Dam threatens livelihood of Cambodia's poor

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPrgoUEWW3Q

22 April 2012
Al Jazeera

The Mekong River and its tributaries are Southeast Asia’s main waterway flowing through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

There are a number of dams built in the upper Mekong basin, including five in China, to generate electricity. But a second dam on river Sesan, a tributary of Mekong, is threatening the livelihood of people in Ratanakiri area of Cambodia.

Activists say the dam will flood more than 30,000 hectares of farmland, forcing around 5,000 people to relocate and severely affect fishermen across the Mekong basin.

The government says it has conducted all the relevant environmental surveys and believes the positive impacts outweigh the negative.

Al Jazeera’s Stephanie Scawen reports from Ratanakiri.

Ta Ngel village slated to be destroyed by a planned Chinese dam in the Cardamom Mountains

Ta Ngel village in Prolay district to be destroyed by the Chinese dam planned for constructi​on next year at Areng River in the Cardamon Mountains in Koh Kong, 17 April 2012. Video by Theary Seng

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJwjnqiUbtA

MP urges government to scrap Koh Kong dam project

People fish in the Stung Areng River in Koh Kong province, where a Chinese company intends to build a controversial dam. Photo Supplied

Friday, 20 April 2012
May Titthara and David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

As for the villagers feelings about being forced to leave, Son Chhay said they were furious about the dam, but too scared to say anything.

A dam project set to flood thousands of hectares of protected forest and displace about 1,500 indigenous minority villagers in one of Koh Kong province’s most precious ecosystems should be scrapped, opposition Sam Rainsy Party MP Son Chhay said yesterday.

The 109-megawatt dam project in the Cheay Areng Valley is to be built by the Chinese state-owned firm Guodian Corporation and expected to flood up to 20,000 hectares, with about half of the reservoir in the Central Cardamom Protected Forest.

After returning from an investigation of the site, Son Chhay said the dam on the Stung Areng river would be a tragedy for the indigenous Chuong villagers – who have cultivated the area for centuries – and those who appreciated one of the country’s last, truly unique forests.

Adventure in the Cardamon Mountains where a Chinese dam is slated to build next year

Adventure in the Cardamon Mountains where a Chinese dam is slated to build next year, great concern for indigenous people and environmen​tal impact!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aPNJfa6iyE

Khum Pralay, Cardamon Mountains: a Chinese co. will build a dam next year (Video by Theary Seng)

Khum Pralay in the heart of the Cardamon Mountains where a Chinese company will start to build a dam next year, and it is feared that the dam will destroy the miles and miles of the Cardamon Mountains pictured here, a catastroph​ic destructio​n to be silently accepted UNLESS... (video by Theary Seng)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mcx8W7c1b0

Opposition officials visiting planned dam construction in Stung Areng

SRP MP Son Chhay (Photo: Pring Samrang, CSH)

17 April 2012
By Sek Bandith
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Soy

A SRP MP expressed his concerns on the planned construction of a hydraulic dam in Koh Kong by a Chinese company.

A SRP MP and a group of researchers performed a visit to an area planned for the construction of a dam that will straddle Koh Kong and Thmor Bang districts, Koh Kong province, on 16 April 2012.

SRP MP Son Chhay said that he and his colleagues will conduct a several day-long study on the impact from hydraulic dam in this region.

The study region is located in Stung Areng which the government and a Chinese company plan to build a hydraulic dam in the near future.

Son Chhay: “People living in the Stung Areng region are concerned about the construction of a dam on the Stung Areng River, because it will impact the forest, the nature, the vegetation, wild animals, fish in the river could become extinct. Not only does this impact the livelihood of the people, but it could also lead to the extinction of rare animals as well.”

The Fight for Water in Asia

They haven't given up on the Myitsone Dam

Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Written by William Boot
The Irrawaddy

Dam-building fever increasing

Corporations owned by governments are at the heart of a relentless push to build hydro-electric dam systems in Southeast Asia.

These corporations are driven by a combination of political pressure for energy security and to justify their existence and growth.

The dams―in Burma, China’s Yunnan Province, Laos and Cambodia―jeopardise farmland, fisheries, forests, natural irrigation and rare wildlife and threaten to force many thousands of people from their homes, say environmental protection groups.

Three of the biggest corporations involved are China’s Sinohydro Corporation, the China Power Investment Corporation and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT).

Press conference on "Launch SRP Policy on Public Health"

The SRP Whip Son Chhay will hold a press conference at SRP HQ on Wednesday 21 March 2012 at 9:00 am

1. Launch party policy on Public Health
2. Present SRP survey on Government response to MPs letters of complaints
3. SRP concern over Hydro Dam projects of Se San 2 and Stoeung Araeng.

