Another interruption of the free flow of Mekong river and the way for its fish population; more than 1200 families are forced to move their homes and income resources, and the earthquake risk for the historic town of Unesco-protected Luang Prabang is rising: The construction of a highly controversial hydropower project in Laos has begun. The energy shall be delivered to Thailand.
The development cost of the 1,460-Megawatt facility is estimated at U.S. $ 3 billions. The run-of-the-river dam is planned about 25 kilometers upstream from Luang Prabang, at Houygno village according to the website of Mekong River Commission, located by the upstream Pak Beng hydropower project and the downstream Xayaburi project. The energy will be produced by 7 turbines or generators, each delivering 200 Megawatt. See this introduction video:
Who is behind the Luang Prabang hydropower project?
The Luang Prabang Power Company Limited (LPCL), a company established by Lao PDR and PetroVietnam Power Corporation, is the project developer, finances it and will operate it. In late 2020 an ownership change occurred with the stock ownership of Luang Prabang Power Company Limited changed to the following: PT Sole Co., Ltd. 38 percent; Petro Vietnam Power Corporation 10 percent; CK Power Public Company 42 percent and CH. Karnchang Public Company Limited 10 percent. CK Power Plc (CKP) is the power generation arm of the Thai construction firm CH Karnchang Plc, which built the Xayaburi Dam. So a Thai company is the major shareholder . in July 2021 LPCL signed the Concession Agreement of
the LPHPP with the Government of the Lao PDR, for a concession period of 35 years. LPCL has signed a tariff Memorandum of Understanding with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). EGAT shall be the off-taker of all electricity generated by the Luang Prabang hydropower plant from the scheduled Commercial Operation Date (January 1, 2030).
What happens tro the people living around the dam area?
More than 1,200 families in Oudomxay province will be forced to move to make way for the project. The dam will flood a dozen villages on the bank of the Mekong River in Nga district, including Lath Han, Khok Phou, Yoiyai and Phonsavang. Also residents of Houei Yor village, Chomphet district, in Luang Prabang province are affected. Residents of Nga district in Oudomxay province and Chomphet district in Luang Prabang province say authorities are shortchanging them for the land and other property they would lose. Oudomxay officials offered 100 million kip (U.S. $8,500) per hectare of farmland to locals, said a Nga district resident.
What happens to the historic town of Luang Prabang and ist famous temples - a UNESCO World Heritage Site?
Unesco has demanded a Heritage Impact Assessment, because there were concerns. Dams will encircle Luang Prabang’s urban area. " I can see a nightmare scenario where dam operators aren’t talking to each other, a massive weather event pours through northern Laos and sudden dam releases from these dams cause an unnecessary flooding event around Luang Prabang,” said Brian Eyler, director of the Stimson Center’s Southeast Asia programme. “The Xayaburi dam would act like a plug in the bathtub, not allowing the water out to the downstream if its flood responses weren’t ready for those sudden upstream releases. It’s a complicated but possible scenario.” The Luang Prabang dam would be the first in the Lower Mekong Basin to encounter water discharged from the 11 mainstream Chinese dams, including the massive 5,850 MW Nuozhadu dam. Upstreams of Luang Prabang the Mekong also merges with the Nam Ou, a river with a cascade of seven hydropower dams built by PowerChina.
By signing the World Heritage Convention, countries pledge “not to take any deliberate measures which might directly or indirectly damage the natural and cultural heritage” of a site and to “ensure the protection and conservation of their Outstanding Universal Value and other heritage values.”
The dam will be built in an earthquake-prone zone. “We are very worried about the seismic fault only 8.6 kilometers from the Luang Prabang dam site,” said leading Thai seismologist Punya Churasiri. “It is too dangerous to go ahead with this project.”
How is the progress of the construction works so far?
อัปเดต 2023, โครงการก่อสร้างเขื่อนหลวงพระบาง ห่างจากมรดกโลกหลวงพระบาง ประมาณ 25 กม. **โดยทุนไทย** - Update 2023, Construction work has begun on the Luang Prabang hydropower dam on the Mekong River in Laos.#เขื่อนหลวงพระบาง#แม่น้ำโขงpic.twitter.com/o4QkhN5Q6y
In March 2021 Xinhua reported that the preparatory work was already 80 per cent complete. Among the work was the construction of an 11-km access road, a 500-metre bridge over the Mekong River, three temporary ports, as well as some transmission lines and a small electricity station. Bangkok Tribune shows pictures of the construction progress.
What could stop the construction of Luang Prabang hydropower plant?
The dam has been criticised by environmental groups and the government in Thailand, which will feel the effects on its Mekong border with Laos and beyond. “Surely effects for Thailand include fish loss, the fluctuations of dams cutting the river ecology, the unnatural water flow and the sediment loss until the water becomes blue,” said Niwat Roykaew of Thailand’s Chiang Khong Conservation Group, adding that it will impact fishing communities. Thailand’s authorities have received pressure from environmental groups to not purchase power from the Luang Prabang dam and other projects. But: "Environmental and heritage reviews are unlikely to stop the
Lao government forging ahead with its hydroelectric plans", wrote Milton Osborne.
Updated informations about Luang Prabng hydropower plant you can find on Hobomaps.
Find technical informations, list of planned stations and maps here.
Update 26.12.2020
The Laos-China Railway Co. is to develop areas surrounding railway stations in Vientiane Capital, Vientiane Province, Oudomxay, and Luang Prabang. The government of Laos signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the company, reports laotiantimes.com.
Xiang Ngeun Number 3 Tunnel in Luang Prabang Province has been drilled through on 29 september. Now all of the 75 tunnels of China Laos Railway have been constructed.
Update 31.12.2020
Track laying fro China-Laos-Railway has arrived in Luang Prabang at the end of December 2020.
