Laos mega-dam criticized by environmental groups begins operation
 
AP, 17 March 2010
 
BANGKOK (AP) - A mega-dam in Laos criticized by environmental groups
and financed in part by the World Bank has begun to generate
electricity for sale to Thailand, its operators said Wednesday.
 
The Nam Theun 2 dam began commercial export of 1,000 megawatts of
electricity on Monday, with some also sold to the domestic power
supplier, the company said in a statement.
 
Laos has argued that the dam and more than a half dozen others on the
planning boards will help lift the country out of poverty, but
environmental groups have criticized the project for spurring illegal
logging, incursions into a bio-diverse region and relocations of
villagers. Almost all the electricity from the dam will be sold to
Thailand.
 
The $1.45 billion project, the Nam Theun 2 Power Co., is co-owned by
Electricite de France, the Lao government, the Electricity Generating
Public Co. of Thailand and Italian-Thai Development. The 1,439-foot
(436-meter) -long dam, located about 150 miles (250 kilometers) east
of the Lao capital, Vientiane, formed a 174-square mile (450-square
kilometer) reservoir that has covered local villages.
 
Critics say the resettled villagers have been left without a way to
earn a living.
 
The company has a 25-year concession during which it is to pay the Lao
government some $2 billion in royalties, dividends and taxes. After 25
years, the dam is to be fully owned by the government.
 
Laos plans to build more than half a dozen dams, most on tributaries
of the Mekong River which has suffered record-low water flows in
recent years. These are blamed in part on massive mainstream dams
built by China.