SRP MP Son Chhay's letter to Hun Xen asking dam construction authorization in Koh Kong and deforestation

Alarm over proposed dam

A view of the Central Cardamom Protected Forest is seen in Koh Kong province in December of last year. (Will Baxter)

Wednesday, 29 February 2012
David Boyle with additional reporting by Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Cassandra Yeap
The Phnom Penh Post

The Sam Rainsy Party has asked Prime Minister Hun Sen to verify the details of a proposed dam that could inundate about 10,000 hectares of protected forest, citing concerns that it would lead to rampant illegal logging and devastate a traditional habitat of Siamese crocodiles.

The proposed 109-megawatt dam would inundate about 20,000 hectares of land overall in Koh Kong province’s Cheay Areng valley, according to conservation groups, although an environmental impact assessment of the dam commissioned by the company suggested only 9,474 hectares would be flooded.

The US$327 million project was taken over by China’s Guodian Corporation after China Southern Power Grid dumped the plan in November, 2010, deeming it unfeasible.

In a letter sent to Hun Sen dated Monday, SRP legislator Son Chhay asks the premier to explain the status of the project and raised concerns that those tasked with clearing the reservoir would log far outside the designated area, mimicking the experience of previous dam projects.

“The situation at Tatay hydro dam area [in Koh Kong province] . . . is that the group of loggers used their right for logging inside the dam area to log outside the area, which devastated the natural forest, causing extreme concern,” the letter says.

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.”

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.

Cambodian Women Speak Up on Dam's Threat

Monday, July 4, 2011
By Amy Lieberman
WeNews correspondent

In Cambodia's rural northeastern province, the Sesan River is the primary source of food and income for fishing and farming communities. But hydropower dams are encroaching and village women say their daily life is hit the hardest.

RATANAKIRI PROVINCE, Cambodia (WOMENSENEWS)–-The Cambodian government has not yet secured funding for Lower Sesan 2, a 750 megawatt, $650 million dam that would export electricity to Vietnam and become the largest hydropower dam in Cambodia.

With plans underway, though, some women in the deeply spiritual nine ethnic indigenous communities of Ratanakiri Province, 10 hours north of Phnom Penh, are braced for the worst.

Ratanakiri residents along the Sesan river support themselves by fishing and farming, both subject to drastic disruption by the project. The dam is expected to impinge on fish migration and flood surrounding farmland.

China's no to signing water sharing pact imperils India

Jun 19, 2011
Abantika GhoshAbantika Ghosh, TNN
The Times of India

NEW DELHI: The recent scare about China diverting the course of the Brahmaputra River is not the first time that India has expressed concerns about its Communist neighbour's hydel projects, and is unlikely to be the last.

Beijing not only has a host of projects lined up on the Brahmaputra River — 24 according to some reports — but has also planned at least five, which have a cumulative power generation capacity of about 2,000 mw, for the Arun River (Bamchu) that is called Kosi when it enters India.

New Delhi isn't the only country voicing these concerns as China's abhorrence of any proposal to share natural resources has caused consternation in other south-east Asian nations like Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos as well. Beijing is planning to build three more mega dams on the downstream Mekong River in addition six existing ones. Mekong flows these lower riparian states.

Electricity [from Sesan dam] for [Big-brother] Vietnam

People navigate a boat down the Sesan river, past Kbal Romea village, in Stung Treng province’s Sesan district last month. (Photo by: Adam Miller)

Kith Meng's company stealing Khmer resources to sell to Vietnam?

Wednesday, 01 June 2011
Adam Miller and Phak Seangly
The Phnom Penh Post

“This is not about electricity for Cambodia. It is not about reducing the cost of electricity in Cambodia,” Baird said. “They are trying to maximise their profit. It’s not for the benefit of the country – these are private companies.”

An official from the Ministry of Environment admitted yesterday that electricity generated from the controversial Lower Sesan 2 Dam, a project touted as ensuring cheaper energy prices in Cambodia, would be exported to Vietnam.

The admission, made at an NGO-led workshop held with indigenous community representatives in Phnom Penh, came after a United States-based fisheries expert and consultant for conservation group International Rivers estimated that only about 1 percent of the dam’s capacity would be used locally, with the rest being sold to Cambodia’s eastern neighbour.

The proposed US$816 million, 400-megawatt dam is set to begin construction later this year in Stung Treng province by the Cambodia-Vietnam Hydropower Company, a joint venture that is 51-percent owned by the EVNI Joint Stock Company of Vietnam and 49-percent owned by local conglomerate the Royal Group.

