Cambodian dam plans suffer
information drought By Andrew
Nette
PHNOM PENH - Cambodia has
rejuvenated old plans to develop the country’s
huge hydropower potential, big-ticket schemes to
be led by Chinese investors which will
simultaneously fill government coffers and have
severe social and environmental impacts on local
communities.
Like neighboring Laos in the
1990s, foreign donors, electricity-hungry
neighboring nations such as Thailand and Vietnam
and big business interests in China are all keen
to transform Cambodia into a major hydropower
generator. Previous plans for developing
Cambodia's hydropower potential were put on hold
due to political instability and the economic
chaos that followed the 1997-98 Asian financial
crisis.
But with recent rapid economic
growth rates in the region - including Cambodia,
which notched gross domestic product
growth of around 10% in 2006 and
2007 - hydropower schemes are apparently back on
the national agenda. Cambodian Foreign Minister
Hor Namhong told a donor’s meeting last year that
his government plans to make Cambodia into the
"battery of Southeast Asia".
A 2003 plan
developed by the Ministry of Mines, Minerals and
Energy, with the support of the Mekong River
Commission, estimated that Cambodia has the
potential to generate 10,000 megawatts of energy
for internal use and export. Almost 50% of that
power would be generated from projects along the
mainstream Mekong River, which runs through
Cambodia.
Foreign donors continue to play
an important supporting role, particularly the
Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) through
its so-called Mekong Power Grid Plan, a plan it
has been pushing since the early 1990s which
envisages an interconnected power grid across the
entire region.
The ADB predicts that
Cambodia will initially be a net electricity
importer but will become a net exporter once the
country's full hydropower potential is realized.
However, local and international environmental and
other groups are warning that large-scale
hydropower development could create serious
problems, impacting on some of the country's most
pristine ecosystems and reducing water flow and
fisheries with major consequences for the
livelihoods of thousands of people.
"We
are not against development or hydropower," said
Ngy San, deputy executive director of the NGO
Forum, an umbrella body of nongovernmental
organizations. "What we want to do is to ensure
poverty reduction and sustainable development,
which is also the government's plan.
"We
are also working to ensure that Cambodian
decision-makers will learn the lesson of other
countries in relation to hydropower, and not
repeat those mistakes," said San. What is
potentially different for Cambodia is the role
China is expected to play in developing the
resources.
China’s and Cambodia’s
political and economic ties have grown enormously
over the past decade. China is the nation's single
largest investor, and Chinese state companies,
often financed by state-owned financial
institutions such as the Chinese Export-Import
Bank, are the main players in hydropower dam
development.
Phnom Penh has identified
about 14 priority projects, of which six are under
development - all by Chinese companies. For
instance, China's Sinohydro is building a
145-meter dam on the Kamchay River in Kampot
province, representing Beijing’s biggest
investment in the country.
There is no
disagreement among officials and activists that
Cambodia needs to generate more power. Currently,
only 20% of the population has access to cheap,
reliable sources of electricity, mainly in urban
areas. Meanwhile domestic demand for electricity
is estimated to be growing at around 20% per year.
"It is simple - development needs
electricity," said Touch Seang Tana, an advisor to
Cambodia's Council of Ministers and a fisheries
expert. "Power is currently very expensive in
Cambodia, particularly in regional areas that are
the most disadvantaged."
The government
wants to provide services to the rural
communities, but this is difficult to do without
electricity," he said. "The actual number of
people impacted negatively [by dams] is small and
overall the entire benefit to the nation is
significant. The government has to balance all
these factors."
Activists strike a more
cautionary note. "The rush to develop our
hydropower potential needs very careful study,"
said NGO Forum’s San. "However, it must include
consultation with impacted communities, and comply
with all relevant national and international laws.
There are some in the government that share our
concerns, but they find it difficult to act
because they are not the real decision makers."
NGOs complain that the decision-making
process in relation to hydropower development
lacks transparency. While a plethora of
departments and regulatory bodies participate in
the process, observers say the agenda appears
largely to be set by the Ministry of Industry,
Mines and Energy, with the direct intervention of
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.
The lack
of transparency is accentuated by China’s
involvement, critics say. "There is almost no
information in the public domain on the financing
arrangements for Cambodia's hydropower projects,"
stated a report released jointly in January by the
US-based International Rivers Network (IRN) and
the NGO Forum.
"The lack of information
from the Chinese dam builders is very disturbing -
they do not consult or share information," said
Seng Bunra, country director for Conservation
International in Cambodia (CIC). His organization
works in the Cardamom Mountains Protected Forest
Area, one of the largest continuous swathes of
rainforest left in Southeast Asia and home to a
number of globally endangered species.
According to the CIC, there are plans to
build a number of dams in the protected area, all
by Chinese companies. According to the plan’s
critics, the number of hydropower projects
scheduled for construction in protected forest
areas illustrates the fact that existing laws are
insufficient to protect the environment and
affected communities.
The situation is
particularly serious, notes the report by the NGO
Forum and IRN, given that "compared against the
already less than admirable environmental and
social standards of Western bilateral donors and
export credit agencies ... Chinese institutions
are noticeably weaker".
One of the
projects under scrutiny is the proposed Sambor dam
on the mainstream Mekong in central Kratie
province. A number of construction options are
being studied, including one that would only block
between one-quarter to one-fifth of the river and
have, according to Council of Ministers adviser
Tana, only "minimal" impact.
NGO Forum’s
San concedes that there are mixed views about
dam-building and the economic impact involved for
the potential affected communities. "Is there a
real need for electricity in Thailand? Yes. But
have the economics been thought through, have any
preliminary contracts for power export from
Cambodia to Thailand actually been signed? No. We
want to see a good economic analysis, including a
full cost-benefit analysis before projects go
ahead," San said.
(Inter Press Service
with editing by Asia Times
Online)
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