Infrastructure
Electricity infrastructure
NGOs issue one more plea to stop Xayaburi
With time running short before Laos’s Xayaburi hydropower dam enters its final, potentially irreversible stages of construction, a group of NGOs has made another call for its suspension. In a joint declaration released today, 39 organisations based in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Australia set a one-year ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngos-issue-one-more-plea-stop-xayaburi
Hundreds protest Laos dam
Yin Vuth, one of hundreds of Cambodians who protested against the Don Sahong dam over the weekend, said that if construction on the project in Laos goes ahead, the fish will disappear, and once the fish disappear, the dolphins will be next. “All we will have ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/hundreds-protest-laos-dam
PM to fete controversial dam
In the wake of several international scandals, the 120-megawatt Stung Atai hydropower plant in Pursat province and its transmission line will be inaugurated today in a celebration headed by Prime Minister Hun Sen. The $255 million hydropower project financed by China Development Bank has been operating ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/pm-fete-controversial-dam
Areng Valley mining may unseat dam
A highly controversial, Chinese-backed hydropower project in the Areng Valley could be delayed in favour of mining, should “research” for the dam approved by Phnom Penh in February uncover precious metals or gems. Sinohydro Resources Ltd, a holding company for Sinohydro Group, was granted approval on ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/areng-valley-mining-may-unseat-dam
Rolling blackouts ‘not in the works’: official
Phnom Penh residents should experience blackouts less frequently this dry season, as state-run Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) now has enough power to avoid a repeat of last year’s rolling blackouts, a senior company official said yesterday. The amount of electricity Cambodia will receive from several hydropower ...
Khouth Sophak Chakrya and Sean Teehan
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/rolling-blackouts-%E2%80%98not-works%E2%80%99-official
Cambodia lagging on energy, water, says UN
A United Nations study released on Friday shows that Cambodia has the highest rates – among 11 Asian countries surveyed – of people lacking access to electricity, clean water and sanitation. The 2014 UN World Water Development report, titled Facing the Challenges, ranks Cambodia below countries including ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodia-lagging-energy-water-says-un
Neighbours wary of Laos dam plan
In its race to cash in on hydropower without first addressing its downstream implications, Laos could pitch the region into a water crisis and jeopardise millions of Cambodian’s food security, conservation groups and Cambodian government officials said yesterday. “Lao PDR is exploiting the Mekong River to ...
Laignee Barron and Shane Worrell
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/neighbours-wary-laos-dam-plan
Cambodian experts concerned over Laos dam project near border
Cambodian experts on Thursday expressed concerns over the Laos Don Sahong dam development project, saying the proposed hydroelectric dam would pose a serious threat to the existence of the biodiversity on the Mekong River in Cambodia. Some 90 conservationists, environmentalists, development partners, academia, fishery scientists, and ...
Global Times News Staff
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/849722.shtml#.UyucxvmSxqU
Tonle Sap Lake fisheries a concern for dam project
Already under attack by overfishing, pollution and deforestation, Tonle Sap Lake fisheries face an even bigger threat in the form of hydropower dams, according to experts. Laos’ planned Don Sahong Hydropower Project in particular has environmentalists fearing an emptier, less bio-diverse lake, and a nation pitched ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/tonle-sap-lake-fisheries-concern-dam-project
Dam critics outline litany of risks
As villagers in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley continue to block Sinohydro Corp employees from entering the area where the Stung Cheay Areng dam is planned, conservationists and rights workers have spoken of the havoc it will wreak if it goes ahead. In terms of the ...
Daniel Pye and Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-critics-outline-litany-risks
Dam route blocked
Desperate ethnic minority villagers in Koh Kong province’s Areng Valley have blocked a road that was to be used to transport heavy machinery onto their lands to start construction of the highly controversial Stung Cheay Areng dam, according to villagers and officials. Three Chinese employees of ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-route-blocked
Solar move at PPWSA to cut costs
The Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority (PPWSA) installed a solar power generation system last week in an effort to reduce electricity bills by about $200,000 a year. The solar power system, which was funded by the Japanese government, was installed at the PPWSA’s water treatment facility ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/solar-move-ppwsa-cut-costs
Power couple linked to Sinohydro project
Two of the country’s most powerful and politically connected business owners are on the board of governors of the company thought to have brokered a controversial deal between the world’s largest hydropower developer and the Cambodian government, documents obtained by the Post show. Cambodian People’s Party ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/power-couple-linked-sinohydro-project
Laos promises transparency over Don Sahong dam
More than 100 representatives of Mekong River Commission (MRC) member countries, development partners, international NGOs, and Lao and foreign media yesterday visited the site of the planned Don Sahong hydropower project. The two-day site visit provided an opportunity for participants to learn from experts how fish ...
