hydropower

Somkiat Prajamwong, director of the Office of Project Management at the RID, said officials have agreed to appoint an independent organisation to appraise the value of the Mae Wong forest and study the water management proposal.

He was speaking Wednesday after an Office of Natural Resources and Environment Policy and Planning (Onep) panel, which was tasked with considering the dam's environmental and health impacts, failed to reach a conclusion based on two reports into the project.

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Summary of the Consultation Workshop

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Six years ago, former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh laid the foundation stone for the 3,000MW Dibang multipurpose dam project. The dam, to be built across the Dibang river, in the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, will be the country’s largest. The state plans to build more than 160 dams in the coming years.

Cambodians staged a protest Thursday to share the concerns of more than a quarter of a million people who are calling on Laos to suspend construction of the Don Sahong hydropower project on the Mekong River.

At the protest Chhith Sam Ath, country director of the World Wide Fund for Nature, said Don Sahong Dam, a 260-megawatt hydropower project, could bring about the demise of important fisheries and critically endangered Mekong dolphins.

The bulk of the electricity generation in Sri Lanka is from hydropower and the present demand growth rate is 10%. In order to meet the growing demand, the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power (UKHP) project has been planned. The project has an installed capacity of 150MW and is capable of providing an annual energy of 530GW. The development of the project is expected to contribute no only to national social and economic development through provision of economical energy but also to rural development in the area through various infrastructural developments.

Dozens of protesters began a 2,400-kilometre march Sunday to northern Myanmar, calling for the cancellation of a Chinese-backed hydroelectric dam project over environmental concerns.

The US$3.6 billion (115 billion baht) dam along the Irrawaddy River was supposed to export about 90% of the electric power it generated to neighbouring China, but President Thein Sein's government ordered it suspended in 2011, saying it went "against the will of the people."

Four non-government organisations (NGOs) have called on the National Assembly for tighter controls on hydro-power plants to prevent loss of lives and widespread damage during storms.

The recommendation was made by the Viet Nam River Network (VRN), People and Nature Reconciliation (PanNature), Centre for Sustainable Development of Water Resources and Adaptation to Climate Change (CEWAREC), and the Centre for Promotion of Integrated Water Resources Management (CIWAREM).

LAM DONG — Hydro-power projects located in areas of ecological varieties have affected the ecological system and caused losses of water-head protective forests.

The assessment was heard at a conference on the protection of Dong Nai River Basin held in Da Lat last Friday.

Hydro-power projects located on the upper sections of the regional rivers have negative impacts to the water environment and cause floods in the lower section, said Nguyen Van Thanh from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.

Environmentalists and NGOs are threatening to sue developers of a controversial hydropower dam, claiming the project would cause irreversible damage to the Mekong River.

The Don Sahong dam, a 260-megawatt project proposed on a site less than two kilometres north of the Cambodian-Lao border, is expected to begin construction this month.

Members of Save the Mekong Coalition gathered yesterday at a conference urging a moratorium on the dam until further studies could be conducted.

For visitors, China’s water problem becomes apparent upon entering the hotel room. The smell of a polluted river might emanate from the showerhead. Need to quench your thirst? The drip from the tap is rarely potable. Can you trust the bottled water? Many Chinese don’t. What about brushing your teeth?