Saving the Mekong River
Stretc-hing 4,880km, the Mekong transcends national boundaries that include five riparian countries: Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Multiple planned projects have been floated to dam its waters to produce hydroelectricity in the lower Mekong basin. The successful execution of these projects would see putting into place some 70 dams in operation by 2030.
The Xayaburi dam site is located in northern Laos. Environmentalists have termed the project as particularly harmful from an ecological point of view. Despite opposition, the Laotian government awarded the contract to a Thai contractor for $3.8billion. Indeed, new contracts were announced in November, 2012. According to The Diplomat “the dams will feed a hydropower plant on two tributaries of the Se Kon River, just 100 kilometres from Laos' southern border with Cambodia. The Se Kong flows into the Mekong from the Bolaven Plateau which then feeds into the Lower Mekong Delta."
Laotian policymakers hope to turn the landlocked nation into an electricity powerhouse by damming the Mekong. The plan is to feed the region from hydroelectricity. However, the water resources sprouting from the Mekong are not for Laos to enjoy alone and this brought the government into confrontation with other lower maritime basin (LMB) countries like Vietnam and Cambodia. It brought condemnation from non-governmental platforms such as the "Focus on the Global South," a member of the 263 coalition of NGOs from 51 nations. In July, 2012 Laos, in what appeared to be taking a step back from brinkmanship, announced suspension of work on Xayaburi dam until further impact assessment studies were done. Studies undertaken independently all point to a grave picture for food security in the region if water is diverted for power generation. The study prepared by the International Center for Environmental Management (ICEM) for the Mekong River Commission (MRC) has found ample evidence of environmental degradation.
It is easy to understand why Laos is so focused on dam building. From what has been stated in the "Strategic Environmental Assessment of Hydropower of the Mekong Mainstream" final report prepared for the MRC and published in October, 2010, the economic boom that will come "if all 12 mainstream projects were to go ahead, Lao PDR would receive 70% of export revenues ($2.6 billion/year) generated by the mainstream dams, with Cambodia receiving 30% ($1.2 billion/year). Lao PDR would benefit most, primarily because of the number of projects located there. The Upper Lao cluster (Pak Beng to Pak Chom) represents two-thirds of the national power benefit. During the period of the hydropower concessions, the bulk of those benefits for Lao PDR and Cambodia would not accrue to the country as a whole or the respective governments -- they would accrue to the developers and financiers of the projects. The same is true of export revenues. While significant, net revenues for host governments are less than the large gross revenue and power benefit figures suggest. They are likely to be between 2631% of gross revenues during the period of the concession agreement. Lao PDR and Cambodia would be unable to construct these projects without private investment. After the likely 25-year concession period has finished and the ownership of the projects is transferred to the host countries the total financial benefit of these projects will accrue to the host countries. In Lao PDR, the use of hydropower revenues to fund infrastructure and social development expenditures (including rural roads, health and education spending) is already mandated in National Socio-economic Development Plan and National Growth and Poverty Eradication Strategies."
The flipside to this rosy picture is also included in the same document: "In the short to medium term poverty would be made worse by any one of the mainstream projects, especially among the poor in rural and urban riparian areas. Fishers, in particular, are over represented in poor and vulnerable LMB communities which would be affected by fisheries losses. Poorer households would also be adversely affected by the direct impacts of hydropower development including resettlement, loss of land, and impacts during the contraction period. Loss of fisheries and associated proteins would lead to declines in nutritional health in LMB populations, particularly in Cambodia and Lao PDR where up to 30% of the national protein supply would be at risk if all mainstream dams were to go ahead. These food security issues are likely to affect both the rural and urban poor." It is hence little wonder that the strategic options to be looked at by LMB countries included no building of mainstream dams and a 10-year deferral of all Mekong mainstream dams in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam pending further studies.
Although the Xayaburi dam project has been put on hold, Laos continues to advocate for its construction. Cambodia has asked that the issue not be part of the discussions due to be held in Bangkok on MRC later this week. According to The Bangkok Post, ten more dams are planned on the Lower Mekong, mostly in Laos. Activists may have won a temporary respite but the fight to build the dam remains a policy priority for a number of countries.