#China-#Laos railway (422km) tracks have successfully extended from Vientiane to N Lao PDR’s transporthub Luang Prabang (240km), accomplishing all construction targets set at the beginning of 2020! Major #BRI projects in ASEAN countries make progress day by day, despite COVID19. pic.twitter.com/WjO2S6jyG9
The track laying of the China-Laos-Railway project, undertaken by CREC, has exceeded 100 km and has reached Vang Vieng Station in Laos in July 2020, what means that 25 percent of the track was laid. In November 2020 the track laying reached Ban Sen No.2 Tunnel.
This week, the track-laying project of #China-#Laos#Railway officially entered the longest tunnel of the entire line - Ban Sen No.2 Tunnel of 9384m. It will then go all the way north to realize the interim target of connecting Luang Prabang by year-end. #ASEAN#Connectivitypic.twitter.com/KtXpT4wfiI
In September 2020 the 9 km long Ban Phoukeu tunnel in Muang Nga province was drilled through by China Railway No. 8 Engineering Group.
A Chinese engineering company has finished drilling the nearly 9-km long Ban Phoukeu Tunnel, the last major long tunnel along the China-Laos Railway route #BeltandRoadpic.twitter.com/pfBZtrsMtt
In September 2020 the main building of Nateuy station was finished by China Railway Construction Engineering Group (CRCEG).
The main building of Nateuy station, the first and a key station along the #China-#Laos#railway, finished building on Wednesday. The 422-km China-Laos Railway is scheduled to open to traffic on Dec 2021 with the speed of 160 km per hour pic.twitter.com/TA1ll5y3Qj
Friendship Tunnel 友谊隧道 crossing the border between Laos an China in Boten with a total length of 9,959 meters has been drilled through by China Railway No. 2 Engineering Group (CREC-2) after 37 months of work. See pictures.
Track laying has started in Vientiane. And now tracks have been laid in the first tunnel, Baan Nong Khai tunnel in Vientiane province.
Near Vientiane the first 500 metres of railway tracks have been laid. After reduced working during the coronavirus outbreak in China the track lying period has been compressed. The plan is to lay 1,5 kilometers of track every day. Read more.
Boten Special Economic Zone has fallen silent due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports rfa.org. Construction works have been stopped and stores and restaurants are closed, because few Chinese managers, technicians or tourists are showing up. Chinas Peopke Daily, a government controlled newspaper, turns it like this: "China’s investment projects in Laos gradually resume operation amid the epidemic outbreak". The work on crossborder friendship tunnel has resumed according to Crec-2. Only "some" of China’s investment projects have resumed their production and construction according to this report. One example is Vientiane Saysettha Development Zone, co-founded by China Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding Group Co., Ltd (YCIH) and the Vientiane Municipal Government. The Vientiane-Vangvieng Expressway construction has officially resumed on February 10 according to this report (also constructed by China Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding Group Co.).
on 15.3.2020 China Railway Wuhan Electrification Engineering Group Co., Ltd. (WEEG) planted the first engineering pole for overhead contact system at the construction site of the China-Laos railway project in Vientiane, Laos. Also the power supply project, running along the China-Laos railway through five provincial administrative regions in northern Laos, has started. Planned are 20 circuits of 115 kV transmission lines with the total length of 268 km and 635 power towers and extend 11 bays in 10 substations, in order to supply power from the state-run Electricite du Laos grid to 10 railway traction substations. The project is invested and built by a joint venture, namely Laos-China Power Investment Company, co-sponsored by China Southern Power Grid (CSG) and the state-run Electricite du Laos, and implemented mainly by CSG’s engineering companies.
Update 28.2.2020
Construction work on tunnels in Vientiane province is filling a creek and other local waterways with waste released by boring, polluting the water and harming the livelihoods of local residents, reports rfa.org. Water in the Houay Pamom Creek in the area of the Vang Vieng district’s Phahom village is murky and clouded. “Chemicals are flowing from Kai district, where a railway tunnel is being bored. The railway workers are spraying liquid cement onto the tunnel wall,” one village resident said. Houay Pamom Creek is a tributary of the larger Nam Song River, a popular location for swimming, tubing, and kayaking. Another Nam Song tributary — the Nam Lik River — was polluted more than a week ago by waste released from the construction of another railway tunnel, with the run-off killing nearly 50 kilograms of fish. “Chinese workers have been releasing chemicals that kill the fish, and the authorities have warned us not to use the river’s water or eat fish taken from the river,” a resident of Viengko village near the town of Vang Vieng said.
Right now, there are no informations available, how the coronavirus outbreak impacts the construction of China-Laos-Railway with a lot of Chinese workers. Xinhuanet just shows "epidemic prevention measures". But it is known that some CREC-5 engineers cannot return to their position in Laos and part of the construction materials' transportation has been halted in China as thestar.com.my reports.
Update 16.2.20
The Rebirth of Casino Town Boten, Laos: A one hour documentary by Channel News Asia:
Update 5.5.2019
See #chinalaosrailway in the bigger picture, as part of China's Belt-and-Road-Strategy on #BeltandRoad Google Map
Thailand, China, and Laos have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on the development of a rail line between Nong Khai and Vientiane in Laos. A new bridge across Mekong River will be the connection between #chinalaosrailway and Thailands highspeed railway. Read Bangkok Post. Find more informations about the development in Thailand on #BeltandRoad Google Map.
Update 26.3.2019
A video by Xinhua news agency shows the start of the beam-laying process for Nam Khone River Bridge 南柯内河特大桥 in the north of Vientiane. See the video.
