Work in progress at the Riverside Road

The rehabilitation of the road has been one of the cries of residents in that community.

Speaking to this press Councilor Aruna Turay said he wrote a lot of projects to various institutions such as Sierra Leone Roads Authority (SLRA), Freetown City Council (FCC) and NACSA about  the rehabilitation of that road but only NaCSA came to their rescue. “If there is a drainage, water will not settle on the road. I am still looking forward to the   tarring of the road itself because it is the cry of my people,” he said.

Women determine to see development in their community

Councilor Aruna went on to say that he is lobbying with State House and SLRA for the dream of the people to come true. The road when completed will create a lasting impact on the people. He added that as Councilor he has the responsibility to lobby for development of his Ward as a way of having a pointer when he would have left power.

He disclosed that Oxfarm has also supported him to construct two public toilets in that community with street taps. He added that the community at red pump has called for the rehabilitation of the bridge. He described the existing bridge as death trap and called for urgent action to be taken. Beside the ongoing work at Riverside Drive, Councilor Aruna Turay has done series of work in his Ward including the construction of taps, road maintenance and bridges among others.

In line with the youth employment, the Councilor said they employed 70 youths and these youths are working   from 8:00 am to 2:00 pm for six days a week. He noted that among the 70 youths, 30 of them are women and the remaining are men. “Most of them think it is their responsibility in the community as they do not do it for money. I am very proud of them,” he said.

Community Youth Chairman Joseph Sesay, described his community as backward but with the help of the Councilor he was able to create jobs for some youths in the community. “The Councilor is doing his level best for us to develop our ward,’ he said.

“As youth chairman I am moving around, talking to those who think that government can do everything for them without their contribution to be focused and participate in any developmental project,” he said.

One of the female youth leaders Lovette Kamara said, she wanted to see development in her community that is why she is participating in such project. “I feel good, because it is my community. We have been crying for help and now help is here. I just have to give my support,” she said.

She went on to say that within the past five years they have experienced a lot of development in the Red Pump Community. “We are still crying for a health centre, community centre and school for the children.”

She described Councilor Aruna’s work and what he is doing as transparent, more especially she said to the youths in that ward. “As women we all need to come together as one. This road is not used by the Councilor alone but all of us. Let us forget about money and support development,” she said.

London Mining Site

He made these remarks at the opening of London Marampa’s Mines by President Ernest Bai Koroma at Lunsar on Wednesday 25th April 2012 .

“Because of the Marampa Mines, the world now knows Sierra Leone. This will serve as a showcase for Sierra Leone.”

He went on to say that the leadership and vision which the government has have made it a success. He noted that the government understands the needs of the people and the international community. He pointed out that investing back to the people will help to build their community and the mining sectors in Sierra Leone.

“We believe in the people and the country” he said.

He went on to say that at first it was difficult to mine the ore but when they brought the right technology which will keep on for decades, they were able to overcome.

“The long term demand for iron ore is growing around the world. We have the technology and skills to bring more success. The success of the mining will bring more investment.”

In his keynote address President Ernest Bai Koroma said the Marampa Mines has been inactive for over 30 years.

“What is happening today shows that Sierra Leone is changing and transformation is a reality.”

He said they are not only changing but improving on what they have done before.

The Marampa Mine was operated by DELCO Mining Company 30 years ago, but now President Koroma said they are opening it with new technology. He called on London Mining to do the things that will transform the country.

“Two years ago I was here; London Mining began their export and they did it at a record time. We are not a government of intention but action. We are not putting our programmes on the shelf but to action as it is the same with London Mining.”

He went on to say that London Mining and his government show a commitment and that they are supporting what London Mining is doing as he put it.

“We are ready to do business and for it to make a difference and impact in the communities.”

Chief Financial Officer London Mining Plc, Rachel Rhodes said London Mining has been in Sierra Leone for six years and that they are no more strangers. She described their six years’ work as not any easy one but takes a lot of time to reach where they are today. She pointed out that her dream was to bring back the Marampa Mines.

“Today it is a reality. We are ready to invest for the future,” she said.

