were seen at the site and 500m away, there is a checkpoint with a sign saying "construction area" which bars entry.

The newly levelled road continues about 15km before abruptly ending at Ban Houay Souy, which is now accessible only by boat.

"They want to finish it before the rain comes," said one worker.

Laotians from other parts of the country have already come to seek work. Some have set up grocery shops and food stalls, while others have taken jobs as road workers or are waiting for construction work on the dam to start.

One man from Vientiane said he and several others from the capital had come looking for work. He said they had been told that an office would open next month.

The relocation of villagers is also ready to begin. At Ban Talan, villagers said Lao authorities had come to see them. They were told they would have to move but no date was specified. The villagers said they were promised new concrete houses allotted by the government on a nearby mountain.

They said they were also promised $15 in compensation. "The authorities said so, so we have to do it," said one villager. Ch Karnchang was unavailable for comment.

In September 2010, the Lao government petitioned the MRC to begin the formal process of approving the Xayaburi, the first of 11 proposed dams across the lower Mekong.

This initiated the required procedure for all such projects as stipulated in the MRC agreement signed by member countries in 1995.

Under the agreement, development projects with potential transboundary impacts should be subject to review and consultation before proceeding.

Prasarn Marukpitak, a retired senator working on social development in the region, said it was evident preparation work for the dam was in full swing.

Mr Prasarn said if the project went ahead without agreement from all MRC member countries, it could escalate into an international confrontation. "Laos is one of the MRC's members. The international community is keeping an eye on whether it is overriding the agency's rules.

"It has apparently ignored the region's strategic impact assessment and the consultation process," said Mr Prasarn.

The Xayaburi dam project plans to start commercial operation in January 2019.

In December last year, Thailand's National Energy Policy Committee approved the electricity purchase agreement, paving the way for the state electricity supplier Egat to sign a contract with Ch Karnchang's subsidiary Xayaburi Power. About 95% of the project's 1,260MW capacity is set for export to Thailand at a rate of 2.15 baht per unit.
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[isanbirder]

A real disaster in the making.... yet another case where money wins over common sense.

[Admin]

Mekong countries urge delay of Laos dam project amid ecological concerns
By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation 2011-04-20

Laos needs to delay the controversial Xayaburi hydropower project on the mainstream Mekong for more consultation, representatives of neighbouring countries said at an international meeting yesterday.

They claimed Laos had failed to convince the other three riparian countries on the lower Mekong River over the dam's possible impact on the environment and ecological system.

Representatives of Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam discussed the project at a special session of the Mekong River Commis-sion Joint Committee (JC) in Vientiane.

The MRC received notification of the Xayaburi project from Laos last September. Under the Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement (PNPCA), the four countries would consult one another on the proposal and then reach a conclusion, within six months of the notification, on how to proceed with the project.

Laos proposed to build the dam in its northern province of Xayaburi to generate foreign currency for its economy.

The hydroelectric power project provides for an installed capacity of 1,280 megawatts, with a dam 810 metres long and 32 metres high, and a reservoir area of 49 square kilometres and live storage of 225 million cubic metres. Major Thai construction firm Ch Karnchang is the developer.

There is still a difference in views from each country on whether the prior consultation process among MRC members for the project should come to an end, said JC chairman Te Navuth.

As the joint committee failed to reach common ground, it handed over any decision to the ministerial level, he said.

The MRC council (at ministerial level) is to have its next annual meeting in October. "But I cannot predict how and when the council will make a final decision for the project," Te Navuth said in a phone interview from Vientiane.

Laos insisted there was no need to extend the process, since this option would not be practical, and environmental impacts across the boundaries of other riparian countries were unlikely. However, Laotian authorities promised to accommodate all comments and recommendations on the project.

"We appreciate all comments, [and] we will consider accommodating all concerns," said Viraphonh Viravong, head of the Laotian delegation.

An extension to conduct further studies would require much longer than six months and it would not be possible to satisfy all parties' concerns, he said.

The Xayaburi project will comply with the MRC Secretariat Prelim-inary Design Guidance and best practices based on international standards, he said. Major impacts on navigation, fish passage, sediment, water quality and aquatic ecology and dam safety could be mitigated to acceptable levels.

Cambodia, which is downstream from the proposed dam, said there was a need for a comprehensive study and assessment of the cross-boundary and cumulative environmental impacts.

Thailand, a major electric purchaser, raised concerns over how the lives of people who depend on the river would be affected.

"Therefore, we would like to see public views and concerns are well taken into consideration," Jatuporn Buruspat, director-general of Thai Department of Water Resources, said in an official response to the project.

Meanwhile, Vietnam expressed serious concern for the lack of adequate, appropriate and comprehensive assessments of cross-boundary and cumulative impacts that the project may cause downstream, especially in the Mekong Delta.

Vietnam recommended the deferment of this and other planned hydropower projects on the Mekong mainstream for at least 10 years.

[Pee Nuu]

A real disaster in the making.... yet another case where money wins over common sense.

We should all be in agreement.