Laotian villagers worry compensation for Pak Beng dam is too low

Local Lao authorities met with villagers who will be affected by the Pak Beng dam project last week to discuss compensation, but villagers are concerned the government’s offer is too low, country sources said. to Radio Free Asia.

The dam, located in the Bokeo province of northwestern Laos on the Mekong River, is an integral part of Laos’ ambitious and controversial goal of becoming the “battery of Southeast Asia” by using the river to generate electricity and selling it. to neighboring countries.

The Pak Beng Dam is one of three major Mekong River dam projects that have completed review processes and are eligible to start construction. Two others, the Xayaburi Dam and the Don Sahong Dam, are currently operational. Four other proposed projects are in various stages of planning.

Critics of Laos’ hydroelectric activities point to the environmental and social impacts associated with large-scale main dams, with one of the main complaints being that the dams will displace people and ruin the livelihoods of riverside communities.

Authorities in Bokeo province’s Pak Tha district last week talked to villagers about compensation rates for land, houses, fruit trees and other crops, an official with the province’s Department of Energy and Mines said, who, like all other sources not named in this report, requested anonymity for safety. reasons, he told the FRG Lao Service.

“At the meeting, we discussed doing some more surveys, collecting information on the property and the location of the resettlement villages,” the official said. “We haven’t paid any compensation yet because we don’t have all the information.”

The official explained that residents of 17 villages in Bokeo province will lose their land, fruit trees and other crops; and some villagers will be relocated to new villages.

“As for the compensation, we will base it on the real social and economic situation of the area and on the same policy that was used for the Xayaburi dam project.”

The compensation process for the first Mekong main dam completed in Laos was not easy. Although the Xayaburi dam was completed and operational in 2019, RFA reported two years later that the displaced villagers still lacked farmland and access to water.

It will be enough?

Villagers living near the site where Pak Beng will be built have demanded 150 million kip ($8,844) per hectare (2.47 acres), a resident told RFA.

“I don’t know if we will get that much or not,” said the villager. “Until now, the dam developer and the Laotian authorities have not responded to our demands. The company and the Lao government should take into account the loss of our rice fields and our fruit trees.”

He said that proper compensation is necessary for people who are about to lose everything.

“In other words, the compensation must be fair to us,” he said. “Government offers are often too low and we shouldn’t be the losers here.”

The government was not specific enough during the discussions, another villager said.

“They said they were going to build new houses for us, but they haven’t said anything about other types of compensation,” the second villager said. “We have not yet been informed of any details of the new site and compensation from the dam developer or the Laotian authorities.”

In a different town, discussions about compensation have not taken place in months.

“We don’t know where we are going to move or how we are going to move,” said the third villager. “They told us that we were going to lose our land and homes, that is, that they were going to relocate us, but they didn’t tell us anything about compensation or the location of the new villages. Of course we are worried.

Impact

According to the project’s environmental impact assessment report, the Pak Beng dam will affect a total of 26 villages in three provinces, 17 of which are in Bokeo province. A total of 923 families, or some 4,700 people, will have to be relocated.

Deuanephet Vongchanh, deputy governor of Bokeo province, told local media this month that the provincial relocation committee must review the compensation rate for properties that will be lost due to the project.

The power purchase agreement, or PPA, a necessity for the dam to make economic sense, has not yet been signed, but the dam developer has already begun building infrastructure such as access roads to prepare for dam construction.

An employee of the project’s Thai developer, Gulf Energy, told RFA last week that although they have not signed the PPA, they have drawn up an agreement on the construction of the dam with the Lao government.

The employee said Thailand’s Gulf Energy Development owns 49 percent of the shares in the Pak Beng dam project and China’s Datang Overseas Investment owns 51 percent.

The Pak Beng Dam will produce 912 MW of electricity and cost $1.88 billion. The project plans to sell 90% of the energy generated to neighboring Thailand.

Earlier this year, members of Thai rights groups that advocate for people living along the Mekong River sent a petition to Thailand’s prime minister and energy minister to postpone the signing of all PPAs for four dams on the Mekong River planned by Laos, namely the Pak Beng Dam, the Luang Prabang Dam, the Pak Lay Dam and the Sanakham Dam.

Santiphab Phomvihan, Finance Minister of Laos, met with Amorn Iamsriphong, Vice President of Gulf Management, and revealed that Laos has signed a tariff agreement with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand on the Pak Beng Dam and the Pak Lay, both from the Gulf. projects, and the PPAs will be signed shortly.

Translated by Max Avary. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.