Controversial Dam Approved on Cambodia-Laos Border
Laos has notified the Mekong River Commission (MRC) that it will go ahead with the construction of the Don Sahong Dam, which environmentalists say could threaten the ecosystem of the Lower Mainstream Mekong and have a severe impact on the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands Cambodians. Located less than 1 km from the Cambodian border, the dam will likely lead to the extinction of the critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphin in Kratie province as well as the Giant Mekong Catfish, environmentalists say. “The Lao Government has notified the Mekong River Commission of its decision to proceed with the development of the Don Sahong Hydropower Project in the Siphandone area of southern Laos. The run-of-the-river dam will operate continuously year-round and produce 260 megawatts of electricity,” the MRC, an intergovernmental body responsible for the management of the Mekong Basin, said in a statement Thursday. The statement says the MRC had been notified on Monday by the Lao government, which also provided a feasibility study for the dam, including the project’s social and environmental impact assessments and fisheries study which will be shared with Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, all of which are MRC member countries. Laos informed the MRC that construction on the dam is expected to start in November and finish by February 2018, meaning it is unclear if the MRC will hold another meeting to discuss the dam before construction begins. … Ame Trandem, Southeast Asia director of International Rivers, said the snub-nosed dolphin species would be negatively impacted by the dam due to a lack of fish and the extraction of truckloads of sediment from the riverbed. “The dolphins are extremely sensitive so these changes will likely lead to their extinction-definitely for the area, possibly for the whole river,” she said. There are also grave concerns about the effects the dam will have on fisheries, which supply huge numbers of Cambodians with protein in their diet and a steady income. … The company to build the dam is Malaysia’s Mega First Corporation Berhad, which has never built a dam before. Despite the concerns among downstream countries and environmentalists, the Lao government has said the dam will not threaten fisheries as fish will be able to migrate through other channels around the 4,000 island region in southern Laos or use a special fish passage that will be built as part of the 30-meter-high dam. Still, the University of Sydney said in an open letter from 34 scientists from around the world to the Lao government in 2007 that there was no evidence to prove fish would be able to migrate using alternative routes. … Ian Baird, assistant professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who helped coordinate the letter and has researched the 4,000 island region, said that looking at whether or not the dam could be built on another one of the Mekong’s channel had not been explored by Mega First Corporation Berhad. … Guidelines set by the MRC state that Laos is bound to submit the planned construction of the dam for prior consultation, which would allow regional decision-making with the participation of Cambodia, Ms. Trandem said, adding that so far Laos has failed to do so. …
Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/controversial-dam-approved-on-cambodia-laos-border-44401/
