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DAM-L LS: Son La Power plant resettlement scheme heats up in Vietnam (fwd)

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Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2001 10:00:21 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <200110151700.f9FH0L223109@DaVinci.NetVista.net>
Subject: LS: Son La Power plant resettlement scheme heats up in Vietnam
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Deutsche Presse-Agentur

October 12, 2001, Friday
07:32 Central European Time

Power plant resettlement scheme heats up in Vietnam

    DATELINE: Hanoi

    Planned relocations of tens of thousands of families in Vietnam's
    remote northwest have hit a snag as squatters have claimed land set
    aside for the resettlement, officials said Friday.
    Forty households have taken up residence in Lai Chau province's Ban
    Dong area, where officials had planned to resettle up to 200 families
    in a two-year pilot project beginning this month to make way for the
    massive Son La hydroelectric dam. The squatters, ethnic Hmong from a
    nearby commune, have been allowed by authorities to stay.
    "We have found another place and will let these people stay there,"
    said Vu Duc Thin of power monopoly Electricity of Vietnam.
    The developments, while on a small scale, portend a potential clash
    between authorities intent on providing new homes for the displaced
    and local ethnic groups seeking arable lands in the region.
    The Son La dam, Vietnam's largest infrastructure project, has already
    been approved in principle by communist leaders, but its dimensions
    have yet to be finalised.
    In the planning stages for years, the dam's reservoir will flood up to
    44,700 hectares of land in Son La and Lai Chau, and require
    resettlement of 100,000 people, mostly ethnic minorities, by the time
    it is completed in 2015.
    The government has earmarked 660 million U.S. dollars for
    resettlement.
    But the plan has drawn fire from local officials as well as foreign
    diplomats concerned over how Vietnam intends to foot the 3-5 billion
    U.S. dollar bill for the project, given the reluctance of Western
    donors to support schemes that force large-scale displacement of
    people. dpa mm rk





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