As Plans for Dam Gain Traction, Villagers Balk

For hundreds of years, the ancestors of Vam Sovann have lived in Koh Kong province’s remote Araeng valley. Some 70 km from the nearest national road, Mr. Sovann’s village has no electricity or phone coverage, no paved roads or running water; instead, it has access to sacred lands and one of the nation’s most biodiversity-rich areas. But as momentum appears to gather steam on a hydropower dam planned for the area, environmental groups, human rights workers and affected villagers warned this month that days may be numbered for life in the valley. Speaking on behalf of hundreds of Chong ethnic minority villagers who have been told they will be relocated if construction on the dam goes ahead, Mr. Sovann called on the government to shelve the project. … Koh Kong deputy provincial Governor Sun Dara said that a company, whose name he could not remember, was currently preparing a new impact report. Conservation groups have said the dam project is in the hands of China Guodian Corporation, one of the country’s largest state-owned energy companies. A working group from the Ministry of Environment’s environmental impact assessment department has conducted field research with the company’s officials and “expect to release the findings soon,” Mr. Dara said. …