Work on the 2 largest dams on the Mekong River in Laos is progressing despite the federal government’s promise to halt and review all recent projects after a deadly dam disaster in July.
Following the disastrous collapse of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Hydroelectric Dam, 5 billion liters of water flooded the Attapeu region, washing away entire villages, displacing over 6,000 people and killing a minimum of 35 people. Hundreds are still missing.
In response, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith ordered a “national review” of all recent hydropower projects, announcing the suspension of all future dam projects.
Laos Dam Collapse: Are Innocent Villagers Paying for the Government’s Ambition?
Laos Dam Collapse: Are Innocent Villagers Paying for the Government’s Ambition?
However, a day after the review was announced, Laos began a six-month regional consultation process on the Pak Lay dam in Xayaburi province, which is anticipated to be the fourth largest hydropower project on the Mekong. This is a big step forward in the event and eventual construction of a brand new mega-dam.
The move calls into query how serious the federal government is about reviewing the many multi-billion-dollar hydropower projects which are a key a part of the poverty-stricken country’s lucrative plans to develop into the “battery of Asia” and sell power to neighboring countries comparable to Thailand. . There are 140 proposed dams in Laos, which have already brought billions of dollars of foreign investment into the country from places like China and South Korea.
Damage to a dam in Laos was discovered 24 hours before it collapsed, a South Korean builder says
Damage to a dam in Laos was discovered 24 hours before it collapsed, a South Korean builder says
Maureen Harris, Southeast Asia program director for environmental organization International Rivers, said the choice to proceed the Pak Lay dam construction process “raises questions on the great faith and seriousness with which the Lao government is implementing the announced suspension of latest dams.”
“Suspension should really mean suspension and should not be undertaken in parallel with pushing a new and highly controversial project in the Mekong mainstream,” she said.
The Mekong River Commission (MRC), an intergovernmental body that regulates development on the river, also reportedly requested a halt to construction of the Pak Lay dam and said it was still looking for confirmation “whether the Pak Lay hydropower project is taken into account by the authorities to be a brand new investment by the federal government of Laos.”
Thousands of individuals displaced by floods in Laos are in danger from ‘mobile’ landmines
Thousands of individuals displaced by floods in Laos are in danger from ‘mobile’ landmines
The MRC also confirmed that the $2.4 billion, 912-megawatt Pak Beng Dam, which once built might be the third-largest hydropower project on the Mekong mainstream, has also not been suspended or reviewed. The project has already undergone a six-month consultation process and is currently awaiting approval of a joint motion plan that outlines how the 4 countries on the Mekong River – Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam – might be involved in and affected by the development of the dams.
Both dams, which have the support of Chinese developers, are already causing great controversy amongst local communities and environmental activists. The Pak Lay dam ultimately displaced 1,000 families, and the Pak Beng hydroelectric project will force the relocation of roughly 6,700 people.
There can be an absence of clarity regarding the impact of the dam collapse in July.
The government of Laos, which operates under a harsh communist regime and is notoriously secretive, has imposed a media ban on international aid organizations comparable to the Red Cross and Save The Children. They also ordered all 150 local rescue teams from Laos and Thailand to depart the world.
Some rescuers from Laos and Thailand who were first on the scene query official government figures on the number of individuals still missing, which now stands at 131. “They say there are only over 100 people missing, but that is not true,” said one rescue team member Laos, who was on the front line of the search, and asked to stay anonymous. “The government is reporting figures for the dead bodies we have collected that are much lower than what we have collected ourselves.”
Pisit Pongsirisupakul, who worked for the Thai Hook 31 rescue team, said that “after the third day there wasn’t much hope of finding anyone alive.”
He added: “And if we estimate that there have been 7,000 people within the dam area, there continues to be a whole lot of searching to do because there have been only about 5,000 people within the rescue centers.”
The two agreed that the total death toll would likely never be known because no official census or records of the dead and missing were kept.
This article appeared within the print edition of the South China Morning Post as: Work on the dams continues despite the fatal accident
