Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam mull controversial river dam

December 8, 2011

PHNOM PEHN (Kyodo) -- A closed-door meeting on a controversial plan to build a dam on the Mekong River in Laos began Wednesday with participation from officials and experts of that country and its downstream neighbors Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam.

The preparatory meeting in Siem Reap on the proposed Xayaburi mainstream hydropower development project in northern Laos will be followed by a plenary session Thursday involving water resource and environment ministers of the four countries.

Both meetings on the proposed 1,260-megawatt dam, which would be constructed at a cost of $3.5 billion to generate power for consumption in Thailand and Laos, are being organized in Cambodia's northern province of Siem Reap by the Mekong River Commission Secretariat.

Last month, Laos, under pressure from its neighbors and environmental groups, announced that construction of dam, which had been slated for completion by 2019, would be deferred to allow for more studies to be conducted.

It had earlier insisted the project would comply with best practices based on international standards, and that major impacts on navigation, fish passage, sediment, water quality and aquatic ecology and dam safety could be mitigated at acceptable levels.

But Vietnam, in particular, had expressed deep and serious concerns, citing a lack of adequate and comprehensive assessments of transboundary and cumulative impacts that the project may cause to the downstream, especially in the fertile Mekong Delta.

It recommended the deferment of this and other planned hydropower projects on the Mekong mainstream for at least 10 years to provide time for more detailed studies on possible impacts.

Cambodia too called for more comprehensive environmental impact assessments while Thailand said it was concerned over losses of fisheries and wetlands as well as possible adverse impacts on the way of life of the people depending on the river.

Last week, conservation organization WWF warned that the Xayaburi dam, as planned, would block the flow of the Mekong's rich sediment, which it said is "essential for maintaining balance in the Mekong ecosystem and building up the delta."

"A failure to address the uncertainties with this project could have dire consequences for the livelihoods of millions of people living in the Mekong river basin," WWF said in a statement.

"The lower Mekong countries now stand at a cross road...they can choose to be a global leader in sustainable hydropower and defer the decision on Xayaburi dam or they can choose to risk putting their people, their livelihoods and their much loved river in peril," it said.

In April, he Joint Committee of the Mekong River Commission, an intergovernmental agency made up of representatives from the four lower Mekong countries, failed to reach agreement on the Xayaburi dam and agreed to defer the final decision to the ministerial level.