Update 4.3.2019
The construction of Yuxi-Mohan railway and Boten-Vientiane railway lead to a new construction boom in the so called Beautiful Boten Specific Economic Zone. According to Laotian media Chinese investors want to pure more than $1.5 billion into the new development. China Haicheng Group 中国海诚集团积 is one company involved. They got funding from Hong Kong Fuk Hing Travel Entertainment Group Ltd according to Vientiane Times. Fuk Hing Travel Entertainment Group? Its leader Wong Man Suen was the partner of the Laos authorities for the closed Golden Boten City. "It comes as a surprise to learn the Lao officials have decided to give Wong yet another chance", writes forbes.com. Read more: After Golden Boten City fell in the Hand of Criminals: The second Chance
Update 25.2.2019
As important as the railway in Laos is the connection from the Lao border to Yuxi in Yunnan, from where an existing railway line leads to Kunming. China is building the 503.9 km long Yuxi-Mohan railway 玉磨铁路, also called Yumo Railway, with very high speed through rugged mountains. It counts 133 bridges and 91 main tunnels. Yumo railway will be electrified and have double-track from Yuxi to Jinghong and single-track from Jinghong to Mohan. Get an overview about the progress and find Yuyi-Mohan Railway 玉磨铁路 Google Map.
Update 10.1.2019
Chinese Railway Project in Laos Leaves Farmers in the Lurch: The railway has displaced more than 4,400 families from their land, many of these families have still not been compensated, reports rfa.org. Rattanamany Khounnivong, vice minister at the Lao Ministry of Public Works and Transport, told RFA late last year that those who lost houses and did not have places to live would get paid first, while those who lost farmland might get paid later. According to ABC Laos News’ Facebook page, Khounnivong said at a railway project committee meeting in November last year that of the $300 million that the government must pay out in compensation for losses related to the project, only $156 million has been paid. According to rfa.org the government must therefore borrow money from China to pay the rest this year.
Lao Villagers Reject Plans For China-Invested SEZ in Vang Vieng: The project, managed by the Chinese firm Lao-Vang Vieng New Area Development Company, will affect 22 villages lying to the west of the Xong river, reports rfa.org. Signed by the Lao-Vang Vieng Company last year in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Laos, the project will run in three phases over 15 years at a cost of U.S. $5.5 billion, and is expected to create 50,000 jobs, according to Lao media sources.
Update 14.12.2018
Picture of Luang Prabang Mekong Bridge 琅勃拉邦湄公河特大桥, planned 1458.9 Meters long
Picture by marhas
Picture by marhas
Picture by marhas
Picture by marhas
Picture by marhas
Update 12.12.2018
Belt and Railroad: China-Laos railway crosses the Mekong 10km north of Luang Prabang. pic.twitter.com/RSLSZbQ1zE
"Defaming Laos-China Railway is Ignoring Lao People’s Future": Chinese writer Zeng Ren argues on Chiang Rai Times, that the Laos-China railway "will become an important pillar of Laos’ economic growth". He gives the following data about expropriation of land: "About 3,000 hectares of land will be permanently taken over and 800 hectares of land will be temporarily used. Some 4,411 households will be affected due to the construction of the railway". He goes on: "Lao government is now seeking the opinion of relevant parties on the compensation standard. According to the requirements of railway projects, the compensation for land in different sections differs and is mainly based on whether the land is connected to national highways, provincial highways, village roads, or have no road access. Villagers affected by the railway will also be paid for their houses and apartments, as well as small buildings such as kitchens, sundries, garages, shops and animal houses. In addition, the developers of the railway will compensate people for crops and fruit trees that must be uprooted due to the railway construction. (...) The government’s compensation standard is 320,000 kip – 3.5 million kip per square metre (about US$37-US$410 per square metre). Plus other compensation for farmland, homesteads, young crops and so on, the amount of compensation will be considerable and equal to the annual income of local people."
Update 3.12.2018
How Asia Fell Out of Love With China’s Belt and Road Initiative: "Countries are discovering that the promise of Xi Jinping’s signature infrastructure program is too good to be true", writes bloomberg.com.
Update 1.11.2018
1,158-m-long Nateuy No 1 tunnel on the China-Laos Railway in Luang Namtha has been drilled through by China Railway No.5 Engineering Group (CREC 5). Huang Zongwen, a senior official with the China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group (CREC 5), told Xinhua the construction of the Nateuy No. 1 Tunnel, with 1158 meters, was started on June 3, 2017. "That the tunnel passes soft rocks all the way in the mountain, brought some difficulties in construction and especially, affected the digging pace," Huang said. See pictures.
Thailands Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak complained Monday that the development of the high-speed Thai-Chinese railway from Bangkok to Nong Khai is lagging behind schedule, as Bangkok Post reports. The route is divided into two major phases. The first is Bangkok-Nakhon Ratchasima, which is 253km in length and set to cost 179 billion baht. The second phase runs from Nakhon Ratchasima to Nong Khai province.
Update 1.10.2018
The Chinese contractor told Xinhua the concrete casting for the first block of the Luang Prabang cross-Mekong River bridge' continuous beam along the China-Laos Railway was completed on September 17. Yan Haiyong, CPC party secretary of the China Railway No 8 Engineering Group (CREC-8)'s railway project department, who is in charge of the construction of the two bridges across the Mekong along the China-Laos Railway, said that the Luang Prabang railway bridge with a total length of 1458.9 meters, is a key project of the China-Laos Railway. According to Yan, the bridge's continuous beam design has high technical standards and is difficult to construct with pier-side bracket. The first block of the continuous beam has a length of 12 meters and consumes a concrete volume of 266 cubic meters. (Reported by steelguru.com.
How is China's New Silk Road transforming Vietnam and Laos? See documentary by Channel News Asia:
Update 8.9.2018
After days of heavy Monsoon rains, that caused floods in Luang Prabang province, a bridge across Mekong river has collapsed into the river. It served to construct the new railwy bridge across the Mekong near Luang Prabang.
The Chinese-built railway through Laos is worth half of that little nation’s GDP, writes washingtonpost.com. In a report by two researchers from Harvard’s Kennedy School, former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans is quoted as saying Laos and Cambodia, each of which has borrowed more than $5 billion, are now “wholly owned subsidiaries of China.” Meanwhile Malaysias new Prime Minister Mahathir has cancelled two multi-billio dollar Chinese projetcs because Malaysia can’t repay its debts. “We do not want a situation where there is a new version of colonialism,” Malaysia’s leader told Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. One of the projects, dubbed the East Coast Rail Link, would have connected the South China Sea with strategic shipping routes in Malaysia’s west, providing an essential trade link. The other was a natural gas pipeline in Sabah, a Malaysian state on the island of Borneo.
