Cambodia postpones construction of Chinese-funded dam: Still need more pressure?

The impact of hydropower on the environment and people's livelihoods is huge, once done, there is no way to fix it.

Accept the trade-off or not?

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has announced that the Stung Cheay Areng hydropower dam project in Koh Kong province, invested by the Chinese state-owned Sinohydro Company, will be postponed until 2018. This project has a capacity of 108 megawatts and a total investment of 400 million USD.

According to Dr. Le Anh Tuan, Deputy Director of the Institute for Climate Change Research (Dragon), Can Tho University, advisor to the Vietnam Rivers Network (VRN): "This project raises many environmental and social concerns because it could flood up to 95,000 hectares of natural land with 30 endangered wildlife species and cause about 1,300 Chong ethnic people to relocate. The risk assessment is incomplete."

Appearing cautious, Mr. Tuan said that because of the large energy demand, Cambodia must consider hydropower projects on tributaries. The move to postpone the construction of the Stung Cheay Areng dam until at least 2018 to analyze the pros and cons does not mean that it will be abandoned completely, but the Cambodian government will continue.

Areng River, where the Stung Cheay Areng hydroelectric dam is planned to be built

Meanwhile, Dr. Dao Trong Tu, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development of Water Resources and Climate Change Adaptation, former Deputy Secretary General of the Vietnam Mekong River Commission, expressed more optimism, saying that this is a good sign for the story of sustainable development, for the environment and for people when the Government and investors know how to listen to public opinion.

"Building hydroelectric dams impacts the environment and people's livelihoods. When those impacts are too great and cannot be compensated, we must consider whether to build or not to build.

Because building hydroelectric power plants means people have traded off the environment and other issues for economic benefits. People compare what they think is more beneficial and do it, or partly due to the influence of interest groups.

If before building a hydropower plant, they had carefully considered and evaluated it and had the consensus of all the people affected, then it would not have encountered any opposition. On that basis, countries also saw that the impact of hydropower is not only positive as they thought, but also has negative aspects, such as the Stung Cheay Areng hydropower plant is an example. If there were no negative impacts, but they could be overshadowed, the government and investors would have done it immediately.

The problem is whether people accept that trade-off, and how the government and investors view that story to ensure fair and harmless development. That is the principle in water use," Mr. Tu analyzed.

For Cambodia, along with Vietnam, this is the country most affected by the Mekong River. Fish, sediment and water resources are very important to Cambodia, so by postponing the Stung Cheay Areng project, the Cambodian government can consider other hydropower projects more positively.

"The impact of hydropower is huge, once it is done, there is no way to fix it. Therefore, if we do not develop hydropower today, we can save it for our future generations, especially when there are better alternatives that do not destroy nature and do not put pressure on the migration story," he emphasized.

In fact, this is not the first time that governments of some countries have had to stop hydropower projects funded by China under public pressure. The director of the Center for Sustainable Development of Water Resources and Climate Change Adaptation cited the story of Myanmar's Myitsone hydropower dam more than 2 years ago.

This is considered a very large hydroelectric dam with a designed capacity of 6,000 MW. The entire construction cost of this project was invested by China. According to calculations at that time, the Myitsone hydroelectric project would destroy more than 70,000 hectares of primary forest, along with cultivated and residential lands here, many species of animals and plants would disappear and biodiversity in the area would decrease.

The dam would have flooded 47 villages in the area and forced more than 10,000 ethnic Kachin people to relocate. There were many protests against the Myitsone dam, forcing the Myanmar government to eventually announce a suspension of construction.

Pressure and negotiation

Along with Cambodia, another story that Mr. Tu mentioned when talking to Dat Viet was Laos' hydroelectric projects on the Mekong River. He said that for Laos, the Mekong is the main and largest river flowing through the country, so Lao people are very interested in the story of the Mekong River.

"Currently, Laos wants to develop hydropower because it believes that the benefits of hydropower on the Mekong are huge, and can bring huge profits to Laos, turning Laos from a poor country into a rich one. But many studies have shown that dense development of hydropower dams on the Mekong mainstream has a huge impact on Laos's habitat, turning Laos into a lake country."

Regarding Laos' controversial Don Sahong hydropower project, according to Dr. Dao Trong Tu: "Recently, there has been a lot of information that Laos is under great pressure from international public opinion, especially the Mekong countries. All countries have asked Laos to stop this project to further study its impacts."

The $600 million project in the Siphadone region of southern Laos, less than 2km from the Cambodian border, will generate electricity to support economic development in the area, but environmentalists and neighboring countries are concerned it could damage a vital ecosystem that feeds millions of people in Southeast Asia.

Dr. Dao Trong Tu pointed out that there are 19 hydropower projects on the Mekong mainstream, from China to Cambodia, in which China is a major investor.

"China exploits the resources of other countries and makes money from them. The company that financed Cambodia's Stung Cheay Areng hydropower project, Sinohyrdo, is also on the list of investors in a series of hydropower projects on the Mekong River. The postponement of the Stung Cheay Areng hydropower dam is probably also to help Chinese investors avoid negative publicity about that matter."

Dr. Le Anh Tuan is not optimistic that Laos or Cambodia will stop developing hydropower. As for China, he said: "China has not changed its big country nature in its decisions on the Mekong River and other disputed issues. Only external pressure and economic, diplomatic and political negotiations can prevent this intention."

According to Baodatviet.vn