The group submits the petition to the company's representatives. Credit: UMFD

Mekong residents call on Lao PDR and dam developers to scrap Phou Ngoy dam

Some twenty representatives of the Ubon Monitoring Group on Flood and Mekong Dams (UMFD) have travelled to Bangkok to file their petition to concerned entities including Lao PDR and the lead dam developer via their representatives in Bangkok in the hope that they will review the project and scrap it

The representatives over the past two days have visited the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the dam developer’s company, Parliament, and other concerned agencies to file their petition to call for the review and scrapping of the Phou Ngoy dam, planned on the Lower Mekong mainstream 70 kilometres away from the Mool-Mekong confluence in Khong Chiam district, Ubon Ratchathani province.

They said that the proximity of the dam’s location and its size of 728 MW have prompted serious concerns among the residents. For years, they have suffered from flooding as a result of an obstruction in the Mool River by the Pak Mool dam near the mouth of the river. With the leveraged water levels in the Mekong River caused by the new dam, the flooding problem in the Mool River and the province could be exacerbated.

Besides, the dam project could affect people living along the Mekong River, their livelihoods, as well as the Mekong ecosystems. The boundary between Thailand and Laos, they added, could also be affected as a result. 

So far, the group members have learned that Laos and the dam developers, which formed a consortium between the Thai company, Charoen Energy and Water Asia Company Limited (CEWA), and two Korean companies, have not stopped proceeding with the project despite the growing call for it to be reviewed and scrapped. The group has learned that the Lao government is proposing the project to the Mekong River Commission to begin the consultation process supervised under the organisation, suggesting the start of the project.

This is in contrary to the studies on potential impacts the dam could cause, they said. So, they have called on the Lao government through the embassy here and the dam developers through CEWA to review their plan and scrap the project.

In addition, the group also demanded the Energy Policy and Planning Office to remove energy imports from foreign countries from the new Power Development Plan, under which they have speculated that these could be from hydropower projects planned on the Mekong River, including the Phou Ngoy dam.

The EEPO has planned the new PDP for the next decade with over 42,000 MW targeted. 3,500 MW of which is set to be sought out from energy imports from foreign countries. Power policy analysts and advocates have rebuked the plan, saying its target is exaggerated and set far beyond the need for energy in the country.

The group also requested the House’s sub-panel on foreign affairs, the Ombudsman, and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to look into the project and visit the site to investigate it along with the two other planned dams nearby, Pak Chom and Ban Khum.

“We would like to ask you to take our concerns into consideration and decide to scrap the plan for co-benefits and peaceful living in the Mekong Basin,” said the group in their statement specially to the Lao government.

Also read: WORKSHOP & POLICY BRIEF: Science and Policy Interface: People Engagement in Environmental Action for the Mekong Sustainability: A case of Phou Ngoy dam