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It was confirmed recently that Royal Group chairman, Mr Kith Meng, is behind dam construction projects on the mainstream Mekong, in particular the dam projected for Sambor (Sambok), near Kratie. Despite fears of environmental damage, which include devastation of fish stocks and the eradication of the few surviving freshwater dolphins, plans for the Sambor dam are becoming increasingly grandiose, increasing the scale of potential harm to the Mekong eco-system.

Government Delays New Studies on Dams Backed By Kith Meng
by Zsombor Peter | February 10, 2017

The Mines and Energy Ministry has yet to sign a memorandum of understanding with business mogul Kith Meng to undertake studies of three new hydropower dams, more than three months after the Council of Ministers gave it permission to do so.

In late October, the council sent the ministry a letter giving it the green light to sign the memorandum for feasibility and impact assessment studies of the three proposed dams, including the Sambor dam in Kratie province, which would be Cambodia’s first dam on the main stream of the Mekong River.

The letter, obtained last week, was the first confirmation that Mr. Meng was backing the projects.

This week, a spokesman for the ministry, Victor Jona, said the memorandum had not been signed “because at least we need to see the study by NHI [Natural Heritage Institute] first…. We have to see the results first.” Mr. Jona did not say when the results would be ready.

According to International Rivers, a U.S.-based NGO, the ministry hired NHI, also based in the U.S., in 2013 to study the feasibility of the Sambor dam at three proposed sizes: 1,363 megawatts, 1,703 MW and 2,000 MW.

The ministry and Mr. Meng are now considering building it at 2,600 MW, which would make it the country’s largest dam several times over.

Environmental protection groups worry that constructing the dam would devastate the Mekong River Basin’s fish stocks, which millions of Cambodians depend on to survive.
https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/govt ... ng-124907/

That is a lot of power, goodbye fish stocks and probably rice farming. Dams are incredibly destructive when wind and solar are not.

willyhilly wrote:That is a lot of power, goodbye fish stocks and probably rice farming. Dams are incredibly destructive when wind and solar are not.

Turbines and panels contain various minerals included several rare earth minerals, which are mined and processed in highly damaging ways. Wind turbines kill lots of birds.

ali baba wrote:

willyhilly wrote:That is a lot of power, goodbye fish stocks and probably rice farming. Dams are incredibly destructive when wind and solar are not.

Turbines and panels contain various minerals included several rare earth minerals, which are mined and processed in highly damaging ways. Wind turbines kill lots of birds.

What birds?

Wind turbines are fuck all use here as there is barely a breeze most of the time.

Birds are a classification of living organism with wings and feathers.
Some of them can fly.
Some of them die after collisions occur during flight.
Some of these collisions are with wind turbines.

ali baba wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2017 4:13 pm Birds are a classification of living organism with wings and feathers.
Some of them can fly.
Some of them die after collisions occur during flight.
Some of these collisions are with wind turbines.

Many more of these collisions are with glass windows.

John Bingham wrote:Wind turbines are fuck all use here as there is barely a breeze most of the time.

Blows hard most days here but then we have hydro already.

Sent from my SM-G570Y using Tapatalk

After Four Years, Study of Potential Mekong Dam Nearly Finished
by Zsombor Peter | March 8, 2017

The U.S. group studying the potential of what would be Cambodia’s first hydropower dam on the main stream of the Mekong River says its analysis could be finished by the end of the month, clearing the way for more detailed studies backed by business mogul Kith Meng.

The Mines and Energy Ministry hired the San Francisco-based Natural Heritage Institute (NHI) in 2013 to study a series of possible designs for the proposed Sambor dam in Kratie province, which would also be Cambodia’s largest dam by far, with a capacity of up to 2,600 megawatts.

The government is considering building more than a dozen new dams across the country in a bid to bring down some of the highest energy prices in the region, considered a major brake on foreign investment in Cambodia. But environmental groups warn that the dams, and the Sambor especially, could devastate critical fish stocks, while local communities fear forced evictions.

This week, NHI CEO Gregory Thomas said the group’s study of a “no dam” option, for which it was also contracted, would be done by the end of the year. But he said its analysis of pushing ahead with the dam should be in the government’s hands by March 31 or soon after.

Mr. Thomas said NHI has considered 11 to 12 alternatives for the Sambor, but only three or four would be reviewed in detail in the final report.

“These assessments are conceptual or pre-feasibility level but with quite substantial detail. This report is on siting, design and operations tradeoffs between power generation and fishery impacts/sediment-nutrient flows/social impacts,” he said by email.

“Any proponent of an actual project would need to conduct more detailed feasibility and environmental impact studies to qualify for consideration of a concession agreement” from the government, he added...

https://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/afte ... ed-126251/

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2017 6:21 pm

ali baba wrote: ↑Fri Feb 17, 2017 4:13 pm Birds are a classification of living organism with wings and feathers.
Some of them can fly.
Some of them die after collisions occur during flight.
Some of these collisions are with wind turbines.

Many more of these collisions are with glass windows.

Yea, and ban all those aeroplanes cause they keep hitting those tiny innocent birds and suck them into the jet engines where they are minced up by the blades and incinerated by the flame.

Go to my NGO site and click on the DONATE button, to protect little birds.