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dam-l LS: NT 2 resettlement plan



>January 22, 1999
>
>SECTION: Business
>
>LENGTH: 603 words
>
>HEADLINE: Laos Dam Resettlement Plan Approved
>
>BODY:  VIENTIANE - A (USDollar) 1.2 billion hydropower project seen as
>crucial for one of Asia's poorest countries cleared a major hurdle
>yesterday
>when affected communities in Laos supported a resettlement plan. Local
>officials expressed satisfaction during a public consultation exercise by
>the
>developers of Nam Theun 2, who plan to spend millions of dollars relocating
>about 4,500 people whose homes will be flooded for a dam. "We are very
>happy
>with the project, which will help our lives improve," said Phensy
>Damkhamdy,
>president of the Lao Women's Union in the Nakhai Plateau, site of the
>proposed dam. Development experts say the project is crucial to the
>development of Laos, a poor, mountainous and landlocked country whose only
>two potential sources of foreign exchange are forestry and hydropower.
>"Where
>is the revenue going to come from? Nam Theun 2 is the best bet," said
>Thayer
>Scudder, professor of anthropology at the California Institute of
>Technology.
>His is not a universally shared view. International Rivers Network, a
>California-based environmental, group opposes the dam and boycotted the two
>days of consultations. The exercise is part of a comprehensive study into
>the
>economic, social and environmental impact of the dam undertaken at the
>behest
>of the World Bank. The World Bank has agreed to provide a political risk
>guarantee worth about (USDollar) 140 million provided developers meet its
>requirements. The 900 megawatt power plant would sell electricity to
>Thailand
>and is expected to generate about (USDollar) 250 million in revenues
>annually. But the entire project hinges on a crucial power purchase
>agreement
>being reached with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT),
>which was forced to revise its position after the financial crisis
>depressed
>power demand. If a deal with EGAT is reached, a pilot relocation plan could
>start next year with the plant up and running by 2006, said Jean-Christophe
>Delvallet, project director of Nam Theun Two 2 Electricity Consortium
>(NTEC).
>Experts say the Nam Theun 2 project could change the way hydropower
>projects
>are developed worldwide, tranforming a sector in which conservationists
>have
>traditionally been pitted against developers. "Our record on large dams
>worldwide has been mixed at best," said Kathryn McPhail, from the World
>Bank's social policy and resettlement division. She said Nam Theun 2
>planning
>was designed to assess the environmental and social impact of the dam to
>avoid the development debacles which surrounded the Arun dam project in
>Nepal
>and Narmada in India. Yesterday developers promised a comprehensive
>resettlement plan for 800 households displaced by flooding that involves
>spending more than (USDollar) 20,000 per family, a fortune in an area where
>per capita income is about (USDollar) 100 a year. Conservationists who say
>hydroprojects elsewhere have a poor environmental record have praised the
>developers' efforts in Laos. "This is one dam that looks as though it could
>be really successful in terms of benefits to the people and for
>environmental
>conservation," said Lee Talbot, an expert on power projects and the
>environment. A previous power purchase deal was shelved in late 1997 after
>the regional economic crisis caused major cost-cutting at EGAT and a fall
>in
>electricity demand in Thailand. Electricit1/2 de France owns 30 percent of
>the NTEC project, Italian-Thai Development 15 percent, Jasmine
>International10 percent, Merrill Lynch-Phatra 10 percent, Transfield of
>Australia 10 percent and the Laotian government 25 percent.
>
>Copyright(C) 1999 BUSINESS DAY (Thailand)
>
>LANGUAGE: English
>
>LOAD-DATE: January 22, 1999
>


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Aviva Imhof
South-East Asia Campaigns
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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