[Tlc] L-dam updates

[justinm at ucr.edu]

See two reports on hydroelectic dam controversies in Laos.
Thanks,
justin

2007-1214 - The Nation - Relocation at Laos giant dam nearly
completes

http://nationmultimedia.com/2007/12/14/regional/regional_30059137.php

Regional

Relocation at Laos giant dam nearly completes

Published on December 14, 2007

Two-thirds of 1,216 households who would be affected from
construction of the controversial Nam Theun II dam in central
Laos have already been relocated, the World Bank said Friday.

The relocation of 6,500 people from 17 affected villages would
be completed by May next year, a month before refilling of
water to the reservoir.

The problem of 14 households in Ban Sob Hia who refused to
leave their places has also been solved, said Patchamuthu
Illangovan, the World Bank's Country Manager in Laos.

These people are Vietic animists who resisted the resettlement
plan on the ground that they don't want to leave their
spiritual land. The soil in new area is not fertilized as it
so dried.

The Nam Theun Company failed several times to convince them to
remove until recently as independent consultants spent a week
or so to speak with them to take their concern into account.

For the time being, they agreed to move to the area higher
than flooded level of inundated area, said Illangovan.

"After consultation, they understand the rehabilitation
program and eventually, they would move on their own choice,"
he said in a briefing via teleconference from Vientiane.

The dam, which would generate 995 out of installed capacity of
1,070 MW to Thailand's grid, was under close surveillance due
to its huge implication to environment and social.

The World Bank, which provided risk guarantee for project,
required the company to allocate 10 percent of its $ 1 billion
construction cost for resettlement program and environmental
protection.

The Lao government would use criteria and requirements of the
Nam Theun II project as standard for other dam projects, said
Lao deputy head of Energy Ministry's Energy Promotion
Xaypaseuth Phomsoupha.

The dam with installed capacity bigger than 50 Megawatt and
reservoir bigger than 10,000 hectares must follow the same
standard of social rehabilitation and environment protection
same as the Nam Theun II, he told the same briefing.

by Supalak G Khundee

The Nation
Privacy Policy © 2006 Nation Multimedia Group Thailand Web Stat

December 14, 2007 05:45 pm (Thai local time)
www.nationmultimedia.com

2007-1214 - The Nation - Environmental group calls for
postponement of new dam deals in Laos

http://nationmultimedia.com/2007/12/13/regional/regional_30059005.php

Regional

Environmental group calls for postponement of new dam deals in
Laos

Published on December 13, 2007

Bangkok - Thailand and Laos should delay signing deals for
1,500 megawatts of hydro-electricity this month until the
social and environmental impact from past projects is
addressed, the International Rivers Network said Thursday.

Thailand and Laos plan to sign four new power purchase
agreements from hydro-electric dams in Laos before the
upcoming December 23 general elections in Thailand, which will
usher in a new government.

One involves a dam that has already severely harmed the
livelihoods of some 30,000 Lao people, while another promises
to open up one of the world's 35 "bio-diversity hotspots," the
group's Lao program director Shannon Lawrence said.

"Before new project go forward, they should at least meet
minimum standards on their previous projects," said Lawrence.

Laos, a land-locked, mountainous country that is ranked among
the world's poorest nations, is banking on its abundant
hydro-electric resources to pull itself out of poverty.

The government recently said it hopes to turn the country into
the "battery" of South-east Asia. To date, neighbouring
Thailand has received most of the juice.

Laos currently has six large hydro-power plants in operation,
all of them exporting to neighbouring Thailand. Another four
projects are under construction and five to 10 more are in the
advanced planning stage.

The government, under communist rule since 1975, hopes to
attract foreign investment to build 30 new hydro-electric dams
by 2020.

While Thailand and Laos agreed in Bangkok last September to
implement social and environmental standards on Lao dam
projects, their track record on past projects has raised
scepticism about their pledges.

For example, the Theun-Hinboun hydropower project, owned by
Norway's state-owned Statkraft, the GMS Power Company of
Thailand, and the state-owned Electricite du Laos, has ruined
the ecology of two rivers in Laos and the livelihoods of
30,000 Lao people living downstream of the dam over the past
nine years, according to a newly released report called Ruined
Rivers, Damages Lives, compiled by FIVAS, a Norwegian advocacy
group.

Now the Theun-Hinboun project is being slated to double its
capacity. It is one of the four projects Thailand's is seeking
a new PPA with Laos on.

Another is the Nam Theun 1 project, just south of the World
Bank-backed Nam Theun 2. Nam Theun 1, operated by Gamuda of
Malaysia and the Electricity Generating Company of Thailand,
is being constructed in the middle of the Nam Kading National
Protected Area, one of the most remote and bio-diverse
protected areas left in Asia.

"Given Nam Theun 1's social and environmental costs, many of
which cannot be met, this project undermines the sustainable
hydro-power pledges made by the Lao and Thai governments in
September," said Lawrence.

"The Theun-Hinboun also fails to meet these standards, and as
such both projects should be dropped."//dpa

Privacy Policy © 2006 Nation Multimedia Group Thailand Web Stat

December 14, 2007 05:44 pm (Thai local time)
www.nationmultimedia.com

______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
2617 Humanities Building
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu