A local villager paddles a boat where the future site of the Luang Prabang dam will be on the Mekong River, Feb 5, 2020. LUANG PRABANG, Laos: On a wide bank of the Mekong River, yellow markers and visits by surveyors show preparations underway to build Laos' third and largest dam on Southeast Asia's most vital waterway.
Construction on the Luang Prabang project is slated to begin later this year, but some nearby villagers said they still don't know when or if they will be relocated. In the past four months, Laos has also opened the first two dams on the Lower Mekong – the 1,200 MW Xayaburi and the smaller Don Sahong - after years of opposition from environmentalists.
"Your participation is not just a hoop we have to jump through. It is not a rubber stamp of the process," said An Pich Hatda, CEO of the Mekong River Commission . Others are not so sure."It's like they half-heartedly listen to our concerns," said Pittipat Puangpan, a 56-year-old Thai farmer who attended another consultation last month in Thailand.
"Maybe sometimes we should be training the fish how to use the lift," quipped Vithounlabandish Thommabout, deputy director of Laos’ Ministry of Energy and Mines, drawing only scattered chuckles.Xayaburi's operator is a joint venture between the Communist Lao government and a subsidiary of Thai construction giant Ch Karnchang PCL. The Thai company, which is also slated to build the Luang Prabang dam, says it has spent US$200 million on the measures to protect the ecosystem.
A local villager on a boat where the future site of the Luang Prabang dam will be on the Mekong River, Feb 5, 2020.