Press Release
Date:
Friday, June 15,
2018
The Mekong at Pak
Lay
International
Rivers
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
15 June 2018
The Mekong River
Commission (MRC) announced yesterday that Laos has formally notified the Commission of its intention
to construct the Pak Lay dam on the mainstem of the Mekong River.
The notification triggers commencement of the Prior Consultation procedure
under the MRC’s Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and
Agreement (PNPCA). Pak Lay is the fourth Mekong mainstream dam to be
submitted to the procedure.
“The MRC and the
government of Laos have failed to address outstanding, significant concerns
associated with dams previously submitted for Prior Consultation. Proceeding
with this dam is a clear distraction from existing obligations,” said Pianporn
Deetes, Thai Campaign Director at International Rivers. “The project is
expected to add to already significant transboundary impacts on communities in
Thailand and throughout the Mekong River Basin, in addition to impacts on local
communities in Laos that continue to go unaddressed.”
The proposed 770 MW
Pak Lay dam is located in Xayaboury Province of Lao PDR. The dam is located
downstream of the Xayaburi dam, which is now nearing completion, and
approximately 100 kilometres from the Thai border.
"I'm really
concerned about the project’s potential impacts on Mekong River ecology,
especially on Kaeng Kud Ku rapids, a well-known tourist attraction that boosts
the local economy in Chiang Khan district,” says Channarong Wongla of the Rak
Chiang Khan Conservation Group in Loei province, Thailand. “We are affected
every year by fluctuating water flows from Chinese dams upstream, and if the
Pak Lay Dam is built, it will create huge impacts on the livelihoods of local
people living along the Mekong River in northeastern Thailand.”
Riverbank garden at
Pak Lay
International
Rivers
“Mekong villagers
in Thailand have been waiting over five years for a decision in a landmark lawsuit
challenging the decision-making for the Xayaburi dam. The Pak Lay dam
downstream threatens to compound the impacts and dissolve any hope of
accountability,” says Pianporn. “The MRC and the government of Laos are
incapable of seeing the whole river; they simply want to divide it into
sections to exploit. We are witnessing the unfolding of a social and ecological
disaster.”
The notification
for the Pak Lay dam follows, most recently, the Prior Consultation procedure
for the Pak Beng Dam in 2017, the third dam on the lower Mekong mainstream, and
the Xayaburi and Don Sahong dams preceding it. While the Pak Beng Prior
Consultation process was an improvement over earlier consultations, quality of
information and consultation remained inadequate. In addition, the Lower Mekong
governments have failed to make good on commitments agreed to during the
process. The governments agreed
to develop a Joint Action Plan (JAP) to address unresolved concerns over the
impacts of the project, however the JAP is yet to be publicly released. The
Prior Consultation process for the Pak Beng Dam is also the subject of an
ongoing lawsuit in Thailand’s Administrative Court.
In February, the
MRC released its ‘Council Study’, which was initiated in 2011 to complement the
Prior Consultation procedure with a cumulative, basin-wide assessment of
proposed dam projects. The Council Study cost
USD 4.7 million and took seven years to complete. The Council
Study findings show that the series of eleven large hydropower dams on the
Mekong River's lower mainstream and 120 tributary dams pose a serious threat to
the ecological health and economic vitality of the region.[1] These impacts will drastically reduce food security and
agricultural productivity, and increase poverty levels and climate
vulnerability in many areas of the lower Mekong basin.
The lower Mekong
governments have yet to formally recognize or endorse the Council Study
findings or explain how the study will inform decision-making on Mekong
dams.
“Mekong governments
and their Development Partners have spent millions on a study to find that
impacts of hydropower are severe and alternatives need to be seriously
considered. Proceeding with the construction on this dam without serious
consideration of alternatives is a waste of public funds,” says Maureen Harris,
Southeast Asia Program Director at International Rivers. “Despite many promises
for an improved consultation process, commitments to further studies and
improved consultations have yet to produce a meaningful impact on
decision-making, leaving communities vulnerable.”
The notification
for the Pak Lay Dam states that the 770 MW project is not expected to commence
construction until 2022. While electricity from the project is anticipated for
sale to Thailand, no power purchaser or developer for the project is identified
in the notification.
In March,
Thailand’s EGAT confirmed that a
decision on the power purchase from the Pak Beng Dam is delayed pending
completion of a review of Thailand’s Power Development Plan (PDP), which is
scheduled for completion in September. The electricity reserve margin in
Thailand is very large - over half the energy currently being produced,
indicating little need for new installed capacity. The current PDP review was
spurred in part by the emergence of new technologies in the Thai energy sector
and recognition that renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, are
swiftly becoming mainstream in the global energy market.
In a key
recommendation, the Council Study report urges MRC member countries to give
serious consideration to the impacts and of proposed dams and examine emerging
energy technologies as increasingly viable and sustainable alternatives to
planned hydropower development.
We urge the lower
Mekong governments and the MRC not to press forward with yet another
contentious Prior Consultation process and to transparently address concerns
over existing projects. We further call on lower Mekong governments to commit
to taking up the recommendations of the MRC Council Study. A moratorium should
be placed on further hydropower construction within the Mekong Basin until a
regional study of renewable energy technologies and an options assessment of
alternatives to hydropower development is completed.
[1] The study predicts that proceeding with current hydropower
plans will produce massive trade-offs between water, energy and food. Predicted
impacts include, by 2040, a 30-40% decrease in Mekong fisheries - a loss of
about 1 million tons per year - and a staggering 97% reduction in the sediment
load reaching the Mekong Delta.
Media contacts:
Maureen
Harris, Southeast Asia Program Director
International Rivers, mharris@internationalrivers.org
International Rivers, mharris@internationalrivers.org
Pianporn Deetes,
Thailand Campaigns Director
International Rivers, pai@internationalrivers.org
International Rivers, pai@internationalrivers.org
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