Chairman Port Loko District Council, Mr. Fofana said they have a long history about mining in their district. He encouraged London Mining to create a link between them and the community through the community radio station to settle any grievances including employment and development for the community.

Speaking during the launch of the 2010 State of Human Rights report in Zambia dubbed ‘Human Rights and the Environment’ in Lusaka yesterday, Prof Luo said she was frightened with what was happening to the people of Kankoyo.

“There is need for the ZEMA Zambia Environment Management Agency to look at many activities to do with the environment with a bright eye. In the past, where we were not strict, today those communities are facing serious environmental problems. Emissions from Mopani are causing a lot problems to the community in Kankoyo,” she said.

“I am frightened with what is happening to the people of Kankoyo. We need to protect these people and Mopani should compensate these families because of the sufferings they are going through.”

MCM has acknowledged the historical pollution problems it inherited after privatisation and is keen to solve them through investment in gas capturing equipment. . Before privatisation, sulphur dioxide had been released into the atmosphere unchecked since the 1930s when the Mufulira mine was first constructed.
At present, over half of all sulphur dioxide emissions are captured and turned into sulphuric acid at the first acid plant, which was opened in 2006.
It is anticipated that on completion of the final phase of the project, around 97 percent of all sulphur dioxide emissions at Mufulira mine will be captured, a development the mine management describes as a world-class environmental performance.
MCM Chief Executive Officer Danny Callow is proud of the development: “We look forward to the day soon when sulphur dioxide emissions will be a thing of the past at Mufulira. I am pleased that we are now able to tell our neighbours that this day will be sooner than they expected.”
Mr Callow added; “We inherited the decades-old problem of sulphur dioxide emissions and have invested heavily to tackle it. Mufulira is one of only few smelters in the whole country, and as well as our own ore, it processes ore from other mines on a tolling basis.
We see our investment to clean up Mufulira as making much of Zambia’s copper industry more environmentally sustainable.”
MCM expects to complete its work to capture sulphur dioxide emissions at its Mufulira smelter by the end of next year, 18 months ahead of the Zambian government’s target of 2015 and the target in the environmental management planthe company established shortly after privatisation.
But until this feat is achieved, life will remain miserable for the 20,000 residents of this environmentally degraded and impoverished township whose history is tied to the building of the mine in 1932.

The photo was posted Francis Xavier Pasion, a director at ABS-CBN, via his Facebook account on Sunday and has been shared more than 3,500 times as of 1 pm.

In the picture, participants are seen running on one of the streets in Bonifacio Global City, indifferent to the litter strewn all over the gutter. At least one runner can be seen throwing her paper cup, adding to the litter.

read more here

The country suffered a serious drop in crop production in 2011 blamed on late and erratic rains. As a result, local citizens are already running out of food supply.

United Nations and international aid agencies warn in February 2012 that drought and food shortage in the Sahel is threatening lives, with an estimated over 20 million people to go hungry.

They warn of a humanitarian catastrophe at a time when “international donors are starving Africa’s Sahel region of money” needed to avert a disaster.

Four months after farmers in rural districts experienced poor harvest, the Gambia Government was compelled to declare a state of emergency in early March and resort to seeking external help from friends and development partners.

The poor harvests of rice, groundnuts, millets, maize and sorghum had left villages in rural-Gambia with just two months of food supplies, contrary to the “usual” 4-6 months.

Close to one million Gambians are in dire need of food aid as they are already running out of stock. Gambia’s Agriculture Ministry has since put the percentage of crop failure during last year’s farming season at 70.

One meal a day

Last week, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in Gambia announced it will provide immediate food assistance to 62,500 people in the areas most affected by the recent drought.

The response will last for two months, from April 1, and will cover five rural districts.

“We need to intervene immediately to avoid a further deterioration in the nutrition status of the most vulnerable, especially women and children. We will provide rice and peas as well as fortified foods that contain important nutrients, such as oil with vitamins A & D, fortified cereal and iodized salt,” WFP Gambia Country Director Vitoria Ginja said.

The situation has already forced rural farmers to resort to just one meal a day, selling off their livestock and eating seeds and grain originally set aside for planting, according to reports.

