Hun Xen's answer to SRP MP Son Chhay's questions regarding the Kith Meng-Viet Hydro dam

Dear KI-Media Readers,

Please find below:

1. A copy of questions sent by SRP MP Son Chhay to Hun Sen on the join venture of Hydro Dam between Okhna Kith Meng with a Vietnamese company.
2. A six-page response letter from Hun Sen on this issue.

Why we think you should read Hun Sen's response? Because it provide you with the details of the project and its impacts. Furthermore, it also shows how Hun Sen's regime treats the opposition when it comes to critical questions affecting national issues.

Thank you,

KI-Media team

Letter from SRP MP Son Chhay to Hun Xen

http://www.box.net/shared/ejioh7g6tl99rppeokyg

Letter from Hun Xen to SRP MP Son Chhay

http://www.box.net/shared/07yu6g64d1smoc295s78

Elecity of Vietnam (EVN) plans hydroelectric power project in Cambodian province of Stung Treng [-More eviction on the way]

June 6, 2011
HydroWorld.com

A subsidiary of Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), EVN International JSC is planning the compensation and resettlement for local residents living around the new hydroelectric power project in the Cambodian province of Stung Treng.

The Han Se San II hydroelectric power project is a joint venture between EVN International and Cambodia s Royal Group. The project is situated in Sesan district. It will have a total capacity of 400 MW. The five-turbine plant will be built with an expected amount of US$800 million. Steps including compensation and resettlement and the execution of relevant parties rights, as well as the form of a Compensation and Resettlement Committee (CRC) and a Working Group (WG) headed by Cambodian state officials were presented by the EVN International JSC representatives at a meeting with provincial and local leaders in Phnom Penh. According to Nguyen Thanh Huan, EVN International Deputy General Director, he expects the CRC and WG will start their work in October.

Govt gives contract for $2bn dam to VN firm

Thursday, 18 March 2010
Chun Sophal
The Phnom Penh Post

A VIETNAMESE development company has won the contract for a multi-billion-dollar hydroelectric dam on the Mekong River, replacing a Russian developer that failed to report to the government on time.

The Vietnam Urban and Industrial Zone Development Investment Corporation received its licence December 9, 2009, and now has two years to complete impact and output studies, according to an annual report from the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy.

“We hope that under this project Cambodia will have more electricity to respond to demands for consumption and business purposes in the future,” Bun Narith, deputy director general for the ministry’s hydroelectricity department, said Tuesday.

The developer has already begun studying the possible output of the dam and its impact on the environment, he added.

The dam could cost between US$2 billion and $3 billion, one of the largest dam projects approved by the government to date, Bun Narith said. The dam could generate up to 980 megawatts from the Mekong River in Stung Treng province, according to the ministry report, issued March 3.

The Vietnamese developer replaces Russia’s Bureya GES Stroy, which signed an agreement with the government in February 2009.

“We decided to transfer the licence from the Russian company to the Vietnamese company because the Russian company failed to submit reports … to the ministry on time,” Bun Narith said.

Since 2000, Cambodia has licensed private hydroelectric dam development for at least 21 sites across the country in hopes of generating enough power to meet Cambodia’s growing energy demand.

Energy Minister Suy Sem said this month that Cambodia hopes to boost electricity supply by between 20 percent and 25 percent this year, double the growth of 2009, in an attempt to match accelerating demand.

However, the government must be vigilant in licencing projects that can damage the environment and reroute water, said Chhit Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum.

“We are not against the development projects of the government if the projects are of high economic effectiveness,” he said. “What we want is that the government gives a public explanation and inspects the development projects carefully to make sure they will not affect people’s living, and the environment.”

Cambodia, Vietnam set year 2012 to end border demarcation

PHNOM PENH, June 10 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia and Vietnam have agreed that the border demarcation between the two nations will be finalized by 2012, a senior government official said Wednesday.

The set timeframe for the border demarcation was reassured by border experts during the two-day meeting, which took place in Cambodia's northern province of Siem Reap.

Cambodia's chief of border negotiator Var Kimhong said he had held talks with Ho Xuan Son, Vietnam's deputy foreign minister and chief of border commission, during which he said fruitful discussions on bilateral cooperation, especially, the border issues were made in substantive and mutual manners.

In a separate meeting on Monday between Cambodia's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hor Namhong and Ngo Anh Dung, newly appointed Vietnamese Ambassador to Cambodia, Hor Namhong had encouraged Vietnam to expedite its hydropower development in Cambodia's rivers in the eastern part that would provide electricity for local use and for sale to Vietnam, according to Koy Kuong, spokesman of the Foreign Ministry.

Cambodia shares 1,270 kilometers of border with Vietnam to the east and as of today, 109 border poles have been marked and 205 more will be placed by 2012, according to Var Kimhong.

Var Kimhong said as more discussions on border issues need to be addressed, the Cambodia and Vietnam's Joint Border Commission will meet again in November this year in the country's southwest coastal beach of Sihanoukville.

Cambodia is also in the process of negotiations with Thailand and Laos on similar border issues.

Cambodia shares 805 kilometers of border with Thailand to the west and northwest and another 504 kilometers with Laos to its northeast.