Thailand Pushes Xayaburi Dam

Xayaburi work goes on (photo credit: Suthep Kritsanavarin)

Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Written by Our Correspondent
Asian Sentinel

Despite reservations from Mekong Basin countries, construction continues

Over the opposition of environmental groups and the governments of other countries in the Mekong Basin, the Thai government is pushing ahead with the construction of the controversial Xayaburi Dam, environmentalists say.

Although the Cambodian and Vietnamese governments have expressed concerns about the dam and work was supposed to stop until further study has been completed, preliminary construction on the giant dam deep inside Laos, is continuing, according to International Rivers, which opposes the structure.

Thailand won't veto construction of [Xayaburi] dam

1/12/2011
Bangkok Post

Thailand will not oppose construction of the Xayaburi dam in Laos but Vientiane must take responsibility if the project causes any environmental damage, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Preecha Rengsomboonsuk says.

Mr Preecha yesterday said Thailand was treating the project as an internal affair of Laos which Bangkok had no right to interfere in.

"Laos has the right to construct the dam as it is located inside Lao territory. We will not oppose the project. But if there are any environmental impacts, the Lao government must take responsibility," he said.

International Petition Calls for Thailand, Laos to Cancel Xayaburi Dam

Construction of Xayaburi Dam (Photo: Bangkok Post)

November 30, 2011
Ron Corben | Bangkok
Voice of America

An international petition from more than 100 countries is calling for the Laos and Thai governments to cancel a massive hydropower dam project on the Lower Mekong River.

The $3.5 billion Xayaburi Dam in Laos is one of 11 proposed dams for the Lower Mekong River that also flows through Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

But environmentalists say the 1,280 megawatt dam will have far-reaching implications, especially in areas such as Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region, prime rice growing country.

International Rivers, a U.S.-based environmental group, says 22,580 people from more than 100 countries signed a petition calling for canceling the project due to grave concerns about the future of the Lower Mekong basin.

Laos Plans New Study on Dam Effects

A Cambodian fisherman holds a bag loaded with fish from the Mekong River on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia (FILE). Photo: AP

VOA News
May 10, 2011

Laos says it will conduct new research on the environmental effects of a hydropower dam it wants to build on the lower Mekong River, bowing to requests from neighboring nations for more study on the project.

Daovong Phonekeo, the deputy director general of the country's Department of Electricity, said Tuesday the country will hire advisers to do the study, and will ask a Thai construction company that is playing a leading role in the project to fund the study.

He says construction work on the project will be delayed for the study.

The Xayaburi dam will be the first hydropower dam on the lower reaches of the river, although China has built dams on the upper stretches of the river.

Film Highlights Potential Harm of Mekong Dams

An extraction from the documentary "Where Have All the Fish Gone? Killing the Mekong Dam by Dam" shows a massive dam under construction on a stretch of the Mekong river in China. (Photo: Courtesy of Tom Fawthrop)

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Phnom Penh Thursday, 28 April 2011

“If the Mekong is destroyed, the fishery, according to estimates, will be reduced by something like between 40 percent to 60 percent.”

A documentary showing the possible impacts of hydropower dams on the Mekong was screened in Phnom Penh Tuesday night, a week after Mekong countries failed to decide on a dam proposed in Laos.

About 200 people, most of them students, watched the film, “Where Have All the Fish Gone?: Killing the Mekong Dam by Dam,” which was directed by journalist Tom Fawtrop and screened at Pannasastra University in the capital.

The 23-minute film shows a massive hydropower dam under construction in China and street protests in Bangkok over another 11 proposed dams on the lower Mekong.

Officials from the Mekong River Commission, from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, ended meetings last week over a dam proposed in Xayaburi province, Laos, after failing to decide whether it could be built. More meetings over the dam are expected later this year.

Vietnam Seeks 10-Year Delay on Lao Dam Project

Chea Sophorn, 39, carries a fish basket at the Mekong River bank in Kandal province, Cambodia, April 19, 2011. (Photo: Reuters)

April 27, 2011
VOA News

Vietnam has asked Laos to delay by 10 years the construction of a controversial multi-billion-dollar dam on the Mekong River to allow for more studies about its effects on the lives of millions of people who rely on the waterway for food and commerce.

Vietnam's natural resources minister, Pham Khoi Nguyen, made the announcement Wednesday in Hanoi, telling reporters that documents received so far from the Lao government were inadequate and lacked "realistic" statistical data.

Nguyen is the chairman of the four-nation Mekong River Commission, a grouping of experts from Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. The commission failed last week to reach a consensus on whether to support further consultations on the Xayaburi dam project.

China's dams threaten livelihoods [-The DAMNED Chinese dams]

Tuesday April 26, 2011
By DENIS D. GRAY
AP

The damming of every major river flowing from the Tibetan plateau will trigger natural disasters, degrade fragile ecologies and divert vital water supplies.