WFP is set to work in coordination with the Government, partners and local committees, with an immediate relief operations pegged at US$1.3 million. But warn that food aid is needed urgently to provide follow-up support, focusing on livelihoods recovery and the prevention and treatment of malnutrition.

Get worse

Earlier, Action Aid International-The Gambia, AATG, announced it will provide 50,000 people with urgently needed food aid and drinking water.

The international anti-poverty organization said it observed that with extensive crop failure and seriously inflated food prices, Gambia’s situation will become “extremely serious” unless emergency measures were put in place immediately.

“The effects of the drought have been made even worse by rapidly rising food prices, which are 25% higher than last year’s,” said Action Aid’s country director for The Gambia, Dr Kujejatou Manneh, who warn the situation can get worse, as water for both people and animals becomes insufficient as the dry season progresses.

Nonetheless, Action Aid cautioned Gambia-Government to focus in the long-term on better irrigation schemes and livelihoods diversification to help people become more resilient to weather related crises like droughts.

Yahya Jammeh’s government says the country urgently needs US$23m, a sum apparently enough to provide food relief, seeds, and fertilizer to victims of the developing food crisis for a short term. National seeds requirement is put at 25, 000 MT valued at US$10 Million, fertilizer requirement is estimated at 37, 500 MT valued at US$8 Million and food relief is estimated at 40, 000 MT valued at US$5 Million, budgets the agriculture ministry.

“When you are hard pressed by circumstances like that, it is better to beg than to see your people dying,” President Jammeh told State-TV on March 8 after returning from his first aid-seeking-trip of Doha, Qatar.

Given the prevailing circumstances, Gambia’s former president, the first to respond to the government’s call, give up his month’s salary of D50, 000, more than $1724 to support relief efforts.

Largest coverage
The largest intended coverage so far comes from the UN System in The Gambia, which said it is providing immediate humanitarian support and recovery assistance to over 300,000 people.

The support is expected to cover 19 of 25 affected districts in the country and will end in September 2012. The relief will cover partly over half a million people, among them, more than 67,000 children under five and over 26,000 pregnant and lactating women.

“We should be ready at all times to manage both present and future climate-related risks to ensure that the vulnerable are protected from hunger and disease,” stressed resident coordinator for the UN System, Chinwe Diké, whose institutions has mobilised US$ 4.8 million through the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and contributions from other UN Agencies.

“The rapid population growth results in growth of slums”. © Oyesola

Urban infrastructure

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation with about 152 million people. Lagos State, with more than 20 million inhabitants, is the nation’s biggest urban agglomeration. Its growth rate has overburdened the existing urban management system. Power supply, traffic and sanitation are serious challenges.

By Bimbola Oyesola

Cities grow mainly through rural-urban migration. That is true of Lagos. What was a town of around 300,000 people in 1950 had become a metropolitan area with a population of more than 17 million by 2006 (census data). The state government reckons the population is growing by about 500,000 every year.

Lagos is one of the world’s two dozen or so megacities (agglomerations with more than 10 million people). Nigeria’s Federal Government estimates that Lagos State will have expanded to 25 million residents by 2015. Such growth will create immense problems, as can be seen in Lagos – even today.

A short history of the megacity

Geographically, Lagos is located in the south-western part of the country. Lagos State borders the Republic of Benin in the West and the Atlantic Ocean in the South. The state is made up of the city and its conurbation.

First inhabited before the 15th century, Lagos grew from a small fishing and farming settlement on an island to a coastal town. The Portuguese who arrived in 1472 gave the island its present name of Lagos. The town was later noted for its role in the slave trade in the 17th century.

In 1861, Lagos became a colony of the British. When the Protectorate of Nigeria was subsequently formed in 1914, Lagos was declared its capital. It remained Nigeria’s administrative capital after the nation became independent in 1960, until the seat of government moved to Abuja in December 1991. Lagos, however, was denied any special status as former political and administrative headquarter of the kind that Germany gave Bonn when the government moved to Berlin.

Nonetheless, Lagos continued flourishing as a trade centre. Migrants came to settle there. As the population of Lagos increased, spatial expansion became inevitable.

