Srekor village has stood on the banks of the Se San River in northeastern Cambodia for generations. In a few years it will be gone, submerged along with more than 300 square kilometres of surrounding farmland and forest. …
For 37-year-old rice farmer Pa Tou, the future looks bleak. The relocation site set aside for them is wholly unsuitable, he complains. There is no irrigation, it is miles from the river and the ground is either rocky or covered with trees. And at this stage it has no schools, no health clinics, no pagodas and no roads. …
International Rivers, a campaigning NGO, predicts the Lower Se San 2 Dam “will have a costly, catastrophic impact on the Mekong River’s fisheries and biodiversity”. …
But media reports consistently show the government favors projects like hydropower dams and coal-fired power stations. More are likely to go ahead. On May 9, the Cambodia Daily newspaper said two more planned dams on the 3S network had been deemed economically feasible, moving them a step closer to approval. One would be a 370MW dam on the Se San River; the other a 100MW dam on the Sre Pok River. The first would flood 40 villages alone.
Meanwhile the Cambodian government has plans to build a hydropower dam on its stretch of the Se Kong River, which rises in Laos. Baran says that would block the region’s third fish highway, leaving the Mekong mainstream as the sole route for migratory species, further harming fish stocks. The rush to hydropower risks inflicting profound and irreversible damage to many more people than the residents of Srekor village.
Two massive hydropower dams planned for the Mekong’s tributaries in Ratanakkiri province have been deemed economically viable by two feasibility studies conducted by a pair of giant Chinese conglomerates, a provincial industry, mines and energy official said yesterday. …
Despite the feasibility studies having been completed, local authorities yesterday said they have not received any clear information regarding the dams. Veun Sai district governor Chum Ngil said he had not been consulted about the dam’s feasibility despite a huge area being carved out of his district for a reservoir. …
Meach Mean, coordinator for the 3S Rivers Protection Network, an NGO advocating for villagers affected by the region’s planned dams, said the social and environmental impacts for the Srepok 3 and Sesan 3 dams would be huge. For example, about 40 villages will be affected by the Sean 3, he said. …
As work begins on Cambodia’s biggest dam, those advocating against its construction have warned that the region’s rush for hydropower will have a disastrous effect on millions of people who rely on the Mekong River to survive.
Last month, workers began preparing an area in northeastern Cambodia for a huge hydropower project, the 400-megawatt Lower Se San 2 Dam. …
Scientists estimated the Lower Se San 2 Dam could reduce the total fish yield of the Mekong Basin by 9.3 percent.
“So it’s 9.3 percent of 2.1 million tons – which is a gigantic amount,” said Baran. “In other words, this expected loss represents around 200,000 tons per year, which is much more than the whole marine sector of Australia. And, nine times more than the annual inland fish catch in Germany or the U.S.” …
Meanwhile, work on the Lower Se San 2 Dam has started and thousands of people who live in the areas that will be submerged by the dam’s vast 300-square-kilometer reservoir have been told they will have to move. …
One of them is 37-year-old Pa Tou. He said none of the 400 ethnic minority families in Srekor village on the banks of the Se San River wants to leave. …
Pa Tou, who has three daughters, said that will not be possible at the relocation site, which is miles from the river. He said the land there is poor for farming – most of it is rocky or covered with trees – and there are no health clinics and no schools. He fears they will all be left much worse off.
The road to Srekor I village in Stung Treng province’s Sesan district is a bumpy one. The small discomfort caused by being jolted about on a motorcycle or being thrown around in a car, however, is offset by the striking scenery that surrounds a traveller on this road.
Small fires burn in areas of once-rich forest that have been decimated. Smoke drifts into the air and the charred skeletons of trees – felled or upright – lend a post-apocalyptic feel to the landscape.
Land clearing in multiple forms is creeping up on villagers in Srekor I village, who will soon be displaced when the Lower Sesan 2 dam’s reservoir swallows up the land their houses sit on.
The villagers are yet to be told when they will be relocated, but already the Post has seen tree cutters – working for an “Oknha Khna” – clearing forest a short distance away, seemingly in preparation for the $781 million dam. …
Officials from the Stung Treng provincial forestry administration have warned a local SRP commune chief against speaking to the media about the clearing of trees from a 36,000-hectare site to become the reservoir of a giant hydropower dam in the area, the commune chief said yesterday.
On Sunday, Srekor commune chief Siek Mekong said that about 20 workers employed by the joint venture of local conglomerate Royal Group and China’s Hydrolancang International Energy Co. Ltd. had been felling trees in the area since March 21 without informing local communities.
Mr. Mekong said yesterday that four officials from the local forestry administration, including Sith Samnag, the deputy provincial forestry administration chief, visited him to tell him not to speak to the media.
He also said that officials made him sign a piece of paper admitting that he had spoken to the media about the felling of trees in that area. …
Chap Piseth, deputy chief of the Triage Forestry Administration- which is in charge of both Srekor and Kbal communes- said he was present during the meeting with Mr.Mekong and that forestry administration authorities totally denied his claims.
