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dam-l LS: Mekong Basin Dams Claim Lives, Cause Poverty, Bank Warned
Mekong Basin Dams Claim Lives, Cause
Poverty, Bank Warned
By Bob Burton
SYDNEY, Australia, June 27, 2000
(ENS) - The Asian Development Bank is being
urged to defer a decision on funding
of a controversial 240 megawatt hydroelectric
scheme on the Se San River in
Vietnam until more detailed studies on likely
impacts have been completed. The
requests came at a major international
conference here on the weekend.
The conference, organized by the
Australian Mekong Resource Centre, comes at a
critical time for the Asian
Development Bank, which is negotiating with donor
countries for replenishment funding
to its concessional loan fund. However, with
dissatisfaction with the performance
of the ADB increasing, donor countries such as
Australia are pressing for reforms.
Witoon Permpongsharoen from
nongovernmental organization Towards
Ecological Recovery and Regional
Alliance (TERRA) based in Bangkok,
Thailand said the Yali Falls dam in
Vietnam, demonstrates the dangers of
large scale hydropower projects in the
area. The Yali Falls dam is just 20
kilometres (12.4 miles) upstream from
the proposed Se San 3 dam.
A report completed in late May by the
Fisheries Office of the adjoining
downstream province in Cambodia
reveals that the Yali Falls hydroelectric
scheme, funded by the Russian
government, had caused "serious ecological and
social impacts" to 20,000 people in
59 villages in the dam affected area.
Since the dam was constructed, 32
people have drowned as a result of surges in
water flows while deterioration in
water quality has had major impacts on the health
of downstream users, the report states.
"Although it is not entirely clear
how many people have died as a direct and
indirect result of changes in water
quality, local people report that 952 people have
perished since the problems began
over four years ago, and that water quality has
been the cause of all or most of the
deaths," according to the Cambodian report.
The ADB, a multi-lateral development
bank dominated by contributions from
Japan and the United States, is
facing increasing opposition from within the region
and from international
nongovernmental organizations for its role in supporting
environmentally and socially
damaging projects.
In 1992, the ADB established the
Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) economic
cooperation program to integrate the
economies of member countries - Burma,
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam
and the Yunnan province of China.
Particular emphasis has been placed
on the studies and projects aimed at
infrastructure development,
including roads and hydropower plans.
"The rich human and natural resource
endowments of the Mekong region have
made it a new frontier of Asian
economic growth," ADB Programs Department
deputy director, Rajat Nag, told the
conference.
Controversy over the impacts of
hydropower projects is widespread through the
region.
Permpongsharoen from TERRA told the
conference the ADB had dismissed
concerns about the Theun Hinboun dam
in Laos. "There is little for the
environmental lobby to criticize in
Theun Hinboun - there is no flooding, virtually
no reservoir, and no need to
resettle anyone," the ADB had claimed.
The Nam Theun is one of the largest
tributaries of the Mekong River in
Laos. The Theun-Hinboun hydro
scheme, partly funded by a $US60
million loan from the ADB, was
approved for construction in 1994.
A subsequent Asian Development
Bank mission to the area, "admits
there 'are major impacts related to
the project operation' that include
damage to village water supplies,
vegetable gardens and fisheries,"
Permpongsharoen told the conference.
"In the first year of the operation,
the project earned $US16 million for the
government of Laos, only two-thirds
of the revenue predicted by the ADB and less
than the loan service repayments,"
Permpongsharoen said.
"There is a profound difference
between what the ADB says and what they really
do. The ADB talk about poverty
reduction but the people say you are going to
make us poor. You shouldn't allow
them to use your money for projects that make
people poor," he said.
Fisheries biologist, Terry Warren,
revealed at the conference that a report he
authored on the impact on fisheries
as a result of the Theun-Hinboun dam had
been suppressed.
"Earlier environmental impact
assessment reports," he said, "clearly
underestimated the impacts to fish
populations and fisheries."
Warren's
1998 study found significant impacts on
fisheries
which had adversely affected reduced fish
catches
for 13 riverside villages. Fisheries are a vital
source of
protein for local villagers.
"To date,
the Thuen Hinboun Power company, its
directors
and the Asian Development Bank appear to
be
unwilling to make the final report a public
document
whilst at the same time apparently offering
criticism
about its lack of clear recommendations,"
Warren
told the conference.
Representatives from the Asian
Development Bank at
the conference were stung by the criticism from
Warren. "It happened on our watch
and we have got
to do something about it. We can't
undo what was
done, that was stupid and that
shouldn't have happened. We are working on the
compensation package and we have got
the [power] company to agree with us,"
the ADB Programs Department deputy
director, Rajat Nag, told the conference.
Professor of Economics from
Chulalongkorn University
in Thailand, Pasuk Phongpaichit,
told the conference
that opposition to environmentally
damaging projects
is rapidly escalating in her country.
"At present in Thailand, virtually
every big project for
an energy plant, dam or waste
disposal project is
being strongly opposed by a
coalition of affected local
people, activist NGO's and
environmental groups," she
said.
"The Mekong countries governments may short
sightedly adopt the ADB's strategy and allow
themselves to be strapped with huge
public debts from loans for big dams and
other infrastructure projects in the
name of anti-poverty policy," Phongpaichit
cautioned.
© Environment News Service (ENS)
2000. All Rights Reserved.