Amid hydropower boom, Laos streams ahead on latest Mekong dam
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.
About an hour downstream, in the laid-back tourist centre of Luang Prabang, the dam’s developers heard this week from citizens groups arguing for a delay to the 1,400-megawatt (MW) hydropower project.
Sceptics say the Lao government and its Vietnamese and Thai partners should wait to assess any impact on downstream fishing and farming from the recently completed Xayaburi dam, Laos’ first mainstream Mekong hydropower project.
Kay Johnson, Panu Wongcha-um
