Six nations discuss guidelines for Mekong River hydropower projects
Vientiane Times July 30, 2009
By Somsack Pongkhao
Representatives from six Mekong region nations yesterday met to discuss the Preliminary Design Guidance for Mekong Mainstream Dams report prepared by the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat.
The report is expected to be approved at the Fourteenth Dialogue Meeting in Vientiane which will end today.
The report will play an extremely important role in the sustainability of any planned mainstream hydropower projects on the Mekong River .
Chief Executive Officer of the MRC Secretariat, Mr Jeremy Bird told Lao media yesterday the report is aimed at informing developers what type of performance targets they must meet for a hydropower project to be considered appropriate by the MRC.
The guidance targets will be on things like fish migration, what percentage of fish and what types of fish would need to be able to migrate past these structures in order to maintain sustainable fishing stocks and protect the livelihood of the hundreds of thousands of people who liv e in the basin, he said.
If they are not able to meet those performance targets they would have to make recommendations about the types of mitigation measures that they would have to put in place to compensate for any reduction in the value of those resources.
The MRC was established in 1995 by the four countries of Laos , Thailand , Vietnam and Cambodia , who agreed to cooperate on sustainable development in the Mekong Basin .
There are currently eleven hydropower projects proposed for construction by private developers and under the 1995 agreement they must notify the MRC of the projects and their impacts.
Two of the projects are in Cambodia and several are on the mainstream Mekong River in Laos .
Although a lot of planning work is being carried out, no decision has yet been made to proceed with any of the 11 projects, Mr Bird said.
We have been discussing with the developers what their obligations are under the 1995 agreement and also the types of work they are doing in terms of fisheries and environmental assessments, he said.
A coordinated approach to operating the projects, to ensure sediment is managed appropriately, is something else to look at at the same as water quality - to make sure that international standards are used in the design of these projects for safety, he said.
The sustainability of water resources and the resources that people rely on the Mekong region is central to the 1995 agreement.
Certainly, there are some major opportunities here for hydropower development and earning foreign exchange to finance development programmes in the country, Mr Bird said.
Office Head of the Water Resources and Environment Administration, Ms Monemany Nhoybouakong said the MRC is going to feature prominently in the public eye over the coming years as hydropower developments take centre stage and people turn to the organisation for knowledge.
We are taking a range of steps to make sure that knowledge is there, she said.
The six Mekong countries comprise of Laos , Thailand , Vietnam , Cambodia , Myanmar and China . |
