Second Lao dam on Mekong under way, environmental group says
Preparatory work on the Don Sahong Dam on the Mekong River in Laos is under way, despite a lack of approval from Laos' neighbours, an environmental group said Wednesday.
According to International Rivers, which last week visited the site of the dam at the Khone Falls in Champassak province in southern Laos, the project's developer - Malaysia's Mega First Corporation Bhd- has hired local people to place markers for access roads and a bridge and to clear river channels in the neighbourhood.
"Villagers reported to us that construction on the Don Sahong Dam's bridge and access roads will begin in 2014," said Ame Trandem, International Rivers' Southeast Asia Program Director.
The preparatory work is going on even though the Lao government has yet to start the Mekong River Commission's prior consultation process, as required under the 1995 Mekong Agreement, she said.
Under the regional agreement, any dam built on the lower Mekong requires the approval of the riparian countries of South-East Asia's longest waterway, which include Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam.//DPA
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