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Ubon residents call for Mekong dam to be scrapped

By Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation (Thailand).
Published on December 15, 2009
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/12/15/national/national_30118536.php

Local residents in Ubon Ratchathani called on the government yesterday
to end a deal with Laos to build the Ban Koum "mega-dam" on the Mekong
River due to its likely serious social and environmental impact.

Some 500 people in areas that would be affected by the dam held a holy
ceremony at Samphan bok (three thousand holes) on the bank of the
river to ask the spirit of the river and Naga (Mekong dragon) to help
to protect lives in the river.

A group of senators, including Prasarn Marukpitak and Kamnoon
Sidhisamarn, attended the ceremony. They promised the villagers they
would help pressure the government to stop the project.

Thailand and Laos signed a memorandum of understanding in March 2008
to jointly develop a 1,872-megawatt hydropower dam on the mainstream
of the Mekong. Italian-Thai and Asiacorp Holding companies were
granted permission to conduct a feasibility study.

People in at least 239 homes in four villages on both banks of the
Mekong in Thailand and Laos would be directly affected by flooding if
the dam was built. But the constructors would build a huge wall to
contain water from its reservoir so no local residents would need to
be relocated from the area.

However, most of people in the areas fear the dam would have a
negative effect on the environment and ecology of the Mekong and would
damage fishing, which is their main source of food.

Sangwarn Bounnoi, from Ban Songkhorn in Pochai district, said
villagers would not allow the government to build the dam because it
would damage their lives.

"Compensation would never cover losses from the dam," she said, adding
that relatives who were affected by Pak Moon Dam in Ubon Ratchathani
were still unable to recover losses decades after the dam was built.

Ku Saenpaiwan, from Ban Kantakwean in Khong Chiem district, said he
feared losing fishery resources if the dam was built. It could prevent
many species of fish from moving up and downstream and would, thus,
cause a loss of protein in the locals' diets, he said.

"My family and my village mostly rely on fishing. I'm not sure who can
guarantee that this source of food would be sustained after the dam,"
he said.

 
 

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