Prach Sun, a secretary of state for the Ministry of Environment, initially said yesterday that the potential of the Lower Sesan 2 Dam to fulfill local energy needs outweighed the environmental and social damage it may inflict on indigenous communities.

Chinese Dams Challenge Western Development Monopoly

By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK, Jan 10, 2011 (IPS) - A steady rise of new dams in Cambodia is becoming a platform for the country’s prime minister to showcase where the Southeast Asian kingdom’s ties with China - a late arrival among Cambodia’s foreign aid and development partners - is headed.

"The hydropower dam is just one of the numerous achievements under the cooperation between Cambodia and China," Premier Hun Sen said in December at a ceremony in a remote South-western province of the country where the 338 megawatt Russei Chrum Krom hydropower dam is being built.

This 500-million-U.S.-dollar dam - being built by the Huadian Corp., one of China’s biggest state-owned power companies - is the largest of five Chinese dams under construction in energy-poor Cambodia, where only a fifth of the population of nearly 14.5 million have access to electricity.

Chinese companies are already carrying out feasibility studies for four more dams to be built, say environmentalists and grassroots activists worried about what such future hydropower projects portend.

"China plays a very important role in investment and development in Cambodia. But it should take account of the importance of EIAs [environmental impact assessments] and SIAs [social impact assessments]," Chhith Sam Ath, executive director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, said during a telephone interview from Phnom Penh, where his grassroots network for local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is based. "At times the EIA process is not open to the public and there is little time to comment," Ath told IPS.

Hydrodam Plans Stir Ratanakkiri Unease

A woman with her children in a small boat pass a flooded house in Cambodia. (Photo: AP)

Pich Samnang, VOA Khmer
Ratanakkiri, Cambodia Thursday, 27 May 2010

“If they build dams, it’s not certain we would have electricity for use here. And if we do have electricity, we are not sure if we can afford to pay for the power supply.”

Patt Paing has five hectares of land by the Sre Pok river. She has a small wooden house, and she raises pigs. The 55-year-old leads a quiet life here in Village Two, in Ratanakkiri’s Koun Mom district. But over the past three years, life has been more difficult.

That’s because of the floods.

“I don’t have enough rice to eat because of the floods for the past three years,” she told VOA Khmer in an interview last week. “In previous years, I could harvest more than 1,000 buckets or over 10 tons of rice per season.”

The floods were caused by water releases from dams upriver, she said.

“The consecutive floods caused by the dams have left me almost nothing to eat,” she said.

At least five more dams have been planned on the Sre Pok and its sister river, the Sesan, both of which run into the Mekong River. Those dams will follow the 2002 construction of a 720-megawatt dam at Yali Falls on the Sesan in Vietnam.

Villagers, who gathered for an annual celebration of the 3S Rivers Protection Network here last week, say they don’t want more dams, the flooding from which damage livestock and farmland.

“The existing dam in Vietnam has already severely affected our livelihoods, so what will it be like if more dams are to be built on these rivers on the Cambodian side?” asked Meas Samith, a representative of indigenous villagers on the Sre Pok.

“For generations, I have never heard that when a dam is built, an escalator is also set up for fish to travel on,” he said. “When a dam is built, there is no more fish migration.”

Villagers here say the dams and the power they generate are not worth the cost.

“Can the electricity be eaten?” asked Piev Chhin, a 65-year-old fisherman from the Brov ethnic minority. “We live along the river, so if our house gets flooded, what is the use of having electricity?”

“The electricity is of no importance for us,” added Dy Bopi, a 55-year-old farmer in Koun Mom district. “We would rather us batteries or paraffin lamps instead.”

However, officials say that if Cambodia is to grow its economy, it will need more than batteries and lamps. Only about 20 percent of the country’s homes have access to power, and most of those are in the capital. And electricity prices here remain high, while Cambodia purchases electricity from Vietnam and Thailand.

Ratanakirri Governor Pao Hamphan told reporters here last week the proposed dams were not confirmed and that villagers should not worry about them too much at the moment.

“It’s just the information, as no company has come to talk to us about them yet,” he said.

A vice governor of Koun Mom district, however, said the government would proceed with the dams if assessments showed more benefits than costs.

“We don’t build dams to kill people,” he said, addressing a crowd of villagers. “We build them for their benefit.”

If Cambodia does not build dams, other countries will, he said. “How can we alleviate people’s poverty if we just wait and buy electricity from other countries?”

Villagers said last week the government should consider methods other than dams if it needs electricity.

