| |
December 7, 2005
Salween Watch Statement on Egat Plc plans to sign MoU on Dams in Burma
The President of Egat Plc announced on December 6, 2005 , plans to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Burmese military regime on joint investment in constructing a series of five hydro-electric dams on the Salween and Tenasserim (Tanao Sri) Rivers. Members of the Salween Watch coalition would like to express serious concerns and raise questions relating to the unconstitutional and secretive processes involved in the planning and implementation of these mega-projects, all sited in areas of Burma where state-sponsored human rights abuses are rife and conflict is ongoing.
The projects would involve the questionable investment of unprecedented sums of public and private funds, permanent displacement of many thousands of people, and would have a wide range of enduring environmental, social, political and economic impacts. Contrary to sections 58, 59 and 60 of the 1997 Thai Constitution, and the 1997 Official Information Act of Thailand, authorities have withheld vital information on the dam plans and their expected impacts, and there has been no consultation with or participation of local stakeholders in the decision-making process.
The Burmese regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has been waging war for decades against the ethnic peoples living in the areas where the dams would be situated. This has resulted in massive refugee flows, hundreds of thousands of people becoming internally displaced and countless numbers tortured, raped or killed. Many of these people come from the areas which would be inundated or otherwise impacted by the dams and related infrastructure development. Joint ventures with the SPDC would make Egat Plc, Chinese corporations and others who co-invest in the dams complicit in the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the regime and its troops.
The Egat President Mr. Kraisri Kanasuta has stated that the project will generate much-needed income for Burma . Revenues going to a military dictatorship which spends a large proportion of the national budget on sustaining the military and its operations will only do harm to the peoples of Burma . Profiting from the dams in Burma would be profiting from the military occupation of the ethnic people's lands and the oppression of a disenfranchised population.
The Thai government, by building dams in neighbouring countries to secure low-cost electricity, is deliberately downplaying the real costs of its high energy consumption. The environmental and social impacts will be an enormous and long-lasting burden on Burma , Laos and other countries on which these developments are imposed. A case in point is the recent commencement of the construction of the 1070MW Nam Thuen II in Lao PDR against protests from environmentally and socially concerned civil society.
We therefore request, considering the above factors, the Thai government and Egat Plc, which is still a state entity:
- To refrain from signing the MoU with the SPDC on joint investment to build the dams and from making other commitments relating to these projects without participation and informed consent of the affected peoples, in accordance with the World Commission on Dams (WCD) guidelines and the Thai Constitution.
- To immediately make available to the public all relevant information pertaining to the projects and their impacts on the peoples of Thailand and Burma , especially details of any feasibility studies, environmental and social impact assessments, co-financing agreements, and prior MoUs related to these projects, including the MoU signed on May 30, 2005 .
Salween Watch Coalition
Thai Dam-Affected People Network
Contact: Pianporn Deetes
Phone: 01 422 0111
Email: pai@loxinfo.co.th |
|
