The human cost of damming in Burma
By PIANPORN DEETES
Bangkok Post : General news Wednesday September 12, 2007
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/12Sep2007_news19.php
All five hydropower development projects on the Salween River are located in
highly volatile areas where battles between the Burmese troops and ethnic
forces have continued for nearly six decades
The blast at the Hutgyi dam construction workers' camp in Burma's Karen
State on Sept 2, killed one Thai worker and prompted an evacuation of the
other 42 workers to Thailand. The Electricity Generating Authority of
Thailand's (Egat) staff were there as part of the survey team for the
construction of the first dam on the Salween River, the only remaining
free-flowing river in Southeast Asia. However, this was not the first fatal
incident related to the Hutgyi hydropower development project.
Last year, in the same area, another low-ranking officer from Egat stepped
on a landmine, lost his leg and later died of injuries. It was the first
time Thai dam construction had resulted in death.
The dreadful outcome is a result of Egat's choice to build a dam in a war
zone, ignoring pleas from civil society organisations both in and outside
the country.
All five hydropower development projects on the Salween River in the
recently approved 2007 Power Development Plan, including the Hutgyi dam, are
located in highly volatile areas where civil war between the Burmese
government's troops and ethnic forces have continued for nearly six decades.
Egat has evidently never taken the costs of this risk into account.
Like all other dam projects they have undertaken in Thailand, Egat at best
only considers the human impact related to flooding. The recent bomb
incident, however, proves that flood analysis alone is insufficient.
In a war-ravaged country like Burma, such a large-scale development project
does not entail just the costs of resettlement, but also the lives of the
investor's workers.
Besides, it is vital to consider the massive displacement of local ethnic
people living around the project site who must choose to flee due to
increased military presence or risk being killed, maimed, raped or enslaved.
During and after the dam construction, military forces and landmines must be
deployed to provide protection to the power plant and electric grid.
As an example, at the Lawpita power plant built in the Karenni State 40
years ago, thousands of landmines planted around the power plant and the
power line have cost many lives, and are still injuring local people.
Some landmine victims, far from receiving compensation from the Burmese
authorities, have even been forced to pay for the mines as damage to state
property.
Due to large-scale development projects like these dams, massive forced
relocation in Burma has increased, particularly of the ethnic populations.
Many of these people choose to flee to Thailand, causing a higher burden on
the country's health, social and economic sectors.
We must ask: What is the logic behind placing our country's energy security
in a politically sensitive and high-risk country like Burma?
Judging from the recent explosion at the workers' camp, there can be no
guarantee that the power plant itself will be safe, if it is ever completed.
The plant is situated in an active war zone, so Egat and the Thai government
are gambling with national energy security by choosing such an unsuitable
location for a major power facility.
Of gravest concern is that Egat officials have stated that they would not
continue with this project until the workers' safety can be assured. This
demand for increased security will translate into a presence of even more
military forces in the area, and consequently, more intensive suppression of
ethnic and local communities.The Salween dams are being used by the SPDC
(State Peace and Development Council) as another weapon in their war against
local populations. And knowingly or not, Egat and the Thai people will be
liable for supporting these dam