“Although the workers have been sent, the trees have not yet been cut down,” Mr Piseth said. “Clearance of the forest to build the reservoir will not start until Khmer New Year.” …
Workers in Stung Treng province have begun clearing forested land with chainsaws in order to make way for the reservoir of a massive hydropower dam that has drawn ire from local villagers who say they have not been informed about the dam’s construction plans.
The National Assembly approved the financing for the 400-megawatt Lower Sesan 2 dam in February amid objections from opposition lawmakers who argued that the social and environmental impacts of the dam outweighed its benefits.
The dam is set to displace more than 5,000 villagers, and studies have shown that up to 100,000 residents upstream and downstream of the dam will be severely affected by its impact on fisheries. …
“I am wondering why they are cutting down luxury grade wood,” [Chief of Srekor commune, Mr. Siek Mekong] said.
As part on the law on the financing for the dam, a total of 10 million has been set aside to compensate the families. A further 19.34 million will be spent on home construction, 1.98 million on income rehabilitation and 3.23 million on irrigation systems. …
As air-conditioning units slow to a halt, computers die and the lights go out, the frustration of local business owners and organizations in Phnom Penh is boiling over once again as the annual hot season blackouts have arrived. …
The 190-megawatt, Chinese-built Kamchay hydropower dam in Kampot province came online in 2011 with the promise of bringing more power to Phnom Penh and helping reduce the country’s energy-supply deficit.
Yet according to an EdC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak with the media, the Kamchay dam is currently operating at only 10 percent of its capacity because “there is no water” during the dry season. Blackouts were also the result of EdC upgrading power transformers, which required that some sub-stations had to be temporarily cut off, the official said, adding that the upgrade work should be completed by mid-April. …
“Dams need water,” Mr. Mean said. “But the fact is, Cambodia is much better suited to solar energy than hydropower,” he said.
Michael Shaw, an independent renewable energy adviser who worked with NGO Engineers Without Borders in Cambodia, said that even with the nine new hydropower dams in the pipeline, Phnom Penh and other cities are growing at a pace that will exceed that supply. …
More than 500 villagers from Stung Treng and Ratanakiri provinces held a traditional sacrificial ceremony yesterday, calling on a local spirit to help in postponing the construction of a 400-megawatt hydropower dam in Stung Treng’s Sesan district.
Siek Megong, Srekor commune chief, said the villages … urged the deity to look after more than 1000 families who will be displaced by the Lower Sesan 2 dam.
“We are concerned about being displaced without getting proper compensation from the government”, Mr. Mekong said. …
The ceremony participants travelled along the Sesan river in boats holding banners that read “The River is the People’s Blood” and “ The River Belongs to All, Not to Private Companies.”
Studies maintain that that the dam could adversely affect fisheries and water resources. …
Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday inaugurated the third in a string of six Chinese-funded hydropower dam projects, offering lavish praise for the superpower as he officially opened the $47 million Kirirom 3 dam in Koh Kong.
“I am really pleased for the new achievement as an addition to many existing achievements flowing from China,” Hun Sen told an assembled crowd of more than 2,000, which included villagers, the Chinese ambassador, company representatives and high-ranking government officials.
“Watching the prime minister opening this Kirirom 3 with such a happy face, we’re a little concerned. We worry the number of dams built will continue to be built without proper investigation or proper study as to the impacts,” said opposition lawmaker Son Chhay, who in parliament has repeatedly called for stricter regulation of the hydropower industry. …
A CPP lawmaker said yesterday the government has signed 13 payment guarantees to companies constructing coal-fired power plants and hydropower dams in the country, a move that an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official reiterated was risky for the country’s fiscal future.
CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said the most recent payment guarantee approved by the National Assembly last Friday on the $781 million Lower Sesan 2 dam project in Stung Treng province is typical when any major company makes an investment in an energy project. …
“It is the government’s obligation to do a guaranteed payment for investment companies whenever Electricite du Cambodge [EdC] [might] miss a payment or don’t pay the bill,” Mr. Yeap said. …
After a 60- minute debate, the Senate on Friday voted in favour of a payment guarantee for the private companies constructing the controversial Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province.
At the Senate session, 43 out of 48 senators voted to approve the deal which includes payment guarantees to Kith Meng’s Royal Group and China’s Hydrolancang International Energy Co. Ltd …
The impact on fisheries and local communities who depend on the resources of the Sesan River was still small compared to the benefits the government can gain from the hydropower project, Mr. Sarith said after the vote. “In two critical studies evaluating all factors of impacts, we have seen that the impact is minor compared to the benefit.” …
Two studies estimate that up to 10,000 families from Srekor, Phluk and Kabal Romeas communes will be displaced once the construction of the dam goes ahead. …
Chan Than, a representative for Srekor commune, said the lack of information in the past have raised concerns in his community about such government promises. …
“We never had the intention to oppose the dam … but the government should provide clear information about the risks and compensation deal” he said. …
The government’s guaranteed bailout of major infrastructure projects, such as the future 400-megawatt hydropower dam in Stung Treng province, requires a thorough assessment of forecasted risks – a capacity which the government currently does not possess, an Asian Development Bank (ADB) official said yesterday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the 2013 Cambodia Outlook conference in Phnom Penh, Eric Sidgwick, country director of ADB, declined to comment directly on the $781 million Lower Sesan 2 dam, but said that in regards to public-private partnership projects, he would advise for the government to start small in terms of projects and risks. …
The government has promised to monitor the progress of local conglomerate Royal Group in its implementation of a $781 million dam project in Stung Treng province, that has been guaranteed by the government, CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap said yesterday. …
Mr. Yeap said yesterday that the ministries of finance and energy are overseeing the project to ensure that the company does not go over-budget, and that costs are also not inflation. Royal group is working with China’s Hydrolancang International Energy Co. Ltd. on the project. …
Villagers near the Sesan River in Stung Treng province are a step closer to being forced to make way for a hydropower dam following a National Assembly vote on Friday, but they are no closer to learning the details of such a move, a community representative said yesterday.
