Damming our way into trouble
Over the past two weeks, volunteers and rescuers have been battling thick mud and floods in Attapeu province of Laos to find survivors of a deadly dam collapse. The failure of a secondary dam at the site of the US$1-billion, 410-megawatt Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydroelectric project released 5 billion cubic metres of water and swept away whole villages, farms and livestock.
The catastrophe that killed at least 27 people and left 6,600 stranded on the rooftops of their submerged homes has shone the glare of publicity on the Lao government and its foreign contractors. Could they have done more to prevent it, or at least sounded a warning in time for people to escape?
In its zeal to become the “Battery of Asia”, Laos has been frantically approving and building new hydroelectric dams over the past decade — 51 have been completed and 46 are under construction.
Most are built, owned and operated by foreign companies, giant international financial institutions and joint ventures with Lao state agencies. The deals tend to be low on transparency but very lucrative for the government. Foreign customers led by energy-hungry Thailand consume almost all the electricity generated, but few ordinary Lao citizens share in the bounty.
While the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party argues that revenue from power sales is helping the country and its people climb out of poverty, it comes at a high price. Weak regulation, substandard infrastructure, lack of oversight and poor safety measures mean more disasters could be imminent.
Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc of Thailand is a partner in the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy dam, along with two Korean firms — SK Engineering & Construction and Korea Western Power — and the Lao government. Korea Western Power said it detected cracks in the supplementary dam on July 24, three days before it collapsed, and that it warned the authorities of a possible problem, yet communities downstream received no alerts.
The government initially ascribed the incident to unusually heavy monsoon rains, but experts say the disaster was wholly avoidable. Heavy rain is predictable at this time of the year, which leaves a combination of poor water management and construction flaws as the real cause.
The loss of lives and property has made local residents furious, but they were angry long before the latest disaster occurred. Building a dam is risky, highly challenging and must be done by experienced professionals with good oversight, governance and close monitoring.
But consultation with communities is an afterthought in Laos, where the secretive communist regime is highly averse to criticism. Most people are terrified to speak out. The abduction of the internationally acclaimed community development worker Sombath Somphone in 2012 has left activists in fearful silence.
Another highly controversial dam in Laos is the $3.8-billion, 1,285MW Xayaburi project, which is scheduled to open next year. Downstream communities in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand have been complaining since 2011 about potential environmental damage, but to little avail. Structural modifications, apparently made to cut costs, have added to the concerns.
In addition to the risk to the local community, dam construction threatens biodiversity. The experts who conducted the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy warned the government that construction would severely disturb the fishery, forests, mammals, birds and other organisms. It recommended alternative sites where the impact on wildlife would be more limited.
As expected, the government ignored the recommendation. Now it is asking for international donations of money, medical supplies and other items for the victims of its short-sightedness.
In the wake of this accident, international agencies that work with developing countries such as Laos have an opportunity to promote greater understanding about the risks related to hydropower project construction. Community members could be educated about preventive measures and trained in disaster response and evacuation.
In addition, for the sake of its people and the prosperity of the country, the Lao government should be more thorough in assessing and approving dam projects while listening to international recommendations.
China is involved in roughly half of the hydropower projects in Laos. It has a sorry history of construction disasters, including the worst dam failure in history which killed 171,000 and displaced 11 million in 1975.
According to International Rivers, Chinese dam projects in Laos include the $2.4-billion Pak Beng dam, a $2-billion seven-dam cascade on the Nam Ou River, the Nam Khan 3 hydropower project, and the Nam Beng dam. Could local communities be at risk of a future catastrophe similar to the recent collapse? Then again, do they have a choice?