Laos Pushes Ahead With Second Mekong Dam Project

Laos is pushing ahead with construction of a second dam on the Mekong River despite objections from environmental and civil society groups. Work on the main part of the Don Sahong hydropower dam near the Cambodian border in southern Laos will begin by the end of next year, deputy minister for energy and mines Viraponh Viravong told a group visiting the project site Monday. Some 100 reporters, representatives of non-governmental organizations, and Cambodian and Vietnamese officials are on a tour of the site this week as Laos seeks to appease opposition to the U.S. $723 million project. Construction of the first dam on the mainstream Mekong, the Xayaburi dam, is already underway in the north of Laos. ... The complaint was made to the Mekong River Commission (MRC), the body that oversees regional cooperation in the Mekong Basin. “Cambodia has written to Laos to request the project be suspended and that Laos bring the project up for discussion with the Mekong River Commission,” Cambodian National Mekong Committee Deputy Chairman Sin Niny told RFA’s Khmer Service last week. ... Cambodia, which is building its own dams on Mekong tributaries, is also, along with Thailand, a potential buyer for electricity generated by the dam, which Laos is building as part of its target to become the “battery” of Southeast Asia by selling electricity to its neighbors. ...

 Radio Free Asia
http://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/don-sahong-11122013185743.html