Cambodian PM Affirms Ban on Mekong Hydropower Projects
Cambodia’s prime minister has stated that the country will not develop any hydropower dams on the Mekong River, reaffirming a moratorium on mainstream dam projects announced in 2020.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a 150-megawatt hydropower dam in the southern province of Koh Kong, Prime Minister Hun Manet said that constructing dams on the mainstream of the Mekong would have “a huge impact” on the river’s ecology.
“The 7th-mandate Royal Government will not build dams on the Mekong River, no matter what the benefits are,” he said, according to a report on the website of the Cambodian People’s Party.
He said that hydropower development might also have deleterious impacts on the Tonle Sap Lake, Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake and a crucially important source of protein for the Cambodian population.
Sebastian Strangio
