[Tlc] L-dam news

[justinm at ucr.edu]

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justin

008-0227 - Reuters - Lao villagers not ready for dam impact: group

http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSBKK1047520080227

Lao villagers not ready for dam impact: group
Wed Feb 27, 2008 7:06am EST

By Darren Schuettler

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Efforts to ease the social and
environmental impact of a controversial dam in Communist Laos
are behind schedule only months before its massive reservoir
is flooded, an environmental group says.

"Water is due to begin rising in just a few months, but
villagers are not ready to face NT2's impacts," International
Rivers said in a report released this week after its latest
visit to the Nam Theun 2 (NT2) hydropower project.

It highlights what the group says are shortcomings and delays
in programs to compensate thousands of villagers on the Nakai
Plateau and communities downstream affected by the $1.45
billion project in mountainous central Laos.

Stretching 200 km (125 miles) along the plateau, the
1,070-megawatt dam is the centerpiece of the tiny, landlocked
country's plan to become a "battery" for the region and help
pull its 5.8 million people out of poverty.

Nam Theun 2 is 70 percent complete and on track to begin
operations in 2009, but the relocation of more than 6,200
villagers and plans to restore their livelihoods and those of
thousands of others are behind schedule, the report said.

"Villagers, particularly those living downstream, are not
ready to face Nam Theun 2's impacts and time is running
short," said Shannon Lawrence, the group's Lao program
director, referring to the reservoir flooding expected to
begin in June.

A $16 million budget was inadequate to compensate more than
120,000 villagers downstream for loss of fisheries, "let alone
to provide livelihood alternatives and flood and erosion
protection," the report said.

The World Bank, a key backer of the dam 280 km (175 miles)
southeast of Vientiane, said "there have been challenges in
making sure the social and environmental aspects progressed at
the same rate as the construction."

But Lao country manager Patchamuthu Illangovan said it was
stepping up efforts to ensure affected people were looked after.

"Already, the project has provided significantly better
housing to the affected people, better schools, better health
clinics and better roads on the plateau," he said.

"It will deliver much more, to all the people of Laos, in the
years ahead."

(Editing by Michael Battye and Jerry Norton)

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