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dam-l Sign-on letter to Asian Development Bank re Theun-Hinboun
FIVAS
Foreningen for Internasjonale Vann -og Skogstudier
Association for International Water and Forest Studies
Osterhaugsgate 27
N-0183 Oslo, NORWAY
21 July 1998
Mr. Mitsuo Sato
President
Asian Development Bank
Fax: + 632 636 2001
Dear Mr. Sato
We write concerning the ADB's involvement in the Theun-Hinboun hydropower
project in Lao PDR. We would like to express our disappointment over the
ADB's handling of the substantial impacts to the livelihoods of several
thousand villagers living along the four rivers affected by the project.
Today, villagers are in a highly uncertain situation, unsure of whether and
how they will be compensated for losses experienced as a result of this
ADB-funded and promoted project.
>From the project's inception, the ADB has consistently ignored concerns
raised by NGOs that the project benefits had been exaggerated and the
social and environmental impacts downplayed. The feasibility study and EIA
for the project, conducted by Norconsult (formerly Norpower) in 1993, was
of such poor quality and so lacking in essential basic information that the
study's financier, NORAD, facing public pressure, rejected it soon after
its completion. NORAD subsequently admitted that Norconsult should not
have been allowed to carry out the study as it was part-owned by Statkraft,
one of the project developers. Despite the rejection of the Norconsult
study by NORAD, the ADB went ahead and approved the loan for the project
based on Norconsult's findings, allowing construction to begin in November,
1994. Norconsult was awarded additional contracts for design work and
on-going engineering consultation.
NORAD commissioned additional EIA studies which were carried out by NORPLAN
in 1995. These studies were extremely critical of the original Norconsult
EIA and contradicted many of its assumptions and findings. The NORPLAN
studies identified much greater social and environmental impacts such as
bank erosion along the Nam Hai and in the reservoir area, increased
sedimentation in the Nam Hinboun, the need for moving certain houses along
the headpond, loss of vegetable gardens and grazing land along the river
banks due to increased water level, reduced fishery catch due to
obstruction of fish migration, and difficulties in catching fish in deep
water with existing fishing gear. The NORPLAN studies also noted that "the
population knows very little about the project and adequate information on
possible impacts has not been given to the affected villages."
Despite these studies, the ADB made few attempts to institute a more
thorough process of consultation before continuing with construction and
made little effort to ensure that the additional mitigation agreements
drawn up for the project included adequate provisions for compensation to
affected villagers. In fact, in a 1996 agreement, the ADB advised the Lao
government to absolve the Theun-Hinboun Power Company from any further
responsibility for compensation, which leaves the Lao government to cover
costs which should rightly be the responsibility of all the investors in
the project.
In March 1998, Mr. Bruce Shoemaker, an independent researcher who speaks
the Lao language fluently, visited the project area and interviewed 60
people in 10 villages. Mr. Shoemaker found that local villagers were
already experiencing various harmful impacts from the project, many of
which were predicted in the NORPLAN studies. Villagers reported serious
drops in fish catches, the loss of riverbank vegetable gardens and drinking
water sources, and transportation difficulties.
Meanwhile, Shoemaker found that the entire amount set aside for
compensation was only $50,000, and was told by a representative of the
Theun-Hinboun Power Company that most of this had gone towards purchasing
land for the transmission line. Many villagers reported that they had not
received compensation for their losses and did not expect to receive such
compensation in the future.
The Bank responded by sending a Mission to the project site to investigate
the allegations in Mr. Shoemaker's report. The Mission produced a response
which in its tone and content was aimed at disputing Mr. Shoemaker's
findings and discrediting his report, rather than investigating and coming
up with solutions to the issues raised by Mr. Shoemaker. As a result, the
essential questions of how villagers are to be compensated for livelihood
losses caused by the project and the poor process by which funds for such
compensation have been allocated remain to be addressed by the ADB. We
believe that the approach taken by the Mission indicates that the Bank is
more concerned with discrediting its critics than with rectifying the
problems caused by the project.
We believe that the Theun-Hinboun situation contains a number of lessons
for how the Bank is handling other hydropower projects in the Mekong region:
1. Poor process from the outset, and unwillingness to address criticisms
from the early stages, has meant that many avoidable problems have arisen,
and there is now confusion as to who bears responsibility for compensation
and other mitigation measures. The ADB's seeming inability to learn from
past mistakes renders it likely that this situation will arise in the future.
