Chinese Dam Project in Cambodia Raises Environmental Concerns

January 16, 2012
By SIMON MARKS
The International Herald Tribune (Paris, France)

Special Report: Business of Green

KAMPOT PROVINCE, CAMBODIA — Ever since she was a child, Bun Thavry and her family have ventured into the nearby hills above the Toek Chhou river in Kampot Province to chop down bamboo plants to weave into baskets.

But after the Chinese company Sinohydro, one of the world’s largest construction companies, started work on the 193-megawatt Kamchay Dam in 2007, access to the countryside surrounding this tranquil town has been restricted. Mrs. Thavry’s husband, Kim Sopha, 39, like hundreds of others in nearby villages, must now travel about 10 kilometers, or 6 miles, beyond the dam site to collect the bamboo.

“Before, all you needed was a bicycle and a knife,” Mrs. Thavry, a 32-year-old mother of two, said recently as she perched on a small stool outside her wooden home near the riverbank. “But it’s completely different now.”

Sinohydro's first overseas BOT project begins operation

January 16, 2012
By Xu Keqiang
The Economic Daily
Edited and translated by People's Daily Online

Cambodia's Kamchay Hydropower Station, the first overseas Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) hydropower project entirely funded by Sinohydro Group, was recently completed and put into commercial operation, marking a new stage in the overseas expansion of China's hydropower industry.

The 194-megawatt Kamchay Hydropower Station cost Sinohydro 300 million U.S. dollars over four years of construction, and the company is licensed to operate the hydropower station for 40 years before transferring it to the Cambodian government.

Sinohydro has adopted the creative BOT project-financing model with limited recourse, and used the project's future revenue as collateral, in order to reduce its investment risk.

Cambodia opens controversial mega-dam

Thursday December 8, 2011
Sky News

Energy-starved Cambodia has opened the country's largest hydropower dam to date, a multi-million dollar Chinese-funded project that has attracted criticism from environmental groups.

Prime Minister Hun Sen said the start of operations of the 194-megawatt hydroelectric dam, which cost more than $US280 million ($A274 million), in southern Kampot province was a 'historic event' in the development of the nation.

He brushed aside the concerns of local and foreign activists, saying the environmental impact of the dam had been 'well studied' and it would help bring down electricity prices in areas including the capital Phnom Penh.

'There is no development that will not impact on the environment,' he said in a speech broadcast on national radio, urging 'extreme environmentalists' to 'look at the whole forest rather than each single tree'.

Cambodia Opens China-Funded Hydro-Electric Dam

Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
Voice of America

Energy-starved Cambodia has opened its largest hydro-electric dam to date, a multi-million dollar China-funded project that has drawn praise from the Phnom Penh government and criticism from environmentalists.

Prime Minister Hun Sen and a host of dignitaries witnessed the start of operations Wednesday at the 194-megawatt dam on the Kamchay river in southern Kampot province. The prime minister called the inauguration a “historic event” that will help reduce the cost of electricity in his country, where only about 15 percent of households have access to electrical power.

The $280 million project has pitted Cambodian and foreign-based environmentalists against government planners. Opponents say locals have been denied a voice in the Kamchay project and several others under construction.

Concerns over the negative impacts of the Kamchay dam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3HN9G-fksc

Sinohydro, the Chinese builder of Kamchay Dam, plans to raise $2.3 bln in Shanghai IPO

China's Sinohydro aims to raise $2.3 bln in Shanghai IPO

SHANGHAI, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Sinohydro Group, China's largest builder of dams, aims to raise as much as 14.4 billion yuan ($2.3 billion) in mainland China, lowering its initial fundraising target amid weak market sentiment.

It will be the largest mainland IPO so far this year, which has been dominated by much smaller deals. The state builder said on Sunday it will sell 3 billion yuan-denominated shares, compared with up to 3.5 billion shares planned initially.

The builder of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydropower project, has set a price range of 4.50-4.80 yuan a share for the issue, Sinohydro said in the statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

The price range, which translates to 15-16 times 2010 earnings, was in line with expectations.

Two [DAMNED] China-invested hydropower dams to supply electricity later this year: Cambodian PM

Thursday, July 7th, 2011
People's Daily Online

Two out of five hydroelectric dams being constructed in Cambodia by Chinese investors will begin to supply electricity from the end of this year onward, said Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday.

The two dams are the 193 megawatt Kamchay hydroelectric dam in Kampot province, some 150 kilometers southwest of Phnom Penh and the Kirirom III hydropower dam with the capacity of 18 megawatts, the premier said during a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a China-funded Takhmao Bridge across Tonle Bassac river in Kandal province.

“The two dams will be put into operations by the end of this year,” he said, adding that they are invested by Chinese investors with the support from the government of China.

