John Bingham wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:33 pmTroll.

Ad hominem. And a one letter one at that. Pot calling the kettle black?

donner-kruger wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:09 pm

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 1:58 am Yes, but who will benefit ? AFAIK, the most of the dams planned for Laos are intending to export the electricity to Thailand, which will make money for some, but won't do much to benefit the local people in Laos.

Laos is a communist country. It's not like it's some multinational corporation that is going in there to exploit their natural resources. Also, I've driven through Laos at night. Most villages don't have electricity. You can tell because there are no electric lights.

Laos are building dams on the Mekong to sell the electricity to neighboring countries. Despite all the newly constructed dams over the past 15 years, the local population in Laos still has a very limited electricity supply - as you mention ^ - because the electricity generated by Laos dams is mainly exported to China and Thailand.

Laos has constructed more than 50 dams over the past 15 years. Although the rampant construction in Laos has outpaced electricity demands, a further 50 dams are under construction in rivers and streams around the country.

https://www.dw.com/en/why-is-laos-build ... a-56231448

Local people are concerned with the consequences of excessive dam building.
Thai NGOs Urge Govt Not To Buy Power From Sanakham Dam In Laos
June 6, 2020 RFA 0 Comments
By RFA
A dam planned for construction by Laos on the Mekong river will have negative impacts not only on Lao villages but also in nearby Thailand, a coalition of Thai environmental groups says, adding that the government in Bangkok should cancel plans to buy electricity from the controversial project.

The 684-megawatt Sanakham dam would be the country’s seventh large dam on the Mekong River, joining the currently operational Xayaburi and Don Sahong dams. In various stages of planning are four dams: Pak Beng, Pak Lay, Luang Prabang, and Phougnoi.

Transboundary impacts feared when the Sanakham dam goes into operation in 2028 include fluctuating water levels on the Mekong’s mainstream resulting in flooding and droughts, a reduction in fish stocks on the river, and the displacement of over a thousand villagers from their land, experts say.

The Thai government should now urgently review its agreements to buy power from the dam and cancel its support, 51 Thai organizations from the People’s Network of the Isaan Mekong Basin said in a joint statement following a May 29 teleconference.

“The Thai government should be concerned about the Mekong dams, and especially about the impacts [that we’ve seen] over the last few years,” Suwit Kulapwong – head of the Isaan Human Rights and Environmental Association and representative from the People’s Network – told the Lao Service of Radio Free Asia (RFA) this week. BenarNews is affiliated with RFA.

“I think the government should take action against the dam now,” Suwit said, noting that the dam would be built in Vientiane province’s Sanakham district, “only two kilometers from the northeastern Thai border in Loei province.”

“I think that the Thai government should take a close look at the Sanakham dam, because it’s so close to the Thai border,” agreed Montri Chanthawong of the Mekong Butterfly environmental group.

“It’s only two to three kilometers away. And when the dam closes or opens, the water level will go up or down from four to five meters, and this will affect an area with a 100-kilometer radius all the way down to the Chiang Khan and Pakchom districts,” he said.

Concerns in both countries

Villagers on both sides of the border, meanwhile, voiced fears over the likely impact of the dam’s construction in their area, with one Thai riverbank farmer saying that losses from the dam’s operations will outweigh the benefits.

“The dam will destroy the ecosystem. It shouldn’t be built,” he said.

“We can’t oppose this project,” added a villager in Sanakham district, on the Lao side of the border. “If the district or the government has decided to build the dam, we can’t do anything about it.”

“But if the Thais oppose it, it might not be built,” he said.

An Environmental Social Impact Assessment of the Sanakham dam project prepared by the dam’s builder, the Datang Sanakham Hydropower Company, a subsidiary of China’s Datang International Power Generation Company Ltd., states that 20,000 Lao and Thai villagers will be affected by the operation of the dam, which is set to begin construction later this year.

In addition, 1,127 people in three Lao villages will be displaced, with flooding foreseen on land belonging to 1,808 residents of three districts in Vientiane province and Xayaburi province.

Though most of the electricity eventually generated by the Sanakham dam will be exported to Thailand, Thailand itself may not need the extra power, the Save the Mekong Coalition said in a June 2 statement.
https://www.eurasiareview.com/06062020- ... m-in-laos/

Anchor Moy wrote: ↑Thu Nov 04, 2021 2:00 am ...copy and paste

This reminds me of environmental concerns that people had in Sweden and Denmark building the Oresund bridge. They were worried about the deteriorating state of the Baltic Sea. But in the end the construction of the bridge actually improved the state of the Baltic Sea.

I mean this could potentially be different. But so far you've just copied and pasted what was said before without stating your opinion.