[Tlc] L-hydropower

[justinm at ucr.edu]

FYI.
Best,
justin

2007-1118 - Reuters - Laos targets hydropower, not democracy

http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnSIN1661.html

ReutersUK

Laos targets hydropower, not democracy

Sun 18 Nov 2007, 11:33 GMT

By Daryl Loo and Geert De Clercq

SINGAPORE, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Landlocked Laos is shaping
itself into a battery for its power-hungry neighbours, by
damming up its rivers to tap hydropower, but the communist
state has no plans to introduce democracy, its prime minister
told Reuters.

With an average monthly income of less than $2 a day and 80
percent of its 6.5 million population surviving on subsistence
farming, Laos is one of the world's poorest countries.

"Compared to the U.S., which is in the 21st century, Laos is
still in the 16th or 17th century," Lao Prime Minister
Bouasone Bouphavanh said in an interview ahead of the ASEAN
Summit.

But the communist-led country, which dropped central planning
for market reforms in 1986, is developing fast and saw its
economy grow 8 percent in the fiscal year to September 2007.

"We are confident we can achieve another 8 percent growth for
fiscal year 2007/2008, and we believe we can achieve higher
growth beyond that," Bouphavanh, 53, said through a translator.

Bouphavanh -- who became PM in 2006 -- expects that foreign
direct investment (FDI) this year will more than double to
$500 million, from $200 million in the last fiscal year, with
funds mainly coming from neighbouring China, Thailand, and
Vietnam.

Much of Laos' FDI will go into turning the country into what
it calls "a battery for the region", through a series of dams
that will generate power for sale to its neighbours.

Major investors in Laos' hydropower and infrastructure
industries include China's Sinohydro Corp and Datang
International Power, Thailand's Banpu and Italian-Thai
Development, and Vietnam's Song Da Group and Petrovietnam.

Companies from Western countries investing in Laos include
Australia's Oxiana, French electricity group EDF, and
London-listed Salamander Energy.

Laos currently has the capacity to produce 600 megawatts of
hydropower, of which 200 megawatt are exported.

But Bouphavanh said the country has the potential to produce
up to 28,000 megawatt of hydropower from the Mekong River and
the 16 Mekong tributaries within Laos borders.

It has already commited to supply 7,000 megawatts to Thailand,
5,000 megawatts to Vietnam, and 1,500 megawatts to Cambodia by
2015, he added.

Laos' dams have come under tough criticism from environmental
groups, who slam the projects for harming biodiversity and
displacing the many ethnic communities that live in the area.

The Soviet-educated Bouphavanh -- a career cadre who took part
in Laos' 1975 communist revolution -- refused to be drawn on a
date for when Laos could become a democracy.

"I don't think it will be the right path for Laos to have a
multi-party system," said Bouphavanh.

The ruling Lao People's Revolutionary Party is the country's
only legal political group in the country.

"During the eighth party congress in 2006, we re-affirmed our
ultimate goal to lead the nation towards socialism," he said.

On Tuesday, Bouphavanh and other leaders of the Association of
South East Asian Nations will sign a charter that spells out
ASEAN's desire to strengthen democracy and protect human
rights. (Editing by David Fox)

© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.

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