It's not enough that China gave Cambodia the KR headache, now come the Chinese dams concerns also

Chinese Dam Projects Worry Environmentalists

By Mean Veasna, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
30 January 2008

At least two large Chinese companies have received investment licenses to take over hydroelectric projects in Cambodia.

Meanwhile, Chinese companies are studying four other projects, officials said recently. But the dams seriously threaten the environment, according to two groups that released a report Monday.

Cambodia fuel prices are higher than its neighbors in the region. Only 20 percent of the people living in downtown areas have enough electricity. The Cambodian government has said there is a clear need to lower electricity costs.

And the plan has encouraged private sector to produce and share electricity. But the investment in Cambodian hydroelectricity is threatening the ecological system and could affect thousands of Cambodian people, International Rivers and the Rivers Coalition in Cambodia said in a report, issued Monday.

The report says five Chinese hydroelectric companies, including Sinohydro Corporation and Yunan Corporation for International Techno-Economic Corporation, received government licenses to invest more than $500 million.

Three other companies had an agreement with the government to study four projects.

The report says the Kamchay hydroelectric project in Bokor National Forest, Kampot province, invested by Sinohydro, flooded 2000 hectares of forest.

Stung Chhay Areng, in the central Cadramom Mountains, could flood nine villages, affecting about 1,500 people, most of whom are ethnic minorities.

The project could flood the habitat of at least 31 animal species that are almost extinct. Meanwhile, a Sambo hydroelectric project in the Mekong basin would block the habitat and migration routes of fish species.

Ngy San is vice president of the NGO Forum of Cambodia and a member of Rivers Coalition in Cambodia.

He urged the government to initiate a clear national program and said the government had not studied the consequences of the project licenses.

“The report says those investments are mostly or totally made based on politics, which means the leaders of the two countries meet with each other,” he said. “They decided with the facilitation of the engineers. So, we request that the government should come up with a national program on the investment of local hydroelectric development.”

Several government environmental officials declined to comment on the report.

Ith Prang, secretary of state of the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, said an impact study is conducted on every hydroelectric project, though some studies have not been concluded.

“We could not evaluate unless we have studied the environment around,” Ith Prang said. Officials in charge of commerce in the Chinese embassy in Phnom Penh refused to be interviewed to clarify the rivers report.

Kim Sovann, a spokesman for Sinohydro, said he had not seen the report of the above organizations. But he confirmed several studies were undertaken before his company received a license to invest.

“My company and the Ministry of Environment sent our staff to the site several times,” Kim Sovann said.

Ngy San said the investment could mean a surplus in Cambodian electric power in a couple of years, which would have environmental consequences and bring uncertainty in the sale of power to other countries.

But Ith Prang said the electric power production increase would be done yearly, according to actual need.

Chinese investment in dams threatens Cambodian eco-system: group

PHNOM PENH (AFP) — Cambodia's two largest dam projects threaten to flood huge swathes of protected forests, a conservation group has said, urging reform in the country's burgeoning hydropower sector.

International Rivers Network, in a report released late Monday, said that the Kamchay and Stung Atay dams, which seek to provide much-needed electricity to the country, will instead wreak havoc on local communities and slow development.

The US-based group targets in particular Chinese investment in the sector, which it said is powering forward through close ties between Cambodia's government and Beijing, unchecked by public scrutiny.

The projects highlight the "growing interest in large-scale hydropower dam development by Cambodian decision makers backed mainly by Chinese project developers and financiers," the group said.

"Chinese investment in Cambodia's hydropower sector is threatening some of the country's most precious eco-systems and the livelihoods of thousands of people."

Funded largely by a 600-million-dollar Chinese aid package, the Kamchay Dam is located entirely inside Cambodia's Bokor National Park and will flood 2,000 hectares of protected forest, the group said.

Once completed in 2010, it will also force local residents from the area, stripping them of their livelihoods, and could threaten downstream tourist sites, International Rivers said.

Protected forests in Cambodia's Cardamom mountains will also be submerged by the Stung Atay Dam, which is expected to come online in 2012, and four others currently under consideration.

"Cambodia's free-flowing rivers and abundant natural resources are invaluable assets," said Carl Middleton, Mekong program coordinator with International Rivers.

"Poorly conceived hydropower development could irreparably damage these resources and undermine Cambodia's sustainable development."

Only an estimated 20 percent of households have access to reliable electricity in Cambodia, one of the world's poorest countries.

Spiralling utility prices, driven by this lack of supply, are a major obstacle to attracting foreign investment, and the government has struggled to find a way to bring down the cost of power.

International Rivers urged Cambodia to seek alternate power sources, or adopt international standards within its own utilities sectors.

"Cambodia has many choices for meeting our electricity needs, including renewable and decentralised energy options that must be explored" said Ngy San, deputy executive director with the NGO Forum on Cambodia.