“If they build dams, it’s not certain we would have electricity for use here,” said Nen Sokei, an ethnic Tompuon villager. “And if we do have electricity, we are not sure if we can afford to pay for the power supply.”

Work starts on hydropower project in Cambodia

April 1, 2010
The Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia

A Chinese company began work Thursday on a hydroelectric dam in Cambodia, the second Chinese dam project launched this week in the country where only about a quarter of the population has electricity.

The two projects are among several hydroelectric dams planned to reduce power shortages in Cambodia although activists warn they could cause environmental harm.

State-owned China Huadian Corp., one of China's biggest power companies, will build the 338-megawatt dam on the lower Russei Chrum river in Koh Kong province, with an investment of about $500 million. The project is due for completion by 2014.

A project launch ceremony was held in the capital, Phnom Penh, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) east of Koh Kong province.

Industry Minister Suy Sem said the power generated from the dam will be distributed to neighboring provinces and the capital.

"Cambodia will benefit greatly from this dam. It will provide us with a huge power capacity and help us to reduce the use of oil for producing power," Suy Sem said.

Cambodia's economy has grown rapidly over the past decade but poverty remains widespread.

Electricity generation is underdeveloped, and most power plants use fossil fuels. Cambodia also buys electricity from neighboring Vietnam and Thailand. Many people rely on generators.

By 2009 some 26 percent of Cambodia's 14 million people had access to regular electricity, said Heng Kunleang, director of the electricity division at the Industry Ministry.

Its electricity prices are among the highest in the world, which is also a major source of complaint from investors in Cambodia.

In a bid to meet future electricity demands, the government has identified 21 potential hydroelectric dam sites across the country.

But environmentalists have voiced concerns about the impact those projects will have.

In a 2008 report, the U.S.-based International Rivers Network said "poorly conceived hydropower development could irreparably damage" Cambodia's environment and also extract a social cost.

On Monday, the China National Heavy Machinery Corp. started building a $540 million hydropower plant in the Koh Kong province that will generate up to 246 megawatts. It is also due for completion by 2014.

China is a leading foreign investor in Cambodia.

Some 349 Chinese companies have been invested in Cambodia mainly in agriculture projects, construction and dams, the Chinese Embassy said recently.

Billion-dollar Chinese hydropower projects get go-ahead in Cambodia

Wed, 03 Mar 2010
DPA

Phnom Penh - Construction of two Chinese-funded hydropower dams costing more than 1 billion dollars is to begin in south-western Cambodia in the coming weeks, local media reported Wednesday. A report from the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy said work would begin this month on a 246-megawatt dam costing 540 million dollars on the Tatai River.

And building would start in April on a 338-megawatt dam costing 496 million dollars on the Lower Russei Chrum River.

The Phnom Penh Post newspaper quoted Suy Sem, the minister for industry, mines and energy, as saying the dams would take up to four years to complete.

"We hope that the two hydroelectricity dams will help complement local demand for electricity in the future," Suy Sem said.

Cambodia suffers from high electricity prices, which have long been a hindrance to foreign investors and economic growth. A number of overseas companies are studying the feasibility of around 20 hydropower dams in the country.

But the opacity surrounding hydropower deals has long made opposition legislators uncomfortable, and they have unsuccessfully called for the contracts to be made public.

Environmentalists too are worried that projects could be pushed through with insufficient consideration given to their social and environmental impacts.

National media last year quoted a senior energy ministry official as saying the government had agreed to buy electricity at 7.45 cents per kilowatt-hour from the Tatai dam, and for 7.35 cents per kilowatt-hour from the Lower Russei Chrum dam.

That commitment has at least one multilateral institution worried.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently warned Phnom Penh against taking on open-ended financial commitments - particularly in the power-generation sector - that could burden the impoverished nation with significant ongoing liabilities.

In its annual country report released in December, the IMF noted it had been given assurances by the authorities that "no explicit government guarantees have been provided" for such projects.

But it said greater transparency was required to monitor the potential risk of contingent liabilities.

"The staff urged the authorities to thoroughly review existing contracts for potential liabilities, and exercise caution when evaluating new investment projects that carry an explicit or implicit government guarantee," the IMF stated.

Cambodia currently operates two hydropower dams which have a combined capacity of 13 megawatts. A third dam - which is being constructed by Chinese firm Sinohydro Corp - is partially operational with a projected final capacity of 193 megawatts.

The Tatai River dam is reportedly to be built by China National Heavy Machinery Corporation, while the Lower Russei Chrum dam is due to be built by China Huadian Hong Kong Limited.