Debate on hydro-power dams in Mekong River

23/02/2011

VietNamNet Bridge – Building hydro-power dams across the major current of the Mekong River will cause serious consequences for the environment and development, Vietnamese scientists warned.

On February 22, the second national-level meeting between Vietnam and Laos on the construction of the Xayaboury hydropower dam took place in Vietnam’s Quang Ninh province. The opinions of experts at the meeting will be transferred to the Mekong River Commission (MRC), which was formed by Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia.

Xayaboury is among 12 hydro-power plants that will be built across the major flow of the Mekong River. This work is located in Laos, around 1930km from Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, with designed capacity of 1260 MW. The dam is designed to be 810m long. Most of the output will be sold to Thailand.

In October 2010, Laos sent an announcement on the construction of the Xayaboury dam to member countries of the MRC. The MRC Secretariat requested Laos to provide related information about this project. The MRC also asked member states to research and submit their opinions about the project to reach the final decision in April 2011.

Laos and Thailand are very eager for this project and they made a deal on the power price. Both countries said that trans-border impacts from this project are in within the spheres of physics and biology. The project will mainly block the road of immigration of fish.

According to the Bangkok Post, Laos confirmed that the project will not harm the environment and it has competence for approving this project because it is based in Lao territory. Thailand agreed with Laos because it will purchase a great volume of power from this plant.

The investors of Xayaboury, including two Thai firms, said that the dam only uses water and it will return the water to the river so it is harmless to the river.

Environmental organizations in Thailand called the Thai Prime Minister to annul the commitment of a Thai power company to buy electricity from the Xayaboury plant.

According to the Bangkok Post, Thailand organized three workshops on this project. At the workshop, many experts protested the project because they worried that the project will greatly impact people along the Mekong River. They proposed to postpone it until scientists conduct full research. Thailand has not submitted its opinion about this project to MRC.

Cambodian scientists also voiced their concerns about the impacts of this project. They said that the dam will hinder the immigration of fish and may cause a disaster of food and nutrition security.

Prof. So Nam from the Fishery Institute in Phnom Penh told the Cambodia Daily that the project may affect over 6 million people whose lives depend on the Mekong River.

A representative of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Cambodia, Gordon warned that if there is a loss of protein from fish then Cambodia would have to import more meat.

Manager of the Cambodian NGO forum, Chhit Sam Ath expressed her worry about the shortage of information about the Xayabouri project. Cambodia supports the WWF’s suggestion to postpone the construction for ten years.

In Vietnam, many non-governmental organizations and scientists also protested the project.

To Van Truong from the Southern Institute for Irrigation, said that the construction of Xayabouri will cause serious environmental impacts for downstream areas.

Prof. Pham Hong Giang from the International Commission on Large Dams said that if this project is approved, it would make the precedent for other projects on the major flows of the Mekong River. He asked the MRC to carefully consider this project.

“Hydro-power works should not be built across the main current, but the branches. The construction of power plants on branches should wait for ten years when we have deeper research as the warning of the WWF. No dam is the best for all countries,” he emphasized.

Dr. Nguyen Dinh Hoe from the Vietnam Association for Protection of Nature and Environment said that Laos should not build the Xayabouri power plant.

He said that the plant would destroy the living environment and the ecological system of the Mekong River, causing dangers for the abundant fauna and floral system of the river, especially fish. The people whose lives depend on the river would be affected.

Hoe worried that Vietnam’s Mekong Delta will face two dangers: the change of the natural flow and rising sea levels one the Xayabouri dam is built. Salt water contamination may harm the lives of millions of people in the Mekong Delta.

At the first workshop on Xayaburi project in Can Tho city in mid-January 2011, Vietnamese scientists agreed that no dam should be built across the major current of the Mekong River or at least the construction must be postponed for further research.

The MRC’s strategic environmental assessment report 2010 proposed that projects to build dams across the major current of the Mekong River should be delayed for ten years.

The Mekong is one of the world's great rivers. It is the world's 10th-longest river and the 7th-longest in Asia. Its estimated length is 4,909 km and it drains an area of 795,000 km2, discharging 475 km3 of water annually.

From the Tibetan Plateau this river runs through China's Yunnan province, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam established the Mekong River Commission in 1995 to assist in the management and coordinated use of the Mekong's resources. In 1996 China and Burma became "dialogue partners" of the MRC and the six countries now work together within a cooperation framework.