Three Rivers Dams (2)
Cambodia is developing fast. Very fast. It needs ever increasing numbers of Megawatts to feed its growth (and its neighbours’). Cambodia has rivers. Particularly in the more varied terrain of the Stung Treng and Ratanakkiri provinces. The solution to provide for more energy by building hydropower dams might seem obvious. Unfortunately this is a country where accountability is not yet the norm, and the plans to build a whole series of dams along the Mekong tributaries in the northeastern province are well under way, with the populations living there (at least not those living upstream and downstream), mostly indigenous communities, not having been thoroughly consulted about the impact the dams will have on their life and the ecosystem they are living in. And when they have been consulted, the recommendations they give are rarely taken into account as a bigger monetary profit is favoured to the well-being of the Brao, Phnong, Jarai, Kreung, Lao, Krung, Tampuon and others thriving on the riches of the Sesan, Srepok and Sekong rivers.
This second of several more future posts takes us to the village Sreh Kor in Stung Treng province. Located along the Lower Sesan, it will be impacted directly by the construction of the 400MW (100MW during the dry season) Lower Sesan2 dam. It will be built at a cost of US$816 million by a joint venture of Electricity of Vietnam and the Cambodian Royal Group. The reservoir waters will flood the village and the inhabitants will have to move 12Km from here, to a relocation site far from the shores of the future lake. 30,000ha of forest land will be destroyed. 66% of the river’s fish species migrate both ways through the planned dam site and as there is no fish ladder planned along the dam, several fish species will disappear upstream, impacting the 40,000 people depending on these fish for their daily ration of protein.
