Premier Defends Sesan Dam, Says Critics Are Scaremongering
Prime Minister Hun Sen defended the government's plan for Strung Treng province's 400-megawatt Lower Sesan 2 dam project in a letter to an SRP lawmaker, and accused opposition parties, NGOs and the media of exaggerating the negative impacts of hydropower dams. In the six-page letter to lawmaker Son Chhay, dated July 28, the prime minister said the government had carefully studied measures to mitigate and compensate for the dam's impact on the environment and displaced communities. He said that despite these local impacts, the project was needed to support Cambodia's development...The $806 million dam project was approved in April and Vietnamese electricity giant EVN, which is developing the dam, said construction will start before the end of this year. Officials have said that half of the dam's power would be exported to Vietnam.
