Laos' proposed dam delayed again
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Ministers of countries in the lower Mekong sub-region were unable to come to a decision on Laos' controversial Xayaburi hydropower project yesterday, recommending further study of the likely impact of building a mainstream dam on the river.
At their annual meeting yesterday in Siem Reap, Cambodia, the Council Members of the Mekong River Commission (MRC), comprising water and environment ministers from Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, agreed to approach Japan and other international development partners to support the study.
Laos has proposed building the Xayaburi Dam on the mainstream Mekong approximately 150km downstream of Luang Prabang. The project has an installed capacity of 1,260MW; an 810m-long, 32m-high dam; a 49-square-km reservoir; and live storage of 225 million cubic metres.
The primary objective of the project is to generate foreign-exchange earnings to finance socio-economic development in Laos. The developer is Thai construction firm Ch Karnchang, which negotiated a tariff agreement with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand in July 2010.
The project is widely opposed by people living along the Mekong River due to feared negative environmental and social impacts.
Vietnam and Cambodia apparently disagreed with the project, believing it would have a serious impact on the downstream ecosystem and food chain.
At a meeting in Vientiane in April, MRC officials agreed that the project would be delayed, and the final decision left to their ministers.
At a verbal discussion among the MRC member nations’ four prime ministers at the 3rd Mekong-Japan Summit held on the sidelines of the Asean Summit in Bali in November, it was agreed that further studies should be conducted on the project.
“The outcome [yesterday] demonstrates the member countries’ continued commitment to work together in the regional spirit of the Mekong Agreement to bring about economic development without compromising sustainability of livelihoods of their peoples and the ecology,” said MRC Council chairman Lim Kean Hor, the Cambodian minister of water resources and meteorology.
“Further study will provide a more complete picture for the four countries to be able to further discuss the development and management of their shared resources, Lim Kean Hor said in a statement after the meeting.