Lateef Ibirogba, Lagos State’s commissioner for information, attributes the rise in population to the fact that Lagos is the social and commercial hub of the country, and that it hosts the headquarters of multinational companies. Various economic activities encourage population growth, due to rural-urban migration and foreign migrants in search of better opportunities.

Lagos is popularly referred to as a city that never sleeps. Indeed, commercial activities take place in many parts of this city 24 hours every day, with an international airport and a busy seaport. Lagos is a dream city for millions of Nigerians, and its population soars as people from all over the country flock to it in search of greener pastures, sometimes real, sometimes elusive.

Joe Igbokwe, the general manager of the Lagos State Infrastructure Maintenance and Regulatory Agency (LASIMRA), says that presently Lagos accounts for about 60?% of economic growth in Nigeria. About 80?% of the nation’s industry is based in this state, which is also the main financial centre of West Africa. But Lagos is not only a centre of gravity for professionals, it also has a vibrant and even aggressive informal economic sector.

Given the multiple pressures, the public investments in social infrastructure seem like a drop in the ocean. The condition of the roads is appalling. Public schools are congested. Health centres are grossly inadequate. Thousands are jobless and homeless. All too often, violent crime becomes an option for frustrated minds and idle hands.

The rapid population growth in Lagos Metropolis results in shortages of housing and growth of slums, lack of housing finance and failure of the urban community as a whole to adapt to changing conditions. Institutions and social services are not coping with the influx of migrants. The population increase has a direct impact on land use; it results in the demand for more land. Industry has occupied a significant proportion of the metropolis, and this has given rise to even more problems such as heavy traffic and industrial pollution.

In order to decongest the metropolitan centre and ensure the development of the state as a whole, the state government is trying to create new towns on the periphery of the agglomeration. It also wants to ensure the orderly development according to zones for housing, industry, commerce and other purposes. But in the past decades, the agglomeration grew faster than planers could manage.

Infrastructure challenges

Lagos State accounts for 40?% of Nigeria’s electricity consumption. Power generation at the national level only satisfies about one third of demand. Out of necessity, Lagos State has been in the forefront of generating power for its residents. It is running some power plants of its own. The state also inaugurated a transformer manufacturing factory last year.

A daily feature on Lagos roads is the traffic gridlock. At times, it makes living in Lagos a real hell. It takes some people three hours to get from their homes to work. An important reason is the sad condition of roads. Most were constructed in the 1970 and were supposed to serve a population that was still much smaller. Nobody expected this level of expansion in the 21st century.

In order to mitigate some of the transportation problems, the state government has cooperated with private investors and created a system of mass transit buses in the past four years. This new Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system has ameliorated transportation problems of many people. Another project undertaken by the present administration could also result in less stress for commuters: the Blue Line rail tracks will link span the metropolis and link the municipalities of Marina and Okokomaiko. On top of that, the state government is constructing a ten lane road with rail facility from Badagry to Orile.

One of the major challenges to Lagos is the management of sanitation. The drainage system is poor too. It clogs far too often. It is a common occurrence to see residents emptying their wastes in the rain. Floods were devastating and recurring last year. The damage both in terms of loss of human lives and property were colossal. The government has taken steps to improve matters.

Lagos State’s Ministry of Environment has also begun to improve waste disposal by starting public-private partnerships. The government’s effort at beautifying the state’s parks and gardens have started paying off with the Lagos looking green irrespective of the season.

The government of Lagos State is facing daunting challenges. They include rehabilitation of existing urban infrastructure and provision of new infrastructure like roads, schools, health facilities, parks and gardens, integrated transportation (land and water), the system of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), the rehabilitation of criminal gangs (the so-called “area boys”) and security improvement. Unless the authorities tackle these issues, Lagos cannot become one of the world’s liveable megacities.

Bimbola Oyesola is a journalist with The Sun newspaper in Lagos and an alumna of the GIZ’s International Institute for Journalism.
»» bimbeechampion@yahoo.com

More about»» Read more about Governance»» Read more about Infrastructure

»» Read more about Urbanisation, urban and regional planning

»» Read more about West Africa

D+C, 2012/04, Focus, Page 144-145

[Print][Top] [Imprint] © D+C 2007 – 2012

Background

Health matters

Illness is a root cause of poverty in developing countries. Entire families drop into misery when a mother or father can no longer work.

