China is secretly building new hydroelectric dams on the Mekong River.
According to RFI, in early September 2012, China quietly started up the Nuozhadu hydroelectric dam, the fifth dam on the upper Mekong River that China has put into operation.
This action has recently drawn criticism from researchers, who see it as a new threat to the ecosystem of the shared river that flows through six countries in the region.
The commissioning of the Nuozhadu Dam was not widely publicized by Beijing, even though it is the largest hydroelectric project built in Yunnan, on the upper reaches of the Mekong River as it flows through China.
According to Chinese media, on September 6th, Huaneng Group, the company responsible for the dam, commissioned its first 650 MW generator. This is the first of nine generators planned for installation at the hydroelectric dam upon completion in 2014.
According to the plan, when operating at full capacity, the dam will produce approximately 24,000 GW per year, an amount of electricity equivalent to the consumption of the entire city of New York (USA) for seven months.
However, the problem is that this massive dam risks causing even more harm to downstream countries, from Myanmar and Laos to Thailand, Cambodia, and especially Vietnam, exacerbating the damage caused by other dams that China has built upstream, such as Manwan, Dachaoshan, Jinghong, and Xiaowan.
A study by the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank, has determined that four hydroelectric dams upstream of the Nuozhadu River that Beijing has put into operation "have altered the river's flow and obstructed the transport of fertile sediment, essential for maintaining soil productivity, supporting fisheries, and preventing sea encroachment in Vietnam's Mekong Delta."
Responding to China's commencement of operations at the Nuozhadu hydroelectric dam on September 24, Milton Osborne, a Southeast Asia expert at the Lowy Institute, an international policy research center in Australia, issued a warning: "Although little attention is paid to the Western press because of its remote location, the dams built by China on the Mekong will have a profound impact on Southeast Asia's longest and most important river, a river essential for the livelihoods of 60 million people in the downstream Mekong region."
Mr. Osborne rejected Beijing's argument that its dams only control 13.5% of the Mekong River's water. According to him, this figure rises to 40% during the dry season, thus having a significant impact on the downstream areas.
According to (Vietnam+) - DT
