Mekong villagers wary of Xayaburi dam
Fishermen bring their boats to shore, pack away their traps and hand over the day’s catch to their awaiting families on the banks of the Mekong River in Kratie province’s Chitra Borei district. “When my husband arrives home each day, we eat some of what he has caught, but the rest we have to sell at the market,” Ry Srey On says from one of the many houses that comprise the Thmar Kre Lue fishing community in Thmar Kre commune. … Although far from Kratie province, the Xayaburi dam in northern Laos is one of 11 proposed hydro dams on the Lower Mekong that has sent both environmental groups and neighbouring governments into a spin over the damage it could cause. The potential trans-boundary effects of the $3.5 billion 1,285-megawatt dam – which would send 95 per cent of its power to Thailand – have not been studied, and environmental groups say fish migration and sediment flow will be blocked. … The MRC’s findings estimated Cambodia would be the worst hit – with fisheries losing more than 40 per cent of stock or $500 million per year, affecting the livelihoods and food security of millions, and sediment being blocked, which would increase the need for farmers to use fertiliser, thus increasing their costs. … Two reports on the dam have been carried out – one by a Swiss arm of Finnish consulting and engineering firm Pöyry and the other by French dam-building company Compagnie Nationale du Rhône (CNR) – both were commissioned by Laos and both were criticised for not meeting the requests of the other MRC countries. … More controversy has plagued the Xayaburi project since the developer behind the project, Thai firm Ch. Karnchang, announced in April it had signed the construction deal for the project – replete with a starting date a month earlier. … Laos maintains that construction never began, but environmental groups including International Rivers, which claims an entire Lao village has been relocated to make way for construction, says things are quite the opposite. …
