Koh Kong Prison is Running Massive Illegal Logging Operation at Dam Site

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Koh Kong Prison is Running Massive Illegal Logging Operation at Dam Site

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Another detailed report into the illegal logging of Cambodian protected forests by Mongabay's Gerald Flynn:
Koh Kong Prison is Running a Massive Illegal Logging Operation. RE: The Stung Tatai Leu Hydropower Dam under construction in Central Cardamom Mountains National Park, Cambodia
Forest behind bars: Logging network operating out of Cambodian prison in the Cardamoms
by Gerald Flynn on 26 May 2023

A Mongabay investigation has uncovered a logging operation being run out of Koh Kong provincial prison that gets its timber from the site of a new hydropower dam being built in Thma Bang.
Old-growth forest in Central Cardamom Mountains National Park is being cleared to make way for the Stung Tatai Leu hydropower dam, but the environmental impacts remain opaque.
NGOs and the Ministry of Environment provide minimal oversight to prevent illegal loggers from exploiting the project site, and former loggers detailed how bribes facilitate the illicit timber trade.
Prison officials maintained that the timber is used in a skills development program, but former inmates alleged that officials have been exploiting prison labor to craft luxury furniture.

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center’s Rainforest Investigations Network where Gerald Flynn was a fellow.
*Names have been changed to protect sources who said they feared reprisals from the authorities.



[excerpt]
Trucking out whole trees
Pros’s latest source of timber, the site of the 150-megawatt Stung Tatai Leu, or Upper Tatay, hydropower dam, was approved by the Council of Ministers, the cabinet of Prime Minister HE, in October 2020. By December 2020, the implementation agreement between Cambodia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy was signed with China National Heavy Machinery Corporation as the dam’s developer.

The roughly $389 million dam broke ground in Koh Kong province’s Tatai Leu commune, Thma Bang district, in November 2021, threatening an area that, according to Global Forest Watch data, had only lost 7,590 hectares (18,755 acres) of primary forest in 20 years since 2001. This loss constituted just 2.1% of Thma Bang’s total primary forest, which made up as much as 98% of the district’s landmass in 2010.

Since construction began on the Stung Tatai Leu, satellite images have triggered nearly 60,000 deforestation alerts for Thma Bang district, almost all centered around the site of the new dam. Satellite imagery captured in March shows vast denuded areas carved from what was once intact, protected forest.
Read all: https://news.mongabay.com/2023/05/fores ... cardamoms/
Last edited by CEOCambodiaNews on Fri May 26, 2023 4:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Koh Kong Prison is Running Massive Illegal Logging Operation at Dam Site

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Power plant profile: Stung Tatai Leu Hydropower project, Cambodia
Updated April 22, 2023
Globaldata
Stung Tatai Leu Hydropower project is a 150MW hydro power project. It is planned on Tatai river/basin in Koh Kong, Cambodia. According to GlobalData, who tracks and profiles over 170,000 power plants worldwide, the project is currently at the permitting stage. It will be developed in a single phase. Post completion of the construction, the project is expected to get commissioned in 2025. Buy the profile here.

Description

The project is being developed and currently owned by China National Heavy Machinery.
Stung Tatai Leu Hydropower project is a run-of-river project. The project is expected to generate 527 GWh of electricity. The project cost is expected to be around $277.14m.

Development status
Post completion of the construction, the project is expected to get commissioned in 2025.

Power purchase agreement
The power generated from the project will be sold to Electricite Du Cambodge under a power purchase agreement at the rate of $0.079kWh.

About China National Heavy Machinery
China National Heavy Machinery Corporation manage projects in the industries of metallurgy, mine, port terminals, building material, forging and press, urban water supply, environment protection, power generating, bridge construction, grain stores, airport construction, urban construction, chemical industry, water conservancy, and nuclear power etc. The company is headquartered in China.
For more details on Stung Tatai Leu Hydropower project, buy the profile here.
https://www.power-technology.com/market ... -cambodia/
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Re: Koh Kong Prison is Running Massive Illegal Logging Operation at Dam Site

Post by truffledog »

In 20 years it will produce over 10 Billion in revenues (with an investment of 277M). A gold mine.
work is for people who cant find truffles
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