2. Lack of consultation with affected communities means that many villagers
are suffering unexpected impacts and are unaware of any procedures in place
to deal with these impacts. The ADB has proved time and again that it is
simply incapable of carrying out effective consultation in the Mekong region.
3. The way the ADB has handled criticisms indicates that the ADB is not
interested in understanding and correcting the very significant social and
environmental impacts of its hydropower projects, but more interested in
identifying merely the minimal mitigation measures necessary to pacify
public concern.
4. The ADB appears to be more concerned with protecting the interests of
the private investors rather than those of affected Lao citizens. This is
common theme in much of the GMS program.
As a development agency, with policies that mandate your organization to
thoroughly assess and mitigate all impacts of ADB projects, we believe that
this is simply unacceptable. We would like to know what steps the ADB
management will take to correct this situation.
Yours sincerely
Oyvind Eggen
Director
FIVAS
Endorsed by:
Pauline Tyrrell
Editor
Action for World Development, Australia
Lee Rhiannon
Campaign Coordinator
AID/WATCH, Australia
Osua T. Mata
Deputy Secretary General
Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL), Philippines
Roel Ravanera
Executive Director
ANGOC, Philippines
Eiji Ishinaka
Secretary-General
APEC Monitor NGO Network, Japan
Dave Batker
Asia-Pacific Environmental Exchange, USA
Hikaru Sato
General Secretary
The Asian Health Institute Society, Japan
Mike Krockenberger
Campaign Director
Australian Conservation Foundation, Australia
Senator Bob Brown
Australian Senate
Senator Dee Margetts
Australian Senate
Manabu Kitaguchi
Banaban Heritage Society International, Japan
Dana Clark
Senior Attorney
Center for International Environmental Law, USA
Gil Reoma
Member, Executive Committee
Community Volunteers Movement, Philippines
Stephanie Fried
Staff Scientist
Environmental Defense Fund, USA
Hemantha Withanage
Senior Environmental Scientist,
Environmental Foundation Ltd, Sri Lanka
Cam Walker
National Liaison Officer
Friends of the Earth, Australia
James N. Barnes
Counselor
Friends of the Earth International, France
Roberta Brook Cowan
IFI Programme Coordinator
Friends of the Earth International, The Netherlands
Ikuko Matsumoto
Aid Reform Project Coordinator
Friends of the Earth, Japan
Dr.Kenji Ago
Chairman
Fukuoka NGO Forum on the ADB, Japan
Sam Ferrer
Executive Director
Green Forum Philippines
Kanda Hiroshi
Secretary-General
Institute for Alternative Community Development, Japan
Owen Lammers
Executive Director
International Rivers Network, USA
Tomoyo Saito
Japan Center for a Sustainable Society and Environment (JACSES), Japan
Takahiro Nanri
Campaign Coordinator
Japan Tropical Forest Action Network, Japan
Andik Hardiyanto
LBH Surabaya, Indonesia
Marvic M.V.F. Leonen
Executive Director
Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, Inc.-
Kasama sa Kalikasan/Friends of the Earth, Philippines.
Mihoko Uramoto
Coordinator
Mekong Watch, Japan
Lars Loevold
Executive Director
Norwegian Rainforest Foundation, Norway
Doug Norlen
Policy Advisor
Pacific Environment and Resources Center, USA
Tomoko Sakuma
Director
People's Forum 2001, Japan
John Revington
Director
Rainforest Information Centre, Australia
Francesco Martone
Coordinator
Reform the WB Campaign, Italy
Sappachai Janormong
The Regional Center for Resource Studies and Sustainable Development, Thailand
Saitoh Aya
Campaigner
Rivers ! Japan
John "Caveman" Gray
Founder
SeaCanoe International, Ltd, Thailand
Larry Williams
Director, International Program
Sierra Club, USA
Corralie Kingston
Research Coordinator
Social Action Office, Australia
Elenita C. Dano
Executive Director
Southeast Asia Regional Institute for Community Education (SEARICE),
Philippines
Mazane Kazumi
Coordinator
Survival International Network, Japan
Nestor Caoili
President
Upland Development Institute, Philippines
Felicity Wade
Campaign Coordinator
The Wilderness Society, Australia
Chainarong Sretthachau
Wildlife Fund, Thailand
Marguerite Young
Program Leader, International Program
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Australia
Trine R. Mathisen
Program Officer
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Norway
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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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