Update 25.8.2018
In Phu Din Daeng, a village of 200 people about eight kilometers outside of Vang Vieng town, people have been told they should leave their homes to make way for the Laos-China railway. The people in Phu Din Daeng are living next to a giant construction site, near the planned Vang Vieng Railway Station.
Until now some 53 tunnels have been bored through mountains at a combined length of 37,314 meters, while 47 of the 167 bridges to be built for the line are under construction, reports chiangraitimes.com.
Laos’ cash commitment is US$720 million, of which US$250 million will come from the national budget over the next five years and the remaining US$470 million borrowed from the Export Import Bank of China at a 2.3% interest with a 35-year maturity after a five-year grace period, reports chiangraitimes.com.
With a project cost of nearly one-third of the country's copy6-billion GDP, there are concerns that the debt burden on Laos will outweigh the benefits. Public debt reached 68% of GDP in 2016 (it is less than 50% in Thailand), raising the debt distress level from "moderate" to "high" in the recent World Bank/IMF Debt Sustainability Analysis, as Bangkok Post reported.
The Ganlanba Bridge(橄榄坝特大桥) is 3.5 km long and has 108 supporting columns(桥墩). It has been constructed on the China side of the railway in Jinghong city, Yunnan province. The last(最后的) supporting column of the bridge has been installed(安装), reports chinaplus.cri.cn.
Read also: Chinese Tourist ‘Invasion’ Feared As High-Speed Laos-China Railway Will boost visitor numbers dramatically. In Luang Prabang Chinese low-cost retail chain Miniso opened a shop in June on Sisavangvong Road. In expectation of more regional visitors, many town-centre Luang Prabang residents have sold or rented out their properties to Chinese, South Korean or Vietnamese investors. The Mekong Sunset Guest House, for example, previously operated by a Lao national, is now run by a Chinese family from Guangxi province, reports South China Morning Post.
Update 18.6.2018
Recently, the pier No. 214 of Nanke River Bridge 楠科内河特大桥 in Laos was successfully poured. This is the longest bridge of the railway section built by the China Railway Second Bureau.
Chinas railway project in Laos is "set to be completed in 2021", reports Global Times, but the network reprots difficulties as well. Huang Hong, head of China-Laos railway commanding department under China Railway Group Ltd, says, that at mid-October "we've completed 14,925 meters in the channel excavation work", while the total length of the construction tender is 244.5 kilometers, including 45 tunnels and 99 bridges.
Xu Liping, an expert with the National Institute of International Strategy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, underlines that the project is one between two nations, and so far not an intercontinental project extended to Thailand. But the project only makes full sense, if trains from China can go through to Thailand and down to Singapore.
And the China-Laos rail project faces some difficulties. For example, funds are not always allocated on time, and Laos lacks some of the needed construction materials like cement, Huang Hong said.
Zhao Xiang, director general of the Laos-China Railway Company, said according to Xinhuanet that in less than six months, site preparation has been completed for the construction of four stations; foundation construction of nine bridge piles have finished; 86 holes for construction of 46 tunnels have been prepared, of which 15 are key tunnels.
More than 4,400 Lao families are being forced to relocate to make way for the Lao-Chinese high-speed railway, reports rfa.org, by citing Rattanamany Khounnivong, deputy minister at the Lao Ministry of Public Works and Transport and one of the heads of the construction unit. The ministry is working with the provincial task force committees to finalize compensation schemes for those who are forced to relocate, Rattanamany said. Workers have been blasting tunnels in mountains, building bridges and roads, and clearing land for stations and substations along the planned rail line in the three northern provinces of Luang Namtha, Oudomxay, and Luang Prabang since construction on the railway got under way late last December.
In Thailand construction work has been delayed for the initial 3.5-kilometre stretch of the Thai-Chinese high-speed railway in Nakhon Ratchasima, Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said. The project's environmental impact assessment (EIA) report is still pending approval according to Bangkok Post.
China's mammoth project to construct a railway from southwest China's Yunnan Province through Laos to its capital Vientiane is advancing now. Hundreds of trucks carrying machinery and equipment for construction have entered Laos, Vientiane Times reported. Preparations are now underway to start the boring of tunnels.
The 417-km railway will have 75 tunnels with a combined length of 197.83 km and work is expected to begin before the upcoming rainy season, Deputy Minister of Public Works and Transport and Chairman of the Laos-China Railway Project Management Committee, Mr Lattanamany Khounnivong, told Vientiane Times. Officials in charge have negotiated with villagers whose land is needed for the railway and have handed over their land to Chinese contractors. Six Chinese contractors will carry out construction of the USD 5.8 billion railway, with completion slated for 2021.
China Railway No 2 Group Co Ltd is responsible for the construction of Muang Phonhong section, as we learn by chinadaily. According to this source construction of the project is scheduled for five years with investment of some 40 billion Chinese yuan (USD 5.8 billion), 70 percent of which comes from Chinese investment and the rest 30 percent from Lao side.
China Railway Group (CRG) has signed a RMB 8.1 billion (US$ 1.2 billion) agreement to build the first three sections of the Boten-Vientiane Railway Project according to khl.com.
"The Nation" shows a picture of the Boten End of one tunnel, where boring has begun. Also in the province of Luang Prabang preparations are underway by China Railway No.8 Engineering Group, see pictures showing a tunnel near Luang Prabang.
Construction has begun, but questions remain. Discussions concerning loans and interest rates are ongoing between Laos and China, says Agatha Kratz, an associate policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations, according to asiasentinel.com. Another skeptic is Ruth Banomyong, the director of the Center for Logistics Research at Thailand’s Thammasat University. Asiasentinal quotes her: “The challenge will come when Laos will have to repay,” she warned. “Will they have sufficient revenue generated to repay? This is doubtful as the financial feasibility study done by the Chinese does not have realistic assumptions.” According to a paper by Lao government Laos gets a Chinese loan of 480 Million US Dollars at 2.3 percebt rate per year to pay for 50 Million US Dollars, while Laos has to borrow the rest at the rate of 3 percent. See the paper in Lao: ເອກະສານໂຄສະນາເຜີຍແຜ່ນຳພາແນວຄິດກ່ຽວກັບໂຄງການກໍ່ສ້າງທາງລົດໄຟລາວ-ຈີນ.