THE wall of water raced through narrow Himalayan gorges in north-east India, gathering speed as it raked the banks of towering trees and boulders. When the torrent struck their island in the Brahmaputra river, the villagers remember, it took only moments to obliterate their houses, possessions and livestock.

No one knows exactly how the disaster happened, but everyone knows whom to blame: neighbouring China.

“We don’t trust the Chinese,” says fisherman Akshay Sarkar at the resettlement site where he has lived since the 2000 flood. “They gave us no warning. They may do it again.”

AusAid backs Laos dam decision

April 22, 2011
Ron Corben
AAP

Australia, a key donor to the four-nation Mekong River Commission (MRC), has backed a move to defer a decision on a controversial $US3.5 billion ($A3.28 billion) hydropower dam in northern Laos.

A meeting of officials from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam this week decided the issue would be sent for consideration at the ministerial level, in face of opposition from Laos' neighbouring countries including its closest ally, Vietnam.

Australia's development and overseas aid program, AusAid, said the decision was "in line with our calls for an extension to the decision-making process", and urged Mekong countries to "use this extension to further assess the trans-boundary impacts of the dam".

AusAid said key concerns were the impact on highly productive fisheries, food security, livelihoods and ecosystem health, which millions of people are dependent upon.

Thailand to pursue power purchase plan [from Xayaburi Dam]

April 21, 2011
By WATCHARAPONG THONGRUNG, NALIN VIBOONCHART
THE NATION

Thailand is pushing forward with its plan to purchase electricity from the Xayaburi hydropower plant in Laos in the hope that the resolution among Mekong River countries on Tuesday to delay the project would not lead to its eventual demise.

Energy Minister Wannarat Charnnukul said yesterday that the ministry would proceed with signing the power purchase agreement (PPA) with the project's developer, Xayaburi Power.

Energy permanent secretary Norkun Sitthiphong, as chairman of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, will summon Egat executives for a briefing today.

On Tuesday, the mekong River Commission's Joint Committee (JC), consisting of representatives from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, discussed the project at a special session and recommended that Laos wait for more consultation, given the concerns over the environmental impact to the community.

Thailand will be complicit if the proposed Xayaburi dam on the Mekong in Laos turns out to be an ecological disaster

Pause to consider before doing permanent damage

April 21, 2011
The Nation
Editorial

Thailand will be complicit if the proposed Xayaburi dam on the Mekong in Laos turns out to be an ecological disaster, as many forewarn

Concern over the degradation of the ecological system in and around the Mekong River - which flows through China, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam - has grabbed the attention of a leading lawmaker in the United States. Senator Jim Webb, chairman of the powerful Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and its Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs, issued a statement recently saying he was troubled by the proposed construction in Laos of the Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong mainstream.

The planning behind the dam, said Webb, set "a dangerously harmful precedent as it relates to the environmental health of Southeast Asia. Numerous scientific studies have concluded that construction of the Xayaburi Dam and other proposed mainstream dams will have devastating environmental, economic and social consequences for the entire Mekong sub-region".

The stalled battle for the future of the Mekong River

At the fish market in Phnom Penh, fishermen show their catch

Chhith Sam Ath from the NGO Forum on Cambodia says the new project could be disastrous

Fisherman like Sen Salim rely on the Mekong for their livelihoods

20 April 2011
By Guy DeLauney
BBC News, Phnom Penh

The BBC's Guy Delauney on the risks and rewards of building more power plants on Mekong River

The Mekong River is at the heart of many of the countries through which it flows.

Now it is the focus of an epic power struggle, pitching South East Asia's hunger for electricity and development against concerns for the environment, food security and millions of livelihoods.

Damming the mainstream of the lower Mekong would allow countries to generate vast amounts of electricity not only for their own people - but also neighbouring countries.

But the potential downside is enormous - massive changes to the ecosystem across the Mekong basin.

Laos, Neighbors Face Off on Mekong River Dam Dispute

A Cambodian fisherman who lives by the Mekong River casts his net outside Phnom Penh, April 19, 2011. Plans for the first dam across the lower Mekong River are putting Laos on a collision course with its neighbors and environmentalists who fear livelihoods, fish species and farmland could be destroyed, potentially sparking a food crisis. (Photo: Reuters)

Daniel Schearf, VOA
Bangkok April 19, 2011

Countries along the Mekong River have disagreed with Laos on its proposal to build the first hydropower dam on the main stream of the lower river. Laos says the dam will cause no serious problems, while its neighbors say more information is needed about its environmental and economic effects.

Delegates from Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam postponed a decision Tuesday on Laos’s plan to build a hydropower dam on the lower Mekong.

At a meeting of the Mekong River Commission in the Lao capital, Vientiane, Laos insisted the Xayaburi dam go ahead, saying it will be up to international standards.

