A
failure in every respect, says report
Costly project left nothing but damage
Bangkok Post, September 20, 2000
The World Commission on Dams has declared
Pak Moon dam a flop in all respects.
In a report released yesterday, it said the dam was economically
unjustifiable, caused serious damage to the ecosystem of the Moon river, and
destroyed villagers' livelihood.
The report is billed as the first independent, comprehensive and
peer-reviewed analysis of the dam in the Mekong river basin.
It confirmed previous accounts of the report leaked to the press but
disputed by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the project
developer.
Pak Moon is one of seven dams throughout the world studied by the
commission team, which examined the dams' economic impact, their
environmental consequences, social implications, the decision-making
processes and institutional structures underpinning the projects.
It was an attempt "to establish common ground in the fiercely
contested battlefield of resource development", according to James
Workman, a spokesman for the commission.
The commission was set up by the World Conservation Union IUCN and the
World Bank.
On the question of predicted versus actual benefits, cost and impact, the
cost overrun between the estimated cost of 3.88 billion baht and the actual
cost of 6.507 billion baht was not considered excessive.
However, compensation and resettlement costs increased 182% from the
estimated 231.55 million baht to 1,113.1 million baht.
Compensation for loss in fisheries, unanticipated in the original
estimate, accounted for 395.6 million baht.
The actual electricity generating capacity of Pak Moon project calculated
from daily power output during 1995-98 was only 20.81 MW compared to the
estimated capacity of 150 MW. "The project is considered not
economically justifiable," the report said.
The Pak Moon project was presented as a multi-purpose development
project, but irrigation benefits of a run-of-river project were doubtful.
The fish yield expected from the 60 sq km reservoir was 100 kg/hectares/year
without fish stocking and 220 kg/ha/year with the fish-stocking programme.
A more realistic estimate would have been around 10 kg/ha/year.
The actual number of households displaced by the Pak Moon dam was 1,700
instead of 241 as predicted as a result of declining fishing yield.
Of the 265 fish species recorded in the Moon-Chi watershed before 1994,
only 96 species were recorded in the upstream region. Fish catches upstream
declined by 60-80%.
The fish pass, or fish ladder, constructed after the completion of the
dam at a cost of two million baht, has been found to have failed to help
upstream fish migration.
The cost of stocking the head pond with fresh water prawn (Macrobrachium
rosenbergi) ranged between US$31,920 and US$44,240 annually (1.213-1.681
million baht at 38 baht to the dollar) between 1995-98.
However, because the species cannot breed in fresh water, its stocking
may not generate any income for the fishermen.
Fishing communities reported a 50-100% decline in catches and the
disappearance of many fish species.
More than 50 natural rapids were permanently submerged. These rapids
served as a habitat for a number of fish species. The implication of the
loss of rapids for fisheries was not assessed in the project's environmental
impact study.
On the question of who gained and who lost, the report concluded
"all stakeholders stand to lose, not only from a disrupted eco-system
but also from increased expenditure at mitigation efforts that is unlikely
to mitigate the losses".
The report blamed the authorities for not consulting affected villagers
in the early stages of the decision-making process, nor making attempts to
include them in decision-making on the project or mitigation measures. It said the project did not comply with the existing World Bank
guidelines that required a new environmental impact assessment and
appropriate impact mitigation prior to the implementation of the redesigned
project. |