The Cambodia herald news Staff
http://www.thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=YWU3ZjgwNzk1MWI
Pestech bags RM282m contract in Cambodia
Integrated electric power technology provider Pestech International Bhd has bagged a contract worth US$86.065 million (RM282 million), to construct a 198km transmission line for the transmission of power from existing and future power plants in the Sihanoukville area to Phnom Penh City, Cambodia. Pestech’s wholly-owned Cambodian ...
The Sun Daily News Staff
http://www.thesundaily.my/news/981297
Dam developers hit back
Hydropower developers in southern Laos have fired back at the World Wildlife Fund after the conservation group issued two disparaging reports in as many weeks on the Don Sahong dam project. WWF released a brief on February 19 alleging that construction of the 260-megawatt damcould result ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-developers-hit-back
Solar power for communes
The offices of commune officials along the Tonle Sap basin will soon be solar-powered as part of a poverty-reduction project backed by the Asian Development Bank. Some 123 off-the-grid commune council offices in Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap, Kampong Thom and Kampong Cham provinces will be fitted ...
Daniel de Carteret
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/solar-power-communes
Impact study on dam problem-ridden: WWF
The conservation NGO WWF today slammed developers of the Don Sahong Hydropower project for providing “flawed” and scientifically unsound impact assessments. In an analysis released today, WWF criticised the hydropower project’s Environmental Impact Assessment and Social Impact Assessment, finding both “riddled with problems such as inappropriate ...
Laignee Barron
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/impact-study-dam-problem-ridden-wwf
Mixed reaction to coal-fired plant
Cambodia’s first coal-fired power plant, which is expected to fill shortages in demand by producing an additional 100 megawatts of electricity every year, commenced full-time operations yesterday. Representatives from Malaysian company Leader Universal Ltd (LU), which built the plant, joined Prime Minister Hun Sen and ...
Hor Kimsay and Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/mixed-reaction-coal-fired-plant
China's Huaneng takes majority stake in Se San River II hydro project, Cambodia
China Huaneng Group has successfully completed the acquisition of a majority 51% stake in Cambodia Se San River II Hydropower Co., Ltd. The acquisition was completed last month in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. ...
Water Power and Dam Construction News Staff
http://www.waterpowermagazine.com/news/newschinas-huaneng-takes-majority-stake-in-se-san-river-ii-hydro-project-cambodia-4183165
Bodies found after Mekong riverbank collapse
The bodies of a 39-year-old woman and her 18-month-old nephew were recovered Thursday two days after a riverbank collapse caused their home in Kandal Province’s Khsach Kandal district to plunge into the Mekong River while they slept, but the woman’s 3-year-old son has not yet ...
Simon Henderson and Khuon Narim
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/bodies-found-after-mekong-riverbank-collapse-52895/
Dam ‘dire for dolphins’
Construction of the Don Sahong hydropower project in southern Laos is likely to decimate an already dwindling population of critically endangered Mekong dolphins, according to a World Wildlife Fund science brief published today. About 85 dolphins inhabit a deep-water pool restricted to a stretch of the ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dam-%E2%80%98dire-dolphins%E2%80%99
Villagers want compensation for Lower Sesan 2 Dam construction
A group of eight villagers from Stung Treng and Ratanakkiri provinces facing displacement by the construction of the Lower Sesan 2 dam lodged a petition Thursday with the Chinese Embassy and three ministries demanding that the developer negotiate with them. “The affected families have never been ...
Kuch Naren
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/villagers-want-compensation-for-lower-sesan-2-dam-construction-52244/
Villagers in limbo as dam starts
Construction at the controversial Lower Sesan II dam site in Stung Treng province has already begun, according to villagers, who will today petition several ministries, the Chinese embassy and the headquarters of the Royal Group to open negotiations with them. According to the villagers, who travelled ...
Phak Seangly and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/villagers-limbo-dam-starts