• Health is a universal right argues Gonoshasthaya Kendra in Bangladesh
• How to improve poor people’s pharma supply in developing countries
• Diabetes is spreading fast in Malawi and other developing countries
• UN tackles non-communicable diseases, but no fresh money is made available
• Tough labour conditions for Central Asia’s female health workers

Related Topics

• Freedom Radio’s police programme is putting pressure on law enforcers in Kano, Nigeria
• News Agency is expressing the views of Rio’s marginalised people
• Smart power grids for urban agglomerations

Print edition

No. 03 2012, Volume 53, March 2012

http://www.dandc.eu/articles/220381/index.en.shtml

T.S.Turay award winner

Chenor Maju Bah aka Chericoco of the All Peoples Congress (APC) of Constituency 110, and aspirant for councillor symbol under the APC ward 388 Western Urban Tommy Sufian Turay aka T.S.Turay for their remarkable work in that community.

The community people lauded T.S.Turay stating that he has been working closely with the youths over the years and helped in the developmental drive of the people.

The commissioning of three mini-water dams and two bridges crowned the award for them. T.S. Turay who only complemented the effort of the Honourable got a round of applause for his timely intervention. One youth leader in that community Unisa Samura aka Bigger described T.S.Turay as the only one that can fill the long gap the ward has. He pointed out that his contribution over the years has made a lot of impact to the ward.

“We are really surprised at what he is doing. He is only an ordinary citizen like us and doing such for us. If the gets the councillor position he would do more than this for us, we believe in him and are sure he can produce,” he said.

He went on to say that they have awarded them for keeping up the good work for the community.

T.S.Turay described the award as a surprise to him but at the same time he felt very happy.

“It shows that the community appreciates our work, and if one does a good deed he will surely get a good reward at the end,” he said.

He pointed out that the award has given him more courage to work for the community. He called on the people of the community to continue to support him whenever he is undertaking developmental project as together they would succeed in whatever they aim at.

Currently T.S.Turay and Chericoco are undertaking bridge and mini dam project in Tengbeh Town, Brookfields among other project.

According to report the company is not getting the support from it partners such as City Council that is expected to be the financial partner.

This ugly situation will not only live room for poor performance by the staff and management of the company but will also showcase the bad image of the company at national and international levels.

The General Manager of the Company in Freetown Sulaiman Zainu Parker in an interview affirmed all the information and said the company through the help of his staff they are working hard in order to overcome the challenges

One of the challenges the company is presently facing is that people are junking community garbage into the street which is bad. He said that their mandate does not extend to people at community level except they do it on exceptional bases. He therefore appealed to all   concerned to be committed to their roles and responsibilities in the health management system in the city.  He recalled that for the company to sustain its pro-activeness there should be the need for massive cooperation from all irrespective of one’s position.

But like other fishermen in this part of the Mekong in northeast Thailand, his daily catch has been steadily declining through the years. As a result, he says, more and more fishermen have been abandoning their nets.

“There’s lesser fish and they’re smaller in size,” he says. “We’re earning less than half than what we used to get eight years ago.” The reason for this, he believes, is the waters’ increasing unpredictability wrought by dams in China in the upper mainstream.

Now he sees a bigger threat, a new dam in Xayaburi province in northern Laos, the first hydropower dam to be built on the mainstream of the Mekong River. But unknown to him and to the other fishermen in Chiang Khan, they would likely stand to lose in a complex web of power play that courts the interests of only the moneyed and the powerful.

The Xayaburi dam will supply electricity to the Electricity Generating Authority (Egat), Thailand’s state energy body, with 1,260MW of power for 30 years. One of the biggest infrastructure firms in Thailand, Ch. Karnchang Public Co Ltd (CK), will be the developer with Thai banks funding it. Under the plan, commercial operations will start in January 2019.

“Once the dam is born, everything will be lost,” Sutas says.

