Laos to start building Xayaburi dam | Bangkok Post: news

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Laos to start building Xayaburi dam

Laos will this week start construction of the 120 billion baht hydropower Xayaburi dam on the Mekong River that has been delayed for 18 months amid fierce opposition from downstream countries and activist groups.

The ground-breaking ceremony will take place on Wednesday at the site of the dam, according to Lao Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines Viraphonh Viravong.

Bangkok-based Ch Karnchang Plc, PTT Pcl and the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) are among major shareholders of Xayaburi Power Co, the dam's operator.

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  • CanardLao

    Lao Peoples RepublicPost : 2

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    Discussion 3 : 06 Nov 2012 at 08.433

    to my understanding, this project is run-of-river type i.e. it doesn't retain the water. It just uses it for few seconds and then releases back to down stream.

  • upena

    ThailandPost : 1,402

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    Discussion 2 : 05 Nov 2012 at 19.582

    Are they required to provided an Environmental Impact Statement?

  • kasper

    ThailandPost : 604

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    Discussion 1 : 05 Nov 2012 at 18.471

    Mr Viraphonh dismissed the concerns, saying measures have been taken to ensure a limited impact on the environment. Cambodian officials who had opposed the dam are now very happy with its design, he said.

    My guess is the mentioned measures is some nice bribes, which is also why the Cambodian officials are not "very happy".

    The nature of dams is to trap alot of water in the resevoir behind the dam. All this water will be missing downstream while the resevoir is filled. The operators can choose to only fill the resevoir during flood season when there is already excess water in the river, but they will not choose this option as the fillin

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