China's mammoth project to construct a high-speed railway from southwest China’s Yunnan Province through Laos to its capital Vientiane is more and more in delay: The government of Laos tries to get a better loan interest rate from China, as Bangkok Post reports. Beijing has offered a US$500-million loan with a 3% interest rate for 20 years according to Vientiane Times. The estimated costs now: US$6.8 billion. The Lao and Chinese governments should be responsible for 40 percent of the total cost, while state enterprises of the two countries should jointly be responsible for sourcing the remaining 60 percent.
Delays are not new for this project. "Beijing is believed to be waiting for the Thai parliament to approve a planned £41 billion infrastructure upgrade, which will include a high-speed rail line from the Laos border to Bangkok, before signing off on the loan", reported telegraph.co.uk in January 2014.
The railway risks to create a financial desaster for Laos: Laos plans to borrow £4.5 billion from Beijing to pay for its section of the railway. This is almost 90 per cent of Laos’s annual GDP of £5.2 billion. The loan will make Laos the world’s fourth most-indebted nation after Japan, Zimbabwe and Greece - "trouble for a poor country", wrote The Economist. Read also: China's commercial 'takeover' of Laos by Nikkei Asian Review.
But right now the political crisis in Thailand hinders the Thai government to move on with the project for the highspeed-rail-link between Bangkok and Vientiane. On March 12 Thailands Constitution Court ruled, that the government's legislative bill to empower the Finance Ministry to seek two trillion baht in loans for infrastructure development projects is unconstitutional, as Bangkok Post reports. This means delay for high-speed train lines to Chiang Mai, Rayong, Nong Khai (border to Vientiane in Laos) and Padang Besar, on the Malaysian border.
See a presentation of the railway project from Boten to Vientiane on youtube.com. The planned railway will have a standard-gauge track, and a maximum speed of 160km/h, less than the 200km/h initially planned, as The Nation reported. See also this video showing the planned railwa line.
The line will require 76 tunnels and 154 bridges, including two across the Mekong River, and 31 stations. These stations have been named until now: Boten, Ban Na Thong, Ban Hua Nam, Muang Xai, Ban Na Khok Tay, Huoi Phou Lai, Luang Prabang, Muong Xieng Ngeun, Ban Sen, Kasi, Ban Bua Pheouk, Ban Pha Tang, Vang Vieng, Ban Vang Mon, Ban Mang Khi, Ban Hin Heup, Phonh Hong, Ban Sakha, Ban Phonh Sung, Vientiane Neua and Vientiane Tay.
Villages will have to be relocated, if the railway is constructed, as South China Moring Post writes.
The railway project ist expected to draw an estimated 20000 Chinese construction workers into Laos. In the northern province of Oudomxay Chinese residents already make up around 15 per cent of the population of 30,000. "Chinese-owned hotels, shops and restaurants line the roads and street signs are in both Laotian and Mandarin", reports todayonline.com. Chinese companies are already investing across Laos in everything from rubber and banana plantations to construction, hydroelectric and mining projects. The railway project increases fears. "I think if the Chinese are willing to provide the money, then they're doing it for a number of reasons," says Tristan Knowles, a director at Economists at Large, a Melbourne, Australia-based think tank. "You can flood the market in Laos with Chinese goods, especially agricultural products. The meat and livestock industries in Laos may not be able to compete unless they modernise in the time it takes to build the railway." Chinese companies own an increasing number of the rubber plantations that are the mainstay of northwest Laos’ economy, reports South China Morning Post. And even in Vientiane there are more and more shops run by Chinese people. Read more in the book Vientiane: Transformations of a Lao Landscape by Marc Askew,Colin Long adn William Logan.
A Chinese-invested cement factory was inaugurated in December 2015 in Khammouane Province, expected to serve the construction of China-Laos railway project. The Jixiang cement factory, with an investment of 120 million U.S. dollars, is a BOT (Build, Operate and Transfer) project signed between China's Yunnan Provincial Energy Investment Group and Lao Ministry of Planning and Investment in March 2012. A representative of China's Yunnan Provincial Energy Investment Group told Xinhua that the designed capacity of the factory is 1 million ton a year, accounting for 20 percent of Laos' total cement production capacity.
China has announced that it will invest US$31.4 billion in the Mengla economic zone in Yunnan province, which shares a border with Luang Namtha and Phongsaly provinces in northern Laos. In September 2015 the governments of Laos and China signed a cooperation agreement to establish an economic cooperation zone in the Boten-Mohan border area, aiming to boost trade, investment and tourism in the region as inquirer.net writes. Construction started on a railway linking Yuxi to Mohan in August and preparations for Mengla airport are underway. On the Lao territory, Boten is currently designated as a specific economic zone. The zone is being developed by two Chinese companies – Yunnan Hai Cheng Industrial Group Stock Co., Ltd and Hong Kong Fuk Hing Travel Entertainment Group Ltd with a concession period of 99 years. The Chinese developers have announced that they will focus on four mega projects in the zone including a duty free center, bus station complex, warehousing and a resort that shall feature a large natural marsh, hotel, meeting hall and other relaxing places.
Chinese influence is also very apparent in Muang Xay, the capital of Oudomxay Province. Hotel Sheng Chang was established in early 2014 with a big supermarket, a casino and a restaurant. Chinese shops and advertisements fully span both sides of the road in Muang Xay. "One can find small and middle-sized Chinese auto repair shops, grocery stores, hardware stores, computer shops, guest houses, and, of course, restaurants", notes eastasiaforum.org.
Laos has signed a 32-year land lease with investors to develop the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydroelectric project according to emergingfrontiersblog.com. Lao Deputy Natural Resources and the Environment Minister Akhom Tounalom signed the agreement with the chief executive officer of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Power Co, Young-Ju Choi, in Vientiane. Construction of the project in Attapeu and Champasak provinces is expected to start in July, with commercial operation planned for February 2019, project officials told The Vientiane Times. The initial investment cost of the project was about 2,100 billion kip (7.8 billion baht). The firm is a joint venture between the Lao government, which has a 24% stake, SK Engineering and Construction Co (26%), and the Korea Western Power Co and Thailand-based Ratchaburi Electric Generating Holding Plc with 25% each. The hydro dam is designed to produce 390 megawatts. Around 90% of the energy will be sold to Thailand with the rest for domestic consumption.
In this project, 1,000 MCM of water, which is received from Houay Makchan Dike and Xe Pian Dam, will be stored in Xe Namnoy Dam. The dams are located on the Bolaven Plateau while the power plants are installed at the base. The flow of water from the height of 630 meters by a 13.5-kilometer headrace tunnel to the powerhouse at the bottom of the Xe Kong Valley enables the generating of electricity. The water will then be discharged into Xe Kong River, notes teamgroup.co.th. Xe Kong River flows into Mekong River.
Thousands of people have been forcefully moved from their old villages between 1996 and 2001 along the Xe Pian and Xe Namnoy rivers to make way for two dams that were being planned at that time, the Houay Ho and Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy hydropower projects, as International Rivers reports. The dams then were not built because the Korean developer’s original plans ran aground during the Asian financial crisis. Two villages, Ban Houay Chot and Ban Nong Pha Nouan rejected the resettlement packages and stayed behind. Now this villagers are confronted with the beginning work. Unclear is, which consequences the project has for ethnic minority people in Cambodia living downstream along the Xe Kong River.
The dam projects are situated in Dong Hua Sao National Biodiversity Conservation Area, Read more about this Area on visitlaos.org and see photostream and comments by Ben. 1996 there was conducted a wildlife and habitat survey.
Nearby is Xe Pian National Biodiversity Conservation Area. The Xe Pian National Protected Area (NPA) stretches out over 240,000 hectares in the Provinces of Champasak and Attapeu and touches the National border of Cambodia. It is one of the most important nature reserves in Laos. It has extensive wetlands and is home to rare wildlife such as elephants, gaur, sun bear, Asiatic black bear and the yellow-cheeked gibbon.
There has been no dam today in the Mekong River between the Golden Triangle (Northern Thailand) and the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam. But now Laos is on the way to change this: Construction works for Xayaburi Dam have progressed. And a project for Don Sahong Dam in the Si Phan Don area in southern Laos has been launched. There is the fear, that these dam projects may hit the livelihood of tens of millions of people living along the Mekong. Therefore this blog starts a documentation about what is happening.
20.8.2014 Laos has suspended construction of its controversial Don Sahong hydropower dam on the Mekong River. This has been said by Lao ambassador Prasith Sayasith during a meeting with Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Hor Namhong, as Radio Free Asia reports.
3.4.2014: Construction of the Xayaburi Hydro-power plant, the first dam is now 23% complete.
Lao media report this according to Bangkok Post. It is "on track to be operational in 2019 as planned," the Vientiane Times reported. 39 Organizations based in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Australia have issued one more Plea to Halt Xayaburi Dam in Laos as Chiangrai Times reports.
39.3.2014: Protest against Don Sahong Dam in Si Phan Don
About 600 people are scheduled on Saturday to start a four-day protest that will include marches and boat trips to call for construction of the controversial Don Sahong dam on the Cambodian-Lao border to be halted, reports The Cambodia Daily. The highly sensitive and critically endangered freshwater dolphins in this area will likely be extinct if dams such as the Don Sahong go ahead, the WWF has said. See also video by WWF.
3.10.2013: The Government of Laos notifies the Mekong River Commission of its intention to construct the Don Sahong Dam. In June 2008 the Malaysian Mega First Corporation Berhad (70 percent of the shares) had formed a joint venture with IJM Corporation (30 percent) for the project development. The Don Sahong Dam is a Run-of-the-river hydroelectricity facility. It would be located at the downstream end of the Hou Sahong channel between Don Sahong and Don Sadam islands. The dam's height would be between 30 and 32 metres. It would have a capacity of 260 MW. Most of the produced electricity would be exported to Thailand and Cambodia. Many independent fisheries experts fear that the dam would have a serious impact on fish migration as the channel is the only one within the Khone Falls complex that is passable to migratory fishes in the dry-season, and it is the major migration channel year-round. There is grave concern among environmentalists that the dam will jeopardise fish catches in Cambodia's Tonle Sap lake, as The Nation reports. Read background on thediplomat.com.
18.1.2013: Vietnam and Cambodia tell Laos to stop $3.5bn Mekong River dam project
Vietnam urged Laos to halt construction of a $3.5bn (£2.2bn) hydropower dam on Mekong River pending further study. The Mekong River commission (MRC), made up of member states Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, held a three-day meeting in northern Laos to discuss river development projects. The dam in northern Laos, the first of 11 planned for the lower Mekong River, threatens the livelihood of tens of millions who depend on the river's aquatic resources, activists say. Read more on guardian.co.uk.
8.12.2012:Xayaboury project differs from other dams
The Xayaboury hydropower project differs significantly from earlier hydropower projects in the region.