Sutas is among the 60 million people who live and feed from the lower Mekong basin. Considered as the ‘Mother of All Rivers’, the Mekong River is the largest freshwater fishery in the world. Described as the blood line of the Mekong Region, it yields 2.5 million tonnes of fish per year—valued at US$3 billion to $6 billion—making it the most productive inland fishery in the world.

Should the Xayaburi dam be built, over 200,000 villagers will be affected. Of the 1,000 fish species in the Mekong, 41 will face extinction, including the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish.

Worrying, too, is the fact that at least 23 migratory fish species will most likely be blocked from both upstream and downstream, disrupting the life cycles of the migratory fish and reducing the river catch of up to 600,000 metric tonnes.

“The Xayaburi dam could cause irreparable damage to the Mekong fisheries. The risk of permanent damage to the Mekong biodiversity and fisheries is too great and the cost too high,” says Zeb Hogan of the University of Reno in the US in a technical review he wrote for the International Rivers, a network working to protect the Mekong River.

At what cost?

Harnessing the power of the Mekong River to supply electricity to countries in the region dates way back to the 1960s, upon the creation of the Mekong Committee—a body created to promote and supervise development projects in the Mekong. At the time, seven large-scale multi-purpose dams were proposed.

According to the Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance (Terra), these did not push through due to “geopolitical conflicts in the region and concern over social and environmental impacts”.

By 1994, the committee presented a plan to build 11 “run-of-river” hydropower dams of only 30 to 60 metres high on the Mekong mainstream.

The dam design was said to be ideal, having a much lesser impact than large storage dams. Most of the dams were planned to produce power for export to Thailand, including Xayaburi, according to a report by Terra.

When the countries signed the 1995 Mekong Agreement, the committee was replaced by the Mekong River Commission (MRC).

This move, says Terra, was supposed to “represent a shift in its mandate” and ensure sustainability. But studies on the mainstream projects continued, causing nongovernment groups to stage campaigns against the plan.

At present, there are 12 planned mainstream dams that could provide power by as much as 14,697MW, enough to sustain a country like Thailand for the next 15 to 20 years.

An evaluation commissioned by the MRC revealed, however, that these run-of-river projects cannot proceed without a fisheries baseline data, as the likely impacts on the river ecology and livelihood have yet to be properly studied.

Experts confirm that any changes in the flow of the water will “seriously damage critical habitats” like the pools of fish and organisms that contribute to the entire river’s food web.

As it is, hydro dams built on the Mekong tributaries such as the Pak Mun dam in northeast Thailand and the Theun-Hinboun in central Laos have led to a decline in fish harvest and loss of food and livelihood to communities.

Fishermen like Udon Ruenkam in Chiang Khan know this to be true. Having been a fisherman for 30 years, he has seen less and less fish from Don Khai, the island in the middle of the Mekong River where Lao and Thai fishermen go to every day to catch fish.

“The water is now too fast, and it goes up and down very often. At times, instead of fish, our nets haul in rubbish,” he claims, adding that dams built on the rivers have triggered these. “If they build the Xayaburi dam, we will lose everything.”

Transboundary impact

The scenario has equally alarmed other countries downstream, especially Cambodia where 70 per cent of its 9.8-million population resides within 15km of the river.

The loss of livelihood would have a devastating impact on villagers who heavily depend on fishing and farming as their main sources of income, Cambodia being the rice basket in the delta. The dam could potentially lessen the flow of sediments or nutrients downstream which aid farmers in growing their rice and crops.

The project’s Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) in 2010—a study done by TEAM Consulting Engineering and Management Co Ltd of Thailand and Colenco Power Engineering Limited of Switzerland for CK—was highly criticised for making no mention of any transboundary, damaging impact that the Xayaburi dam might cause.

The EIA covered villages within the project site in Laos, claiming only a few villagers will lose their land and vegetable gardens. This estimate, reports the International Rivers, is not even close to representing the number of villages that will be affected downstream and upstream.

The project’s Social Impact Assessment (SIA), a document prepared by TEAM, also had no recognition of the rights of the villagers to “full and fair compensation for lost land”. The SIA states that it will compensate by providing livelihood assistance, not with cash assistance.