No Accord on Mekong Dam

April 19, 2011
By THOMAS FULLER
The New York Times

Representatives from the four countries that share the lower reaches of the Mekong River said Tuesday that they failed to reach agreement on plans for a controversial dam in Laos. At a meeting in Vientiane, the Laotian capital, officials from Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam postponed a decision on the Xayaburi dam, which would be the first across the Mekong south of the Chinese border. The dam is the first in a series of large-scale hydroelectric projects on the Mekong that the cash-strapped Laotian government is pursuing in order to sell electricity to other countries. Cambodia and Thailand recommended further studies of the dam’s environmental impact, and Vietnam, which fears deleterious effects to the Mekong Delta, called for a moratorium on dams across the Mekong. The governments did not say when they would meet to decide the issue.

Asia: Following Vietnam protests, Laotian govt puts off Xayaburi dam decision

The four-nation (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand) Mekong River Commission met today. There is “still a difference in views” over the project, which Vietnam vehemently opposes. Environmentalists back a ten-year moratorium. Vientiane gives in and postpones decision.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Asia News

Vientiane – The Laotian government has decided to postpone any decision concerning the Xayaburi dam because of strong opposition from its neighbours, including its historic ally Vietnam. The decision was announced at a meeting today in Vientiane of representatives of Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. The project is the first of its kind in the lower Mekong River—four already exist in China. Environmentalists had criticised the dam because of its huge region-wide impact. The issue has also led to heated debates online. Vietnamese opponents have set up their own Facebook account (Những người phản đối đập Xayaburi) to oppose the dam.

Recently, US-based environmental group International Rivers waded into the controversy by criticising the start of construction, which Lao authorities decided despite protests and without informing its neighbours. Laos in fact appears to have started building a road to the future dam site. Laotian government officials refused to comment reports on the matter, leaving everything to today’s meeting.

VN opposes Laos dam

19/04/2011
AFP

Laos faced pressure from its neighbours on Tuesday to delay construction of a controversial dam on the Mekong River as they failed to agree on a project that has sparked deep environmental concerns.

Officials from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam met in Vientiane to discuss the planned $3.8 billion Xayaburi dam in northern Laos, an impoverished Communist nation which sees hydropower as vital to its future.

Laos's neighbours raised worries about insufficient environmental studies of the dam's likely impact, according to a statement released after the meeting, while Laos said there was no need for further consultation.

Mekong river dam decision delayed

April 19 2011
By Tim Johnston in Bangkok
Financial Times

A decision on whether to allow a controversial $3.8bn hydroelectric dam across the Mekong river has been delayed, raising fresh doubts over a project that Laos hopes will establish it as the “battery of south-east Asia”.

The Mekong River Commission, which is made up of representatives of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, had been due to make its decision on Tuesday. But instead it has passed the final judgment on whether to give the green light to the Xayaburi dam in Laos, to regional ministers.

The delegates did not set a date for a final decision but the delay will be seen as a further example of how competing environmental, energy and food interests are becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile in one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Xayaburi Dam

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Vietnam calls for more research on Mekong dam planned in Laos [-The same could be said about the Viet dams on the Sesan River!!!]

Apr 19, 2011
DPA

Hanoi - The Vietnamese government has called for more research into the impact of a hydropower dam on the Mekong River before construction begins in Laos, local media reported Tuesday.

The river is important to the people along its banks, the Viet Nam News newspaper quoted Nguyen Phuong Nga, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as saying.

'Mekong nations need to work closely together to exploit and use the natural resources in a fair and proper manner in order to protect the environment,' she said.

She made the statement before the Mekong River Commission - consisting of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia - was scheduled to meet Tuesday in Vientiane to discuss the Xayaburi dam.

Mekong Xayaburi dam decision due

Hydro power should help Laos become the "battery" for this increasingly power-hungry region, the government hopes

19 April 2011

By Guy Delauney

BBC News, Cambodia

The four member countries of the Mekong River Commission are meeting to make a final decision on whether to allow the construction of a controversial dam.

The proposed hydropower project at Xayaburi would be the first to be built on the main-stream of the lower Mekong.

Laos is hoping to become "the battery of southeast Asia".

The Mekong River Commission's ruling may determine whether the river stays a food resource for millions of people, or becomes a source of power instead.

Laos Seeks to Gain Neighbors' Approval for $3.8 Billion Mekong River Dam

Apr 18, 2011
By Daniel Ten Kate
Bloomberg Markets Magazine

Laos will meet with neighboring Mekong River countries today in an effort to win their approval for a planned $3.8 billion hydropower dam and allay concerns it would disrupt fish catches and rice production downstream.

The Xayaburi hydropower plant is the first of about 10 dams the government plans to build on the mainstream Mekong, which runs from China’s Tibetan plateau through Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Lao officials will make the final decision on plans for its biggest electricity plant to date after today’s meeting.

“The government will consider the concerns of the riparian countries and try to convince them of the advantages,” Daovong Phonekeo, deputy director general of Laos’s Department of Electricity, said by phone from Vientiene, the capital. “The project is necessary because our country is less developed. We don’t have other means to increase revenue.”