Laos Says Dam Will Benefit Conservation Area
1/29/97
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Headline: Laos Says Dam Will Benefit Conservation Area
Source: Copyright 1997 by Reuters
Date: 1/29/97
Author: Katya Robinson
VIENTIANE, Jan 29 (Reuter) - The Lao government on Wednesday
defended a proposed $1.5 billion dam against environmental
critics, saying the project was not only good business but
beneficial for the dam site.
``Even if the dam is not built, the environment in this area
is already affected because of poverty,'' said Monemany
Nhoybouakong, environmental director of the government's
Science, Technology and Environment Organisation (STENO), citing
problems with villagers hunting wildlife.
``The deep aim of the Lao government is to develop the (dam)
with less impact to the environment and with more sustainable
use of our natural resources,'' she told Reuters.
Speaking on the final day of an unprecedented three-day discussion on the
economic and environmental effects of the Nam Theun 2 (NT2) dam,
Nhoybouakong and developers said they believed the project would serve to
protect the environment because it would reduce poverty and thus forest
exploitation.
But environmentalists have said the 900-megawatt NT2 would flood 450
square km (175 square miles) of the Nakai Plateau, an area rich in
wildlife, and expressed concern that the dam's catchment area falls in the
Nakai Nam Theun Conservation Area.
The International Rivers Network said the reservoir on the
Nakai Plateau, which the government has already begun logging
heavily despite a lack of environmental studies, would destroy a
diverse area of wildlife habitats.
Environmental consultants said at Wednesday's meeting that
the adjacent 500-sq-km conservation area is home to 14 globally
threatened mammals, 24 endangered species of birds, rich fisheries and
forests of evergreen, pine and cypress trees.
Environmentalists have maintained the project could jeopardise that
ecosystem. ``Everything is permitted in these conservation areas --
logging, casinos, tourism, hydroelectric -- you name it,'' said
one participant in the meeting.
But the Lao government took a strong stand on those complaints, and on the
fate of 1,000 families from 28 ethnic groups who will be displaced by the
project.
``We are convinced that hydropower development is inexorably
linked with environmental protection and enhancement, the
development of rural areas and the alleviation of poverty,''
said Vice Minister of Industry and Handicrafts Khammone Phonekeo.
The project developers, the Nam Theun 2 Electricity Consortium (NTEC), say
the project will leave the families better off.
NTEC includes Australia's Transfield Corp, Electricite de France, Italian-
Thai Development, Thailand's Jasmine International and Phatra Thanakit.
The efforts of the NTEC and the Lao government to convince the World Bank
that the project is good for the environment are crucial to the dam's
future.
Without $100 million in loan guarantees from the Bank, NTEC will pull out
of the project.