Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation
September 28, 2004

Meeting backs construction despite objections from activists, NGOs.

Local people from Laos’ central province of Khammoun who would be
directly affected by the Nam Theun 2 hydropower project see no threat
from the dam, according to wellknown Thailandbased social activist
Anek Nakabutr.

Anek, who has attended a series of workshops organised by the World
Bank aimed at reassuring opponents of the controversial project, said
the meeting held in Vientiane over the weekend was the friendliest of
the series.

He said no local conservationists in the communistruled country
raised serious concerns over construction at the workshop.

The 6,000 people who live in the Nakai Plateau of Khammoun see only
positive effects from the project as they had not been given access
to alternative views before the bank’s consultation programme, Anek
said.

But Banchong Vongchay, a deputy village head from Nakai, questioned
how foreign NGOs could raise concerns over the dam’s environmental
impact if they didn’t understand how local people live. “Forest in
the inundated area no longer exists as slash and burn cultivation
deforested a huge area in Nakai over the past decades, before people
started talking about the dam,” Banchong said.

Banchong said people in Nakai were informed about the dam and its
longterm impacts and were well aware of the side effects. He urged
the international community not to delay the project, which he
hopes will reduce poverty in the region, by debating minor issues.
“We have heard the government talking about the Nam Theun project
for more than 10 years . . . it has been 10 years of uncertainty
since, while we wait for resettlement, jobs, schools, roads and the
public health services promised by the project,” he said.

The World Bank, which has been asked by the Lao government to grant
risk guarantees and financial support to the US$1.2billion
(Bt49.8billion) dam, held the workshops in Bangkok, Tokyo, Paris,
Washington and Vientiane.

The bank has said it would not extend support to the project until
consensus had been reached on a poverty reduction programme and
environmental protection scheme.

Anek said foreign conservationists and NGOs were concerned about the
negative environment and social impacts, including the effects on
endangered species in the Nakai Plateau and Nam Theun and Xe Bang Fai
rivers, where water from the turbines would be converted.

Anek, who helped the World Bank consult with local people affected by
the dam, said it was unrealistic to expect residents to consider
endangered animal species above themselves.

“Local people are familiar with topdown instruction from the
communistrun state,” Anek said. “It is the first time they have
been given the opportunity to argue and raise their concerns.”

In contrast, Anek said a barrage of aggressive questioning on the
project was the norm at meetings held outside Vientiane. Local Thai
residents who were affected by the World Banksponsored Pak Mool dam
hijacked the August 31 Bangkok workshop to launch an attack on the
bank. They urged the international financial institution to heed the
lessons learned by the failure at Pak Mool.

Well organised conservationists at the Tokyo workshop on September 3
raised a number of questions with the developers about deforestation.

In Paris, Laotians who fled from political conflict with the
communist Pathet Lao movement after the fall of Vientiane in 1975,
accused Vientiane and the bank of abusing power to construct the dam.

An unnamed participant who attended all meetings said the most
rational workshop was in Washington on September 10, where
well prepared questions were put to developers on economic issues,
including the transparency of revenue management.

Thai-based conservationists and villagers, who launched the attack at
the Bangkok workshop on August 31, did not attend the workshop last
week, claiming it was a sham aimed at justifying the project.