Mekong Media Roundup

Following are some comments regarding the impacts of dams, from members of Rivers Watch East and Southeast Asia (RWESA).

HANOI - The Second Mekong Festival that opened in the southern province of An Giang on Feb. 23 highlights the tourism potential of Cambodia and Vietnam, officials say.

KUMMING - According to the Financial Committee of Yunnan People's Congress,  the construction of the 4200-megawatt Xiaowan hydropower station has  been progressing smoothly. The first generating unit is expected to  operate in 2009. 

PHNOM PENH (Xinhuanet) - The governments of China and Cambodia will strengthen and expand cooperation on water resources for the benefit of the two countries and the people.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed here on Nov. 2 by visiting Chinese Water Resources Minister Wang Shucheng and his Cambodian counterpart Lim Kean Hor, minister of Water Resources and Meteorology. Under the MoU, the two sides agreed to strengthen and expand the existing China-Cambodia cooperation in the utilisation, management and sustainable development of water resources and establish short, medium and long-term cooperative relationships on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.    

Exchanging visits, information, experts and organising technical training are also on the agenda of bilateral cooperation. Lim Kean Hor thanked the Chinese government for its "sincere and consistent assistance" to Cambodia "either in defending sovereignty or in the years of development of country's economy."   

He reaffirmed that the Cambodian government will stick to the One China policy and firmly support China's great cause of reunification.

While commending China's achievements in water resource management and the construction of hydropower projects, Lim Kean Hor welcomed more Chinese companies to invest in Cambodia's hydropower station.

Because the fish yield in Cambodia is directly proportional to the extent of floodplain overflow during the monsoon season, officials said that they expect this year’s fish catch to be a good one.

The planned Kamchay hydro-electric dam in Kampot province may not lower electricity cost significantly in Cambodia unless the Chinese company the government contracted to build the plant can secure a low interest loan in China, officials said.

Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc is investing 2.35 billion baht in the Nam Ngum 2 hydroelectric power project in Laos.

The project is expected to boost Ratchaburi Electricity's production capacity by 153 megawatts to nearly 4,500 MW.

Thailand's Electricity Generating Plc (Egco) will forge a joint venture with a Malaysian engineering construction company to develop the Nam Theun 1 hydropower project in Laos.

Egco already holds a 25 percent stake in the Nam Theun 2 project and the new venture is part of a strategy to consistently raise the SET-listed company's power generating capacity by 10 percent annually, according to president Visit Akaravinak.

The World Heritage Committee, at its last session in Durban in July 2005, issued the following  on the Three Parallel Rivers World Heritage Area and the threats from the Nu River Dams:

Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas (China)

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra signed an agreement in October with the Burmese government for joint investment in the construction of hydropower plants linked to the Salween dams, according to the Ministry of Energy sources.