Keo Mib, a representative of villagers set to be relocated from where the $781 million, 400-megawatt dam will be built, said hundreds of families from three villages in the middle of the dam project still knew nothing about relocation plans.
Assembly President Cheam Yeap said the benefits of the 400-megawatt dam were multiple.
“It will stimulate the country’s economy, reduce electricity prices, provide many jobs and enhance technology in our labour and tourism sector,” he said.
The company will pay about $38 million in compensation to relocate 797 families, which will include new houses, schools, health centres, streets and wells.
Sam Rainsy Party lawmaker Son Chhay said, however, that according to a previous study, more than 1,000 families should receive compensation. …
Cambodia’s parliament on Friday approved a law providing financial guarantees for the developers of a planned hydropower dam on a Mekong River tributary, despite opposition from civil society groups seeking to delay the project.
Villagers campaigning against the Lower Sesan 2 dam in northeastern Cambodia’s Stung Treng province have expressed concern about compensation for villagers displaced by the project, which they say would destroy protected forest areas, kill rare fish, and negatively impact local ethnic minority culture.
But Friday’s vote in the National Assembly, after five hours of tough debate, cleared the way for the dam’s Chinese- and Vietnamese-backed developers to move ahead with plans to begin constructing the project next year. …
Environmental group International Rivers said the law helps put into effect an implementation agreement that significantly reduced the project’s compensation and environment costs, effectively releasing the developers from responsibility for many of the dam’s ecological and social impacts.
The text of the bill includes plans to provide compensation for less than 800 villagers displaced by the project, but green groups have said tens of thousands others living upstream and downstream from the project will also be affected. …
Civil society groups urged the National Assembly Thursday to delay the adoption of a bill on the construction of a $780 million dam on the Sesan River in northeast Cambodia. …
Chhit Sam Ath, executive director of NGO Forum, told a news conference that estimates of the number of households affected by the dam varied.
One showed 515 households in six villages affected in 2010, rising to 797 households next year. But another estimate in 2009 indicated that 1,025 households in eight villages would be affected, climbing to 1,529 households this year. …
Villagers facing relocation from the site of the planned Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province were told last week that they would be moved 15 kilometres from the river they rely on for fishing, a commune chief said yesterday.
Seak Mekong, commune chief in Sesan district’s Srekor commune, said villagers had suspected they would be moved to the proposed relocation site, in Sdao commune, but had their suspicions confirmed in a meeting he attended with officials from the ministries of agriculture and energy. …
Mekong said five villagers had been invited to inspect the site in mid-January – being told it was a possible relocation site for 445 families within the planned reservoir’s 33,000-hectare zone – and had found it lacking in arable land, basic infrastructure and fishing opportunities. …
A draft law on the financing of a controversial dam project in Stung Treng province obtained yesterday shows that about $38 million will be spent on the resettlement of almost 800 families. This marks a significant decrease from the more than 1,000 families the companies building the dam originally said would be affected.
The draft law – which is dated January 10 and is currently awaiting approval at the National Assembly – is signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen and reveals other key financing and resettlement details for the affected villagers. Hailing from Srekor, Kbal Romeas and Phluk communes, the majority of those affected say they have received no official information from the project’s owners, local conglomerate Royal Group and China Hydrolancang International Energy Co. Ltd. …
Thousands of villagers who will lose their land to the construction of the Lower Sesan 2 dam in Stung Treng province later this year have not been told of the government’s plans for their resettlement and compensation, a new study released yesterday shows.
Through interviews with 353 villagers who will be directly and indirectly affected by construction of the 400-megawatt dam, NGO Forum – an umbrella group of local organizations who published the report – found that nearly all those surveyed had only heard of the planned dam through unofficial channels. …
Following a dam breach in Pursat province, ruling CPP lawmakers yesterday defended the government’s primary plan to tackle its energy crisis by contracting Chinese companies to build hydropower dams on the country’s rivers.
A section of concrete tunnel at the Stung Atai dam in Pursat province broke away on Saturday, seriously injuring four Cambodian workers and reportedly washing away three more. The three workers were still missing yesterday, said Puth Bunchhoeun, military police commander in Veal Veng district, where the dam is located. …
