[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
DAM-L LS: Pak Mun Dam Gates to Open (fwd)
----- Forwarded message from owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net -----
X-UIDL: [?[!!Tk-!!-Cl"!hd]"!
Return-path: <owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net>
Received: from DaVinci.NetVista.net (mjdomo@mail.netvista.net [206.170.46.10])
by lox.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca (8.8.7/8.8.8) with ESMTP id BAA28030
for <dianne@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca>; Fri, 11 May 2001 01:49:15 -0400 (EDT)
From: owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net
Received: [(from mjdomo@localhost)
by DaVinci.NetVista.net (8.10.0/8.8.8) id f4B5jQG17797
for irn-mekong-list; Thu, 10 May 2001 22:45:26 -0700 (PDT)
(envelope-from owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net)]
Date: Thu, 10 May 2001 22:45:26 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200105110545.f4B5jQG17797@DaVinci.NetVista.net>
Subject: LS: Pak Mun Dam Gates to Open
Sender: owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net
Precedence: bulk
From World Rivers Review, May 2001
Pak Mun Dam Gates to Open
by Aviva Imhof
In a victory for villagers affected by Pak Mun Dam in Thailand, the new
Prime Minister, Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, has agreed to open the Pak Mun Dam
gates for 4 months this year to conduct studies on fisheries and social
impacts. In exchange, the Assembly of the Poor has ended their marathon
protest outside Government House, where several hundred people had been
camping since last July.
Under the terms of the agreement, the gates of Pak Mun Dam on the Mun River
in Ubon Ratchathani Province will be opened from May to August while
fisheries and social studies are conducted. A decision will then be made on
whether to allow an indefinite opening of the dam gates. The exact dates of
the spillway opening, and the Terms of Reference for the studies, have been
delegated to a committee composed of a number of Thai academics. The
committee was to make its recommendations as this issue went to press.
The Pak Mun Dam was completed in 1994 with $24 million in funding from the
World Bank. From the outset, the project was highly controversial due to
the predicted impacts on the rich and productive fisheries of the Mun
River, the largest tributary of the Mekong River. As a direct result of the
dam, more than 20,000 people have been affected by drastic reductions in
fish populations upstream of the dam, and other changes to their
livelihoods. Since 1999, villagers have been living in a makeshift protest
village at the dam site, demanding that the dam gates be permanently opened
and the river restored.
Villagers affected by the dam are cautiously optimistic about their
prospects for the future. Said Mrs. Charoen Kongsuk, "We are happy with the
decision made by the government, but the government is composed of
politicians, who do not always keep their promises. Therefore, we are
waiting to see if the government complies with the agreement and opens the
dam gates for four months this rainy season. We hope that this will be the
first step towards permanent opening of the dam gates and restoration of
the Mun River."
Villagers say they will stay at Ban Mae Mun Man Yuen 1 (Long-lasting Mun
River Village 1), the protest village at the dam site, until the dam gates
are permanently opened and reparations have been made to affected
communities. About 500 people are currently living there.
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the owner and operator of
the dam, has attacked the government's decision. EGAT claims that opening
the dam gates would result in an economic loss of about 600 million baht
($15 million), and that Thailand cannot afford to forego the power that
would be generated by the dam. This is despite the fact that Thailand
currently has a power surplus of around 40%.
In addition, EGAT claims that opening the dam gates will destroy the fish
cages they have established in the reservoir. The World Commission on Dams,
however, found that reservoir fisheries at Pak Mun had been a failure, and
that the actual fish catch in the reservoir and upstream is 60-80 percent
less than in the pre-dam era, resulting in an economic loss to villagers of
about US$1.4 million per year. The WCD recorded that 169 out of 265 species
of fish in the Mun River were affected by the construction of the dam. Of
these, 56 species have completely disappeared.
Pak Mun was one of several decisions made by the Cabinet concerning dam
projects in Thailand. The government will appoint a panel to search for
plots of land of 15 rai each (2.4 hectares) as new homes for over 400
families affected by the construction of Sirindhorn Dam, completed in 1969.
These families were never given compensation for their lost land, and have
been squatting on government-owned land for the past 30 years. Tests will
be conducted to measure the volume of dust particles in the air in
communities around Lam Ta Khong Dam in the wake of rock blasting. The
government has also agreed to suspend construction on Hua Na Dam in Si Sa
Ket Province, and has established joint committees to consider complaints
on other dams.
Ms. Wanida Tantiwittayapitak, Advisor to Assembly of the Poor, said the
warm treatment that the villagers had received from the Thaksin Shinawatra
government was a stark contrast to the cold-shoulder given by the Chuan
Leekpai administration. Last year, after a series of protests on the dam
and at government house, the Chuan government opened the dam gates for two
months during the rainy season, but made no commitment for the future.
Chuan's main concession to Assembly of the Poor was an order to open the
gates at Rasi Salai, a dam further upstream of Pak Mun along the Mun River.
The gates have been opened since last July and studies are currently being
conducted which will determine whether the gates will be permanently
opened. The villagers at Rasi Salai have already witnessed a dramatic
increase in fisheries since the dam gates were opened. They are able to
harvest foods such as mushrooms, vegetables and herbs from the former
reservoir, and some are preparing their formerly flooded lands for
cultivation of cash crops and vegetables.
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
Aviva Imhof
Director, Southeast Asia Program
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
*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to majordomo@netvista.net
with no subject and the following text in the body of the message
"unsubscribe irn-mekong".
----- End of forwarded message from owner-irn-mekong@netvista.net -----