An official from the Department of Electricity in Laos confirms that at least three villages have been asked to voluntarily relocate inland, with no money being offered. In an interview with AsiaNews, he says the government will help them by providing alternative job opportunities, which have yet to take place.

Consultations as ‘rubber stamp’

Experts fear that the people may not be fully aware of the extent of impact of the dam. Only 60 per cent of the people in Xayaburi who were interviewed for the EIA said they had heard about the project. But after the survey, 82.6 per cent said they were in favour, and only 2 per cent disagreed.

But International Rivers notes the figures are not surprising “given the strong central state support for the project and the reluctance of the people to contradict state policy”.

What’s more, the TEAM consultants were there to “sell the project”. In fact, the group said, the fishermen were even told to “merely adjust their gear and methods so they can carry on catching fish like before”.
Unlike in Laos, the consultations held in three provinces in Thailand in 2011 showed strong opposition from villagers.

“The people said they want additional study on fish migration and aquatic impact. They’re worried that the dam will cause erosion in the banks and the fish yield will be reduced,” says an official at the Thailand National Mekong Committee of the MRC.

She says the first national consultation on the Xayaburi dam in Thailand took place in the northern province of Chiang Rai in January 2011. Participants in that meeting said the information on the transboundary impact was not enough and that further studies are needed.

The same concerns were raised in two subsequent consultations in Loei and Nakorn Phnom in February, highlighting the fact that no single has study has yet fully covered the extent of damage a mainstream dam like Xayaburi would have on the Mekong River’s resources.

In Vietnam, the member country that has voiced much opposition to the project, two consultations were held in Can Tho City and Ha Long City in early 2011.

The people said full precaution is needed for a dam that will set a precedent for other proposed mainstream dams especially since the proposal was unclear on mitigation solutions.

Cambodians, meanwhile, supported the 10-year delay of building dams in the mainstream as proposed by the MRC in the Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA), a study done on hydropower development in the Mekong. The report recommended no decisions should be made until “remaining uncertainties and knowledge gaps” are addressed.

Access to information

The consultations in the four countries were done in compliance with the 1995 MRC Mekong Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development. Under this, the member countries are to jointly review any development project proposed for the mainstream under the Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation and Agreement (PNPCA).

Under the PNPCA, the member states should conduct prior consultation within members of the MRC before any project is to proceed. When the Lao government notified MRC in September 2010 about its plan in Xayaburi, nearly seven months after the EIA was completed, member countries were notified. This led to technical reviews and consultations in each country, a process that needed to be completed within six months.

But during the consultations in other countries, the EIA was reportedly not released and was treated as a secret document on orders of the Lao government.

The National Mekong Committee in Thailand also confirms that during its consultations, they could not give out a copy of the EIA because it was considered confidential. “If it were under our laws, we’re obligated to disclose the EIA to the public within a month. But for Xayaburi, we were not allowed to disclose it.”

“Public input was absent in the EIA,” says Dr Philip Hirsch of the Australian Mekong Resource Centre in a paper he wrote for International Rivers. “The prior consultation process is flawed because stakeholders (did not have) access to the EIA.”

A senior knowledge management officer of a nongovernment organisation in Laos confirms that the government refused to release a copy of the EIA.

“A person from the MRC who attended the consultation said the government merely wanted the people to to say ‘yes’ and they were merely informing them how the dam will benefit the country. The villagers were also confused since they were fed with too much technical information,” he tells AsiaNews. (The person’s name and his organisation’s are not disclosed on the interviewee’s request.)

But unlike the EIA, the dam’s Feasibility Study was released to the public in February 2011.

The feasibility study, which was done by CK and TEAM, had the same conclusions as that of the EIA. It read that the “social impact of the barrage is at medium level, while the environmental impact is at low level”.

It added that the project would benefit the Mekong countries, especially Laos and Thailand, and urged for “speedy negotiations and early conclusion of agreements” between Laos, the investor and Egat”.

The politics of power

But by April 19, during an MRC Joint Committee Special Session in Vientiane, the MRC reported that all countries instead agreed to defer the decision on the Xayaburi dam, with Vietnam strongly recommending the SEA findings that projects on the mainstream be deferred for another 10 years.

