[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

dam-l LS: Mekong basin ready for a new start

The Nation / 17 October 1999 

Mekong basin ready for a new start 

   The past decade of the Mekong basin development has been 
marked by the conflicting and disintegrated interests of 
countries within and outside the region.
   It is evident in the birth of a number of geo-matric 
economic growth zones initiated by both riparian states and 
outsiders with the consent of the regional countries. To 
name a couple there are the Greater Mekong Sub-region 
Economic Cooperation, initiated by the Asian Development 
Bank, and the Forum for Comprehensive Development of 
Indochina, initiated by Japan in 1993.
   As it stands, most of these development initiatives fail 
to take into consideration the fact that a fifth of the 250 
million Mekong population--about 50 million--are directly 
dependent on the river.
   The 4,200-kilometre Mekong River flows from Tibet, 
through southwest China, Burma, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia 
and then fans out at the Mekong Delta in Vietnam into the 
South China Sea.
   The Asian Development Bank alone has poured in US$40 
million in assistance and $460 million in loans into the 
region for infrastructure projects aimed at facilitating 
trade. The total contribution to the sustainable 
development of the river basin under Mekong River 
Commission between 1994-1998 totalled about US$43 million.
   The over-emphasis on the hardware development and some 
lingering instability marked by low-intensity conflicts 
along the border, plus demarcation disputes, have resulted 
in the uneven distribution of prosperity, increasing cross-
border drug trafficking beyond the Golden Triangle and 
human trafficking and illegal migration from poor countries 
to richer neighbours.
   More alarming is the environmental degradation in the 
Mekong watershed areas and the river's growing 
contamination as a result of increased activities.
   Yet, much is to be blamed on the lack of political will 
of the riparian states themselves.
   Their individual and regional efforts to cope with the 
issues which directly affect the life of the 50 million 
people have not been forthcoming, and in fact are being 
outpaced by the lure of short-term business prospects and 
vested interests.
   Moreover, the important role of the 1995 Mekong River 
Commission as the region's sole river organisation has been 
understated, and to a certain degree diluted by more 
economic-oriented powerful development organisations.
   Hopes and optimism were overwhelming four years ago when 
the commission was reborn in 1995 through a marathon four 
years of squabbling among the riparian states which 
resolved to embark on a new mission to promote 
comprehensive and sustainable development and the well-
being of the people.
   To the donor community, progress has been slow since 
then in the river body's work towards creating a basin 
development plan, the first master plan for comprehensive 
Mekong development.
   Some even blame the Mekong River Commission secretariat, 
the commission's implementing arm, for its slowness in 
handling activities.
   Much criticism was directed at the secretariat's former 
chief executive Yasunobu Matoba, who was the body's first 
elected officer through open recruitment.
   "He was slow in making decisions and much of the work he 
was assigned to supervise should have been decentralised," 
an official of a European country said.
   However, Japanese officials involved with the Mekong 
development defended Matoba as a capable person. "Being the 
first to take this job, one must be very careful," an 
official said.
   "The body is not supra-national by nature, making it 
difficult for some work to be smoothly and quickly carried 
out, since one must deal with a number of issues, ranging 
from sovereignty to conflicting interests," he said.
   Now, with the secretariat's new Danish CEO in office, a 
different mindset and style of working could make a 
difference.
   Several donors hope the new head will breathe fresh air 
into the secretariat, which moved from Bangkok where it was 
located for more than three decades to Phnom Penh a year 
ago.
   "We hope that a decentralised working style will be 
introduced to move the river body along with speed and 
quality," an official said.
   In fact, the 1997 Asia financial crisis, which has taken 
some shine off the Mekong sub-region, is a blessing in 
disguise. It revealed the destructive force of rapid 
economic development, giving riparian states and the donor 
community time to think about how they should continue.
   Japan, which is by far the biggest donor to Southeast 
Asia and the Mekong sub-region, has slightly shifted its 
money diplomacy, emphasising more quality than quantity 
since its official development aid has shrunk by 10 per 
cent. A Japanese official said the Overseas Development 
Assistance office is putting more emphasis on global 
issues, human resource development and environmental 
protection.
   He said the shift in emphasis is particularly due to the 
fact that growing demands for resources and capital have 
been directed to both sectors after the 1997 crisis.
   Another important factor is the admission of Cambodia 
into Asean earlier this year, which completes the 
integration of the five Mekong Basin countries into the 
international development system.
   It is hopeful that Asean will translate its political 
clout and well-established mechanisms into a positive gain 
for the Mekong's development.
   Yet, the unfinished task for both donors and the Asean 
community is to encourage China and Burma, the two upstream 
nations, in order for the MRC to become a true river basin 
organisation.
   Chinese plans to build dams along the Mekong have irked 
its Asean neighbours who claim that altering the river's 
flow could cause untold environmental damage.
   With the Mekong River master plan in place by 2003, most 
donors, including Denmark, hope the organisation will move 
away from a project-implementing body to a policy-making 
and and problem-solving organisation.
   Only then can the Mekong River Commission speak with 
power, and its role will not be diluted. 


=====
Denis Johnson
Minneapolis, MN, USA
drjohnson1@uswest.net <== new and improved!


*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
Aviva Imhof
South-East Asia Campaigner
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
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*