Mekong dam plans halted for 10 years

PHNOM PENH: Electricity-starved Cambodia will not develop new hydropower dams on the Mekong River for the next 10 years, a senior energy official said yesterday, as it reviews its policy to seek energy from coal, natural gas and solar.

The decision means that neighbouring Laos, which has opened two new dams on the mainstream Mekong in the past six months, is the only country in the Lower Mekong Basin planning hydropower on the river that sustains some 60 million people.

Victor Jona, director general of energy at Cambodia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy, said the government was following a study done by a Japanese consultant that recommended Cambodia seeks energy elsewhere.

“According to the study, we need to develop coal, LNG, imports from neighbouring countries and solar energy,” he said, adding that he could not give details contained in a government master plan.

“In this 10-year plan, from 2020 to 2030, we have no plans to develop a mainstream dam,” he said.

Environmentalists have warned that dams will harm fisheries and farming along the 2,390-kilometre Lower Mekong.

The river nourishes fishing grounds and farmlands as it flows in from China then winds past or through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Some other officials, however, have said a record drought and low fish catches over the past year were due to climate change and overfishing.

Cambodia had previously announced plans for two dams at Sambor and Stung Treng, but both projects are on hold.

Across the border in Laos, power from the new Don Sahong hydropower facility began flowing into Cambodia’s grid in January under a 30-year old deal.

Cambodia last year had the worst power outages in years as a surge in demand was fuelled by a construction boom accompanying Chinese investment. Officials said the electricity shortage was also due to low levels water at hydropower dams on other rivers and tributaries of the Mekong.