Kamchay project highlights risks and rewards of damming our rivers
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 10:44:43 -0700 (PDT)
High hopes for hydropower
Written by Vong Sokheng and Sebastian Strangio
Thursday, 29 May 2008
Kamchay project highlights risks and rewards of damming our rivers
M KAMPOT - Chinese engineer Hu Nan gazes through a freshly hewn gap in
the hillside toward the distant Kamchay River. Swollen by heavy rains,
the river gushes over the rocks below while fully loaded earthmoving
trucks rumble past, slowly carving a 110-meter-high auditorium out of
the densely forested hills of Bokor National Park.
A recent engineering graduate from Beijing, Hu says he is proud to be
involved in the construction of the $280-million Kamchay dam,
Cambodia's largest hydropower project to date.
"This will be the Three Gorges Dam of Cambodia," he yells over the
noise of a nearby generator.
The massive dam development in Kampot province broke ground last
September and is the government's most recent effort to boost
Cambodia's electricity output by harnessing one of the Kingdom's most
abundant natural resources: its rivers.
With just 20 percent of Cambodian households enjoying reliable access
to electricity, the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME)
envisions large-scale hydroelectric projects as a solution to the
country's chronic power shortages.
In its most recent Power Development Plan, covering the years 1999 to
2016, the ministry earmarked 14 potential sites for development by
2018.
Construction has started at two - including Kamchay - with another six
now undergoing feasibility studies.
Kampot Governor Thach Khon says dams are an important way of providing
cheaper electricity, which he says is crucial to Cambodia's economic
and social development.
"Electricity is necessary for the development of business and
industry. It means that we will be able to implement our policies for
poverty reduction. If there is no electricity we cannot develop the
country," he said.
Shu Jiang, deputy managing director of Sinohydro Corporation, the
Chinese state firm that is constructing the dam, agrees that the
completed project will be a boon for the local economy.
"The power station will provide cheap power for Cambodia ... and after
the construction, I think many tourists will go there to play in the
reservoir," he told the Post at the company's Phnom Penh office.
But as with the controversial Three Gorges project on China's Yangtze
River - another Sinohydro project - local and international NGOs have
expressed concern that large-scale dam developments could have
negative impacts on the environment and local communities that far
outweigh their benefits as a source of cheap power.
Sam Chanthy, environment project officer at the NGO Forum on Cambodia,
said the Kamchay dam highlights what he sees as the unrestrained
nature of Cambodia's hydropower development.
"The government expects this dam to generate more electricity. They
think it will industrialize Kampot, bring in more investment, more
factories," he said.
"But we can also see some of the downsides. About 2,000 hectares of
protected forest will need to be cleared."
A January 2008 report prepared by the US-based watchdog International
Rivers and the River Coalition in Cambodia (RCC) concludes that the
Kamchay dam project "raises important questions regarding both
[Sinohydro] and the Cambodian government's commitment to transparency,
accountability, public participation, and the incorporation of
adequate environmental and social safeguards."
Chanthy said that the initial Environmental Impact Assessment prepared
by Sinohydro prior to construction lacked any significant public
participation, as required by the 1996 Law on Environmental Protection
and Natural Resources Management.
"According to the law, [the project] is not legal at all," Chanthy
said.
Central to environmental groups' fears is the risk that the Kamchay
dam could create problems similar to those experienced downstream of
the Yali Falls Dam, built in Vietnam's Central Highlands in 1996.
The RCC said in a report last year that toxic blue-green algae
generated by the "nutrient-rich bottom water from the Yali reservoir"
was flowing into Cambodia, creating a potential public health risk.
"People are already getting hurt by the [Kamchay] dam in terms of
water quality," Chanthy said.
Vendors who work at Teuk Chhu resort, a popular riverside attraction
downstream from the Kamchay dam, say they are worried pollution from
the dam could cause visitor numbers to drop.
Muo Sim, 50, who sells food and drinks along the river's bank, said
she supported the project but was concerned it would affect the
livelihoods of the 500 or so vendors at Teuk Chhu.
"We support hydropower dams because we hope it means we will get
cheaper electricity. But if there is poor management, it might make
the water dirty and that could be the end of the famous resort here,"
she said
Sinohydro representatives meanwhile have rejected accusations that the
company ignored the environmental impacts of the project, arguing that
the Kamchay dam is being built to the same standards as the company's
other dams in China.
"During the construction period, some problems can't be avoided," said
Li Tao, a Chinese engineer at the dam site. "But we have constructed
many dams in China, and we will obey the Chinese laws regarding the
environment."
Li said the company would do everything it could to prevent a decline
in water quality over the long term.
"After we finish the dam, we will cut all the trees and clear all the
surrounding areas. So don't worry about the water quality," he said.
Ith Praing, secretary of state at the MIME, also defended Sinohydro's
environmental assessments, saying that "the process has been normal"
and that the impacts of all large hydropower projects are investigated
before construction is allowed to start.
Chanthy of the NGO Forum emphasized that pursuing hydropower did not
mean making a choice between development and conservation.
"We're not against the dams," he said. "We are only pushing the
government to abide by its own laws."
.
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