Director General of the Department of Energy Policy and Planning, Dr Daovong Phonekeo, says that the Xayaboury dam will be the first run-of-river scheme to be built on the Mekong River and the first in Laos. In a run-of-river scheme there is no high dam storing enormous amounts of water. The water is kept within the river’s course and the level is raised only minimally to allow for the passage of ships and fish migration. As no reservoir is created, the daily flow of water through the dam is used for power generation throughout the year. The river’s hydrology, or seasonal flows, will continue as normal because the same volume of water that flows upstream will flow downstream. Fish passage and sediment flushing systems designed for the Xayaboury dam are based on natural river conditions. “With respect to Xayaboury, we have conducted thorough and detailed studies to improve fish passage in a number of ways and we have incorporated sediment flushing systems and other mitigation measures as well,” Dr Daovong said. Based on recommendations from independent consultants Poyry and Compagnie Nationale du Rhone, the fish ladder has been extended to ensure the maximum number of fish species will be able to pass through the dam. In addition, the navigation locks will function as a fish lift, an additional fish tunnel will be built and fish-friendly turbines are to be used. Meanwhile a fish hatching station will complement the lift, ladder and tunnel to ensure that any endangered fish species survive. Sediment transport through the Xayaboury dam has been designed in accordance with recommendations from Compagnie Nationale du Rhone, which has been operating 19 run-of-river hydropower stations on the Rhone River for the last 50 years. There are are many successful examples of run-of-river or “low-head” dams especially in Europe. The Rheinfelden power plant, 25 km east of Basel, Switzerland, harnesses the power of the Rhine River. The Fredenau hydroplant near Vienna, Austria, is the latest and largest hydropower facility to be built on the Danube River. Both are state-of-the-art and feature effective fish passage facilities. Read more on Vientiane Times.
3.12.2012 The Chinese-made Stung Atay dam in Cambodia collapses while under construction.
The Associated Press reports that the Saturday collapse occurred at the Stung Atay Hydroelectric Project, a $255-million dollar dam on the Atay river, funded by the Chinese state-owned China Datang Corporation and situated in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains. The construction of the 120 megawatt Stung Atay hydropower dam began in 2008 and is scheduled to be completed in May 2013. Read more on Living in Phnom Penh.
25.11.12:Vientiane says sorry for broken Xayaburi ground
Bhuddhist monks led almsgiving and chanting in the Lao valley, where the dam will soon form a concrete barrier across the mainstream Mekong River. "Normally, before we start blasting the riverbed, the Lao tradition is to ask the spirits in the area to forgive us for disturbing the river," Viraphonh Viravong, Laos' Vice-Minister of Resources and Mining, said. The Thai company Ch Karnchang will develop and co-own the dam with the Lao government.
The Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) has secured a 28-year deal to purchase 90% of power generated by the dam. Bangkok Bank, Krung Thai Bank, Siam Commercial Bank, Krung Thai Bank, Tisco Bank and the Export-Import Bank of Thailand are financing the dam. The Xayaburi dam will be 40 metres high and 800 metres across, with no reservoirs.
Read more on Bangkok Post. And read Media Kit on the Xayaburi Dam by internationalrivers.org.
Picture by International Rivers
Thai villagers protest against Xayaburi dam during Asia Europe Summit in Vientiane on 5 November 2012.
Picture by International Rivers
Lao Theung women of Ban Huay Song are panning for gold near Kaeng Luang. The income from this is meager, but the construction of Xayaburi Dam nearby shall make it vanish forever.
23.10.2012 Questions over China dams
Some questions remain about whether hydro dams on the upper Mekong River in China exacerbated conditions during Cambodia's devastating drought of 2010, environmental groups say, as China's dam program powers ahead. Last month the first power-generating unit was switched on at China's giant 262-metre tall Nuozhadu hydroelectric dam, which will be the largest on the river when completed in 2014. Research showed "water flow in the river's China section accounted for only 13.5 per cent of the river's total, making the country's hydropower
development have little impact downstream", China Daily said. Ame Trandem, Southeast Asia program director for International Rivers, said, however, that China's section of the Mekong, known in that country as the Lancang River, provided as much as 50 per cent of the river's total water flow during the dry season. Read more on Phnom Penh Post.
17.9.12 Thai petition against Xayaburi dam
A conservation group submitted a petition with more than 9,000 signatures from people opposed to a controversial dam on the Mekong River to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra yesterday, demanding the Thai government cease support for the Xayaburi Dam. Read the news and comments.
4.1.2012 China has built dams:
Meanwhile China has been building a series of dams on the upper Mekong especially in Yunnan province. They say that the dams in Yunnan will have a positive environmental impact and will help control flooding in the downstream. However, the downstream countries have expressed that the dams will severely restrict the migration of fish and will have drastic impacts on the hydrological flow of the river. (..) China has never joined Mekong River Commission and it still refuses to join.
29.12.2011: New dam project underway in Laos’ Luang Prabang province:
Construction of a 308-million-dollar hydropower dam on the Khan River in Laos’ Luang Prabang province is 15 per cent completed and should be operational by 2015, reports said Wednesday. A total investment of about 2.4 trillion kip (308 million dollars), of which 95 percent had been borrowed from the Exim Bank of China. China’s Sinohydro Company is handling construction of the dam, which will be 136 meters high and 365 meters long, creating a reservoir of 30.5 square kilometers with a capacity to store 686 million cubic meters of water, the newspaper reported.
19.12.2011 Don’t dream the Xayaburi hydropower project is over. It’s not dead yet. Laos keeps its hydropower hopes alive:
The agreement to further study the dam constitutes a time-buying tactic for more negotiations among the four countries. As long as the project is not shot down, there is a chance it will go ahead. The message from Laos to the other three countries in the meeting has given an open door for Vientiane to keep on fighting for it. (Bangkok Post)
15.12.2011: Thai Utility Commits to Purchase Power from Xayaburi Dam: Thai Senators are investigating whether the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) violated the Thai government’s instructions by signing an agreement to purchase power from the controversial Xayaburi Dam before it is approved by the Mekong River Commission’s member governments. Read more on internationalrivers.org.