Less than a month later, during a side meeting of the prime ministers of Laos and Vietnam at the 18th Asean Summit in Jakarta, the Lao premier announced that “it agreed to temporarily suspend the Xayaburi Dam”. Both countries also agreed to instruct agencies to conduct a joint research on the dam under the framework of the MRC.

Two days before that meeting, however, a letter leaked to the International Rivers revealed that Laos on May 5 hired Poyry Energy, a Finnish consulting firm, to determine whether Laos has fulfilled its obligations under the 1995 Mekong Agreement. By June 2, Poyry said the Lao government had complied with the agreements and that it had taken the concerns of the member countries into proper consideration.

By June 9, the Xayaburi Company wrote a letter to Egat saying that Laos has complied with the 1995 Agreement and that it was now ready to execute the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with Egat.

Under the PPA, CK Karnchang, a subisidiary of Xayaburi Power, will be purchasing 95 per cent of the project’s 1,260MW capacity at a rate of about 2 baht per unit (6 US cents).

Several months later, Thai Senator Surajit Chiravet, member of the Senate Committee on Corruption Investigation and Good Governance Protection was quoted that a high-ranking official from the Ministry of Energy said in a Senate hearing that the PPA for Xayaburi Dam had been signed on October 29 and that Xayaburi had already been included in Thailand’s Power Development Plan.

But when news of the decision of the MRC members during the December 8, 2011, meeting in Siem Reap, Cambodia broke, declaring a need for further study yet again, Thai senators launched an investigation. They wanted to know if Egat violated the Thai government’s instructions to have the MRC member governments’ approval first before any agreement to purchase power from Xayaburi is to be made.

Breaches of obligations

According to International Rivers, Senator Surajit said the signing of the PPA likely violated the resolution of the National Energy Policy Council, the body that has the authority to approve power import projects, stating that projects like Xayaburi need to fully comply with the 1995 Mekong Agreement before any of the countries are to enter into any concessions.

“By moving under the radar of the Mekong River Commission, Thailand and Laos have threatened the spirit of regional cooperation and the integrity of the 1995 Mekong Agreement…it’s no surprise that the dam builder Ch. Karnchang has lobbied extensively for the dam to proceed,” says Piapoorn Deetes of the International Rivers.

Ame Trandem, Southeast Asia programme director of International Rivers, says Thailand now has to cancel the PPA because the process was not in accordance with the 1995 agreement.

“The gaps still exist and to proceed with the dam without a regional decision is not only reckless and irresponsible, it also threatens regional security,” she says.

But for the Lao engineer from the Department of Electricity, who refuses to be identified for fear of reprisal, he says the PNPCA is nothing but a “document” to implement the 1995 Agreement and that it should be treated independently from the economic agreement.

“The project is momentarily delayed but we will not stop,” he confirms. Construction for roads and buildings is still ongoing in Xayaburi, he says, but no infrastructure work has started on the river. According to him, Laos will have to wait for the countries to agree until they can start with the dam structure.

In the meantime, the Lao government is considering paying for another firm to conduct more studies on the transboundary impact. It is also waiting for another study spearheaded by the MRC, which would include the transboundary impact of hydro projects like Xayaburi in the Mekong region, as part of the agreement during the meeting in Siem Reap.

“We have to consult with other countries to make them happy. We’re being gentlemen now,” he says.

But should Laos proceed with the project without the required consensus, it would be in breach of its obligations under the Mekong Agreement.

It would also be violating its commitment to negotiate and consult in good faith under international laws, specifically under the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. All countries in the Mekong Region under the Rio declaration agreed to consult each other first should there be projects “that may have a significant adverse transboundary environmental effect”.

And should there be disputes that cannot be resolved among the countries, Trandem says under the Mekong Agreement, they may elevate matters to the International Court of Justice.

But for fishermen like Sutas, whose voice and others like him have been largely ignored and unheard, the message is simple: “We love the Mekong River. We don’t want any dams.”

(Published in the January 26 to February 9, 2012 issue of Asia News, a publication of the Asia News Network in Bangkok, Thailand.)