VIENTIANE: Laos yesterday said it would start construction of a controversial multibillion dollar dam this week, after adapting the design to calm environmental concerns from neighbouring nations.
“After two years of preparation the Laos government will have a ground breaking ceremony on November 7 and will then start working on the dam itself in the Mekong river this week,” deputy energy minister Viraphon Viravong told the reporters yesterday.
The $3.8bn hydroelectric project at Xayaburi, led by Thai group CH Karnchang, has sharply divided the four Mekong nations -- Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand -- who rely on the river system for fish and irrigation.
Building work on the main project has been stalled for about 18 months over concerns over its environmental impact.
Viraphon said some aspects of the dam’s design had been changed to “reassure neighbouring countries”, but he insisted that objections would not derail plans to finish the project by the end of 2019.
The mooted 1,260 megawatt dam, the first of 11 on the key waterway, has become a symbol of the potential risks of hydropower projects in the region.
Communist Laos, one the most world’s under-developed nations, believes the dam will help it become “the battery of Southeast Asia” by selling electricity to its richer neighbours.
AFP
