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dam-l Laos dam article



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From owner-irn-mekong@igc.org  Mon Apr  6 17:54:18 1998
From: owner-irn-mekong@igc.org
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 1998 12:26:12 -0700 (PDT)
Message-Id: <199804061926.MAA05507@igc7.igc.org>
>>http: //www.scmp.com/news/template/templates.idc?artid=19980404025126019&to
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>>&template=Default.htx&maxfieldsize=1986
>>
>>
>>                 South China Morning Post Internet Edition
>>
>>
>>                          Saturday  April 4  1998
>>
>>   Laos
>>
>>                     New dam takes toll on livelihoods
>>
>>   GREG TORODE in Bangkok
>>   The first major dam to be built in Laos in 20 years opens today amid
>>   new environmental and commercial fears.
>>
>>   The US$260 million (HK$2 billion) Thuen Hinboun dam in central Laos
>>   will sell power to Thailand after being built with Norwegian and Asian
>>   Development Bank assistance in a consortium deal touted as a model for
>>   more dams.
>>
>>   A report yesterday by the US-based International Rivers Network warns
>>   that thousands of villages are being affected by the dam but are
>>   unlikely to be compensated.
>>
>>   A network survey early last month found evidence that some villagers
>>   were being forced to move as fish catches dropped between 30 to 90 per
>>   cent when the dam was closed in January.
>>
>>   Crucial crops had been affected and vital freshwater springs
>>   inundated.
>>
>>   ''As the project's developers trumpet the project's success, thousands
>>   of villagers are experiencing severe impact to their livelihoods,''
>>   researcher Bruce Shoemaker notes in his report. The study called for
>>   urgent action to assist villages, warning that just US$50,000 had been
>>   set aside for relocations under the deal which puts all future
>>   compensation firmly in the hands of the Laos Government.
>>
>>   Recent Asian Development Bank statements described the dam as a
>>   ''winner'' and set ''to pay back its investors big time'' but warned
>>   that the dam's financial success had been hampered by the regional
>>   currency crash.
>>
>>   The build-own-operate-transfer deal is 60 per cent owned by the Laos
>>   state power supplier, 20 per cent by Thai interests and the rest by a
>>   Scandinavian consortium, Nordic Hydropower.
>>
>>   The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand has agreed to buy
>>   power from Laos under a deal signed at old exchange rates a move which
>>   could see a net loss for the country of about 20 per cent of total
>>   revenues.
>>
>>   The dam has been seen a forerunner to the far larger Nam Thuen II dam,
>>   a controversial project set to flood parts of the environmentally
>>   precious Nakai plateau.
>>
>>     _________________________________________________________________
>>
>>
>>        [41]Copyright ©1998 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd.
>>                           All Rights Reserved.
>>
>
>*   *   *   *
>Christine Conlon
>Dept Social Communication & Journalism
>University of Technology, Sydney
>Tel: (w) (612) 9514 2098  (h) (612) 9560 9719
>
>
>
Cc: lori@irn.org, harini@irn.org, olammers@irn.org, von@irn.org, rani@irn.org,
        threegorges@irn.org, juliette@irn.org, patrick@irn.org, tracy@irn.org,
        row@irn.org, petrayee@irn.org, aleta@irn.org, glen@nutecnet.com.br,
        pamelam@irn.org, swong@irn.org, monti@irn.org, irnweb@irn.org,
        stever@info.bw, bruceshoe@compuserve.com
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Date: Mon, 06 Apr 1998 11:15:45 -0700
From: Aviva Imhof <aviva@irn.org>
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Subject: LAOS: New dam takes toll on livelihoods (SCMP)
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*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
Aviva Imhof, Mekong Program Coordinator
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley CA 94703 USA
Tel: + 1 510 848 1155 (ext. 312), Fax: + 1 510 848 1008
Email: aviva@irn.org, Web: http://www.irn.org
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