Leaked report decries reservoir
THE final report assessing the impact of a future dam in Kratie has claimed that the dam project could result in “killing the life” of the Mekong River.
This final report said the project’s location is the worst possible for a dam and would have serious ramifications on fish and wildlife resources.
Issued by the Natural Heritage Institute with funding from the government, the report was leaked to the Guardian and reported in Wednesday’s edition.
If constructed, it would be the largest hydropower dam along the Lower Mekong Basin, and, the paper highlights, “the huge dam and the waste in that area will block the movement of runoff”.
The dam will have a capacity of 2,600 megawatts and would create an 82-kilometre reserve basin.
“The dam creates an
NEC member who led the meeting said the committee had asked the Ministry of Interior to prepare for potential legal action.
“We have informed the Ministry of Interior and requested them to take action,” he said.
NEC spokesman Dem Sovannarom told Fresh News that calling on people not to vote “affects public order and national security”.
He was referencing a petition, posted online earlier this month by Rainsy, calling on voters to boycott what he refers to as “sham” elections.
Not all parties condemned the actions of the now-disbanded CNRP. Hing Yoeun, deputy head of the Khmer Will Party, which was founded by the son of Kong Korm, a former senior official at the CNRP, said the message was within “personal rights”, but that he still urged the people to vote.
Yoeun encouraged former CNRP supporters to turn up and vote for his party.
Ministry of Interior spokesperson Khieu Sopheak said he had not seen the request from the NEC, which claims to be a neutral entity, but the ministry was ready to cooperate.
“All legal decisions made by the NEC are supported by the Ministry of Interior,” he said. “We have the Election Law, which states that it is an offence to prevent people from casting their vote.”
Rainsy, responding to the comments via email from San Francisco, said: “I would like to remind Hun Sen’s government officials . . . that voting is the right of any citizen, but not voting is also their right, especially when they know there is no real choice . . . with the only objective being to legitimise a dictatorship”.
“In such circumstances, an election boycott is an act of passive resistance in a peaceful fight for democracy.”