Cambodia Daily
August 14, 2008

Government Gives Green Light to Study on 2 Hydropower Dams

The government has given the go-ahead for a Chinese company to conduct a feasibility study into building two hydropower dams on the Sre Pok River, which runs through Ratanakkiri and Stung Treng provinces.

Environmental organizations have raised concerns about the possible negative effect such dams could have on local fishing communities in Cambodia.

“It is just a feasibility study to see whether or not they can do it,” Minister of Industry, Mines and Energy Suy Sem said Wednesday.

A memorandum of understanding was signed with the company in June to study the possibility of building two dams, Sre Pok 3 and Sre Pok 4, Suy Sem sadi, though he was unable to specify their possible locations on the river.

“It is a big benefit to have cheap electricity because gasoline is so expensive,” Suy Sem added.

The agreement with Guangxi Guiguan Electric Power Co Ltd commits it to reviewing and analyzing the effects of the projects on the social, environmental and ecological conditions of the area where the dams could be located.

Ngy San, deputy executive director of the NGO Forum on Cambodia, called for the government to give more information to the public regarding dam impacts.

“I would ask [they] share…with the NGOs who are working with communities who might be affected by [the dams],” Ngy San said.

“We are getting most of our information from the media,” he said.

“We would be very much concerned about the possible negative effects of the dams on the communities,” he added.

Several thousand villagers are estimated to live along the Sre Pok and they have already complained about the effects of dams underway upriver in Vietnam.  There has been a marked decline in fish in the river and water levels have fluctuated dangerously, they say.

Ngy San said he wanted to see proper environmental impact assessments conducted on the latest plans with full public consultation before the projects proceed any further.

Negative impacts on the Sre Pok would also adversely affect the Mekong and Sesan rivers, into which much of the Sre Pok flows.

Suy Sem said the government would take such concerns into consideration.

“We have already thought about this,” he said, declining to elaborate.

The firm, GGEPL, is the latest of several Chinese companies planning to invest in the Cambodian hydropower sector, and who have been criticized by NGOs for paying scant regard to international best practices for such developments.

The GGEPL Web site describes the company as having built “large-scale hydroelectric power plants all over China.”

Ratanakkiri Governor Muong Poy said Wednesday that he was unaware of any plans for dams on the Sre Pok in his province.