Xayaburi dam is killing the Mekong

The construction of the Xayaburi dam in Laos poses an immediate threat to the livelihoods of 20 million Thais and 40 million Cambodians, Laotians and Vietnamese. The dam is also an ecological disaster in the long run.

It has already been argued by many, protested against and discussed a lot, so this gloomy prediction of the future is (unfortunately) not a new sound. Kraisak Choonhavan, former senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, winds up Bangkok Post no wipes.

He writes: 'The dam does not meet any criteria of the internationally accepted and independently certified Environmental Impact Assessment.'

Want it even clearer? Kraisak: 'The dam is widely regarded as one of the most potentially damaging dams currently being built in the world.'

Solidarity is lacking in the Asean countries

The consequences for the population of the four Mekong countries have been described often enough; what is new in the article is that he points to the lack of solidarity in the Asean countries. Thailand, which is going to purchase electricity from the dam, and Laos ignore the objections of Cambodia and Vietnam.

These are disastrous for Vietnam as a result of sediment formation in the Mekong Delta. According to the Vietnamese prime minister, 27 percent of the country's gross domestic product, 90 percent of rice exports and 60 percent of fish exports are at risk when the dam is completed.

Kraisak lists the three main reasons why the dam should not be built and Thailand should refrain from purchasing the electricity generated by the dam, so that construction will stop.

1. The dam has major implications for 60 million people in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, all of whom depend on fishing on the Mekong, the world's most fish-rich river. This threatens Thailand's relationship with other countries.
2. Although the dam is a so-called 'run-of-the-river' dam (without a reservoir) with a limited effect on the hydrology of the river, a reservoir of more than 60 kilometers is created in the river that will have a permanent effect on fish migration and sediment flow.
3. The concept of a so-called transparent dam without affecting sediment flow and fish passage has never been successfully applied in a major tropical river. There are no internationally accepted, technologically proven solutions for resolving the effects of the dam on fish migration and sediment flow.

The above text is only a small part of Kraisak's thorough article. If you want to read it in full, see: Xayaburi dam risks killing the Mekong.

(Source: bangkok mail, Nov. 26, 2014)

Photos: Protest by residents of eight provinces against the construction of the dam. The caption does not say where or when the protests took place.

The solution lies in negotiations

In a follow-up article, Kraisak points out that Thailand is the only one of the four Mekong countries that can hold back the dam by not cutting off hydroelectricity. There are no other options, because the Mekong River Commission, an intergovernmental body of the four countries, is a paper tiger. And the great water monster China is strengthening its grip on the Asean countries.

According to Kraisak, under normal democratic political conditions, there is no chance that Thailand will block construction, because it smacks of corruption and political influence. One example: who ordered the Thai Ex-Im Bank to issue a guarantee? Without that guarantee, Thailand's four major commercial banks would never have financed the project to the amount of 80 billion baht.

Kraisak has pinned his hopes on the reformist government formed by the army and points to two legal proceedings before the administrative court. If they go well, construction will have to be halted and the entire project will probably collapse.

The best solution, on the other hand, is when the termination of the project is negotiated, with investors and lenders suffering manageable losses. They could be compensated with sustainable hydro-energy projects in the tributaries of the Mekong. In this way, the ecosystem of the main river will not be damaged and the livelihoods of 60 million people will not be threatened.

(Source: Bangkok Post, 27 November 2014)

Click here for the follow-up article.