China quietly builds new hydroelectric dam on Mekong River

According to RFI, in early September 2012, China quietly started the Nuozhadu hydroelectric dam, the fifth dam on the upper Mekong River that China has put into operation.

This action has just been criticized by researchers, who consider it a new threat to the ecosystem of the river that flows through six countries in the region.

The Nuozhadu Dam's operation was not loudly promoted by Beijing, even though it is the largest hydroelectric project built in Yunnan, on the upper reaches of the Mekong River flowing through China.

According to Chinese media, on September 6, the Hua Neng Group, responsible for the dam, put into operation the first generator with a capacity of 650 MW. This is the first of nine generators planned to be installed at this hydroelectric dam when completed in 2014.

When running at full capacity, the dam is expected to produce about 24,000 gigawatts (GW) per year, an amount of electricity equivalent to the consumption of the entire city of New York in seven months.

However, the problem is that this giant dam risks causing more harm to the countries downstream of the river, from Myanmar, Laos, to Thailand, Cambodia and especially Vietnam, exacerbating the harmful effects of other dams that China has built upstream such as Man Loan, Dai Trieu Son, Jinghong, and Xiao Loan.

A study by the Stimson Center, a Washington-based think tank, determined that four hydropower dams above Nuozhadu that Beijing has put into use "have altered the river's flow and blocked the flow of fertile silt, which is essential for maintaining soil productivity, nurturing fisheries, and preventing sea encroachment in the Mekong Delta" of Vietnam.

Responding to China's launch of the Nuozhadu hydropower dam on September 24, Milton Osborne, a Southeast Asia expert at the Lowy Institute, an international policy research center in Australia, warned: "Although little noticed by the Western press because of their remote location, the dams built by China on the Mekong will have a strong impact on the longest and most important river in Southeast Asia, a river essential in feeding the 60 million people in the lower Mekong region."

Mr Osborne rejected Beijing’s argument that its dams only control 13.5% of the Mekong’s water. According to him, this ratio rises to 40% in the dry season, so the impact on the downstream region is huge./.

According to (Vietnam+) - DT