Sanitsuda Ekachai, Bangkok Post, September 28, 2000
It's official. The Pak Moon dam is a disaster. In an eye-opening
report, the World Commission on Dams confirmed what the Pak Moon villagers
have been saying all along, but have gone unheeded. The question is: What
next?The study was done by an independent, neutral party to tell it like
it is. If respected, the long-denied truth can help resolve conflicts
between the people and the state in the face of a spiralling natural
resources wars.
The report exposes serious flaws in the state agencies' decision-making
and the need to open up the system-from planning to implementing to
monitoring-to all stake-holders.
It also illustrates the necessity of participatory post-project
assessment by a neutral body to bring rationality back to the picture when
discord has turned into a question of face for the state agencies
involved.
But will rationality prevail?According to the WCD report, the Pak Moon
dam cannot be justified economically. The 135 megawatt dam can produce
only 15% of planned electricity output, or only 21 megawatts.
Egat, the state power agency and dam developer, didn't have the
required environmental impact assessment done after the redesign. The
number of affected villagers was gravely underestimated. The adverse
impact on the fisheries and environment was ignored. As a result, the
compensation pay-out shot up to one billion baht from 231.6 million baht.
And the Pak Moon river ecosystem was destroyed forever.
In addition, the claims of the benefits of irrigation are misleading.
The projected fisheries benefits from the reservoir are largely
exaggerated. The fish ladder doesn't work. The dam interferes with fish
migration and breeding patterns. The permanent loss of rapids, which are a
fish habitat, is ecologically significant. Only 96 of 265 fish species
remain after the dam. The fishing communities have lost over $1.4 million
(58.7 million baht) per year from declining fish yields, not to mention
the immeasurable human misery due to family and community breakdown.
Meanwhile, the conflict gets worse as Egat and the government use
divisive strategies to split community opinion.
A full assessment of the impact on nature and the villagers'
livelihoods could have prevented unnecessary misery and Thailand would not
have lost an important ecosystem, says the report.
"... if all the benefits and costs were adequately assessed, it is
unlikely that the project would have been built in the current
context", it concludes.
Details are available at http://www.dams.orgWill Thailand ever learn
the lessons?It depends on whether we can see through the state myths on
development, how we envision our goals in life and how much we value truth
over face and self-interest.
The villagers cried foul over Pak Moon dam from day one. Why did we
have to wait 15 years for the WCD findings to believe the villagers' cause
is valid and their problems real?Why? Because Thai society primarily looks
down on the poor. Poverty is considered a sin. The education system
teaches us to look down on our cultural roots and village simplicity while
making Western affluence our ultimate dream.
That's why the state development mantra of consumerism never fails to
hypnotise and blind us from the sufferings the rural poor must live with
for us to enjoy our city comforts.
Egat is in total denial regards the WCD findings, the government is too
busy making money from mega-projects, and the public are indifferent.
The Pak Moon struggle cannot wait for an enlightened city folk. The
people want the Moon river to run free once again. And they're prepared to
continue their fight.
Meanwhile, the bureaucracy is planning more dams. Will we ever learn?
Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor, Bangkok Post
sanitsuda@bangkokpost.net
