Lao Nam Theun dam project on global tour to convince opponents
Lao Nam Theun dam project on global tour to convince opponents
Didier Lauras, Agence France-Presse, Hanoi
A long-delayed plan to build a gigantic dam in Laos comes
under international scrutiny this week as the World Bank is
hosting a series of consultations in a bid to win over a host of
opponents of the controversial project.
The first stop will be on Tuesday in Thailand, which has
already signed a US$5billion contract to buy electricity produced
by the Nam Theun II dam for 25 years.
The tour then moves on to Tokyo, Paris and Washington before
ending in the Lao capital Vientiane on Sept. 24.
The trip promises to yield lively debates, bringing together
proponents and critics of the project in workshops that will
gather government agencies and non-governmental groups,
journalists and experts, environmentalists and private companies.
One major concern relates to the social impact the $1.3
billion project will have on 5,700 people who will be forced to
leave their homes to make way for the dam, intended to start
generating electricity from 2009.
Others concerns involve its impact on the environment, its
economic rationale and the government's management of the
significant investment funds.
While there are some who merely want to ensure it is handled
responsibly, others are against it going ahead at all.
"There are a few NGOs who just don't like hydroelectric
projects, they don't like the World Bank and they would not
support this project," said a foreign expert who wished to remain
anonymous.
"Many may want to turn this debate into one of ideology."
"This is really a test case, a model for infrastructure
projects," he said.
The dam is to be built some 250 kilometers (160 miles)
southeast of Vientiane on the Nam Theun, a tributary of the
Mekong river which cuts across much of Indochina.
It requires a financial guarantee from the World Bank which,
under pressure particularly from environmental protection groups,
has made its support conditional on rigorous social and
environmental criteria.
"The World Bank required these consultations of us," said Nam
Theun II Power Co. Ltd. (NTPC) spokesman Ludovic Delplanque.
"It's an exercise of good governance for the Lao government and
its private partner."
"Nam Theun II is almost a research laboratory in term of
sustainable development. Never to my knowledge have the studies
been pursued so long," he said.
Project developer NTPC is an international consortium
comprising Electricity de France International, which has a 35
percent stake, Laos Electricity (25 percent), listed Thai firm
Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (25 percent) and
Italian-Thai Development Public Co. Ltd. (15 percent).
The World Bank has to make a decision by May 2005 to allow
work to commence on schedule.
Indeed seldom have so many reports, studies, assessments,
debates been necessary for a construction project of this type.
The project is important to Laos, which has based a good part
of its development strategy in the coming years on income from
the dam. It is also important for Thailand, which is counting on
it to provide electricity to 17 provinces from 2009 and reduce
its dependence on imported oil.
But it is even more important for the World Bank. The Nam
Theun dam is its first major infrastructure project since the
1980s when it left this arena of development to the private
sector.
"These meetings are a way for the bank, which is very aware
about its image problems, to show that there is a lot of
transparency around the project," said someone close to the
matter.
In Vientiane, the communist authorities realise this will be a
test of their ability to prove their management abilities and
transparency.
"We have made a lot of progress on this point, our financial
system and our national treasury are in the process of being
reformed," said foreign ministry spokesman Yong Chanthalangsy.
"And we still have time for further progress by 2009."
But no one appears to doubt the final outcome of the
exhaustive consultations: the dam, everyone agrees, will see the
light of day.
"Everyone has done a lot of work. I believe we are at the
point of no return," said the Lao official.