Bangkok admits inability to regulate new Lao dam
The Water Resources Department has admitted it is beyond the Thai government’s power to challenge the Pak Beng Dam project in Laos and the only way to review the project is through the Mekong River Commission. The National Human Rights Commission’s subcommittee on communal rights and natural resource management has arranged a meeting on 22 July focusing on human rights violations regarding the upcoming hydropower dam projects on the Mekong and Salween rivers. Pak Beng Dam is a hydropower dam project owned by the Chinese firm Datang International Power Generation Co in cooperation with the Lao government. The site of the dam is in Pakbaeng district in Oudomxay province, 80 kilometres downstream from Ban Huai Leuk.