9.12.2011 Xayaburi Dam Stopped for Now : Environmentalists appear to have been handed a second rare victory in Southeast Asia with Thursday’s decision by the Mekong River Commission Council to delay for an uncertain period the construction of the Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River 100 km. inside Laos. The council, comprising water and environment ministers from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, agreed at a meeting in Siem Riep, Cambodia, to seek international support to produce a more complete study of the dam. However, the Xayaburi Dam, 810 meters wide and 32 meters high, could well be harder to stop although at least 263 NGOs from 51 countries and thousands of people in the area have urged that it be cancelled. Its primary objective is to generate foreign exchange earnings for financing socio-economic development in Laos. Preliminary construction has already begun, with access roads and the dam foundation already in place, according to Ame Trandem, the Thailand representative for the Berkeley, Calif.-based Save the Rivers environmental group. Read more on asiasentinel.com.
7.12.2011 Cambodia opens Kampot Hydro Dam
Energy-starved Cambodia on Wednesday opened Kamchay dam, the country's largest hydropower dam to date, a multi-million dollar Chinese-funded project, which cost more than $280 million, in southern Kampot province. US-based campaigners International Rivers said the Kamchay dam had destroyed hundreds of hectares of forest and farmland and warned it would have a negative impact on fisheries and on local people's livelihoods. Read more on AFP.
The dam is invested and constructed by the Sinohydro Corporation. The project is a concessional contract of a 44-year build- operate-transfer (BOT) with Cambodian government. Of the period, 4 years for construction and 40 years for operations, it said, adding the electricity is sold to the state-owned Electricity of Cambodia. The Kamchay hydroelectric dam is one of the five dams with a total capacity of 915 megawatts invested by China in the total investments of 1.6 billion U.S. dollars. The other four dams being constructed are Kirirom III hydropower dam with the capacity of 18 megawatts, Tatay river hydropower dam with the capacity of 246 megawatts, Atay hydropower dam of 120 megawatts and Russei Chrum Krom with the capacity of 338 megawatts, according to the reports of Cambodia’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Energy. Read more on Living in Phnom Penh.
5.12.2011 Thailand’s Role in the Xayaburi Dam: Not only does Thailand plan to purchase 95% of the dam’s electricity, but Thai companies are building the dam and four Thai banks will finance the project. Without Thailand’s help, the Xayaburi Dam would not exist. Read more on chiangraitimes.com.
12.9.2011: In Laos, a tale of two dams: In an isolated valley in central Laos where people live mostly in wooden stilt homes accessed by dirt roads, the thick concrete slabs and towering mechanical apparatuses of the Nam Theun 2 dam stand at odds with their surroundings. The Laos government and World Bank pledged to resituate displaced families with enough farmland and credit that their yearly income would double — a benchmark that has nearly been reached, they say — and many villagers were given a say in the process, according to developers.
“We realize it’s much cheaper to develop [on] a larger scale and use the export earnings to subsidize rural electrification,” said Viraphonh Viravong, director of the Laos Department of Electricity and the government’s point-person for the Xayaburi dam. “That’s why the project started to get bigger and bigger.”
Plentiful rivers, mountains and rainfall collectively give Laos high hydropower potential, and its more industrialized neighbors Vietnam and Thailand are eager buyers of electricity; the government has already pledged to sell 95 percent of the electricity generated by the Xayaburi dam to Thailand. Read more on globalpost.com
17.4.2011 Decision Looms for Laos Dam, but Impact Is Unclear: The news media in Vietnam, which normally hew to the government’s line, have been unusually critical of the Xayaburi dam project. Farmers in the Mekong Delta fear that an accumulation of dams on the river could reduce the volume of water that reaches Vietnam, exacerbating the problem of saltwater seeping into farming areas from the sea. The plan calls for a generating capacity of 1,285 megawatts, enough to power a small or medium-size city. The dam, which is situated between steep hills and will span a distance of about eight football fields, will have the same impact as a “natural waterfall,” the government said in response to the report by the Mekong River Commission. The government says it plans to become “the battery” of Asia with a total of 70 hydroelectric projects, 10 of which are already in operation. Read more on nytimes.com.
Xayaburi dam work begins on sly: An investigation by the Bangkok Post Sunday which visited the area surrounding the Xayaburi dam on the Lower Mekong River last week found major road works under construction and villagers preparing to be relocated. At Ban Talan, villagers said Lao authorities had come to see them. They were told they would have to move but no date was specified. The villagers said they were promised new concrete houses allotted by the government on a nearby mountain.(Bangkok Post)
10.1.2011 The Mekong River: To dam or not to dam? Xayaburi dam is the first of 12 proposed hydropower dams on the Mekong. The dams “will have profound negative consequences for people, agriculture, fisheries, and riverine ecology,” said Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute research associate Tyson Roberts, who has studied Mekong fishes for over 40 years. The Mekong harbors a rich diversity of animal species such as the critically endangered Mekong giant catfish and Irrawaddy dolphin. With an estimated annual harvest of approximately 2.2 million tons of fish, the Mekong also ranks as the world’s largest inland fishery and impacts the livelihoods of the nearly 30 million people who live within 10 miles of its lower stretches. Up to 70 percent of fish species in the Mekong migrate long distances to feed and spawn, and dams would both physically block their upstream journey as well as change the environmental signals that trigger migration, Eric Baran explained in a paper published in the environmental journal AMBIO last June. Altering the Mekong’s flow could have a disastrous effect on agriculture. Any change in sediments and nutrients transported by the river can change rice yields, Philippe Cacot explained. Manipulating the river’s flow could also allow for salt-water intrusion in the Delta, another major threat to agriculture. (scienceline.org)
25.4.2004 Dammed and dying: The Mekong and its communities face a bleak future
One of the world's greatest rivers has been reduced to a trickle in places by a series of giant Chinese dams. The Mekong's downstream countries, which are almost completely dependent on the river and its tributaries for food, water and transport, fear that China's plans for a further six major dams on the river could be disastrous. The Manwan hydroelectric dam across the upper Mekong, finished in 1996, has been frequently blamed by Thailand and other countries for reduced fishing and also for causing flash floods when water is released unpredictably.
A second giant dam, at Dachaoshan, is almost complete but is said to be already affecting the river flow, and a third is due for completion in 2012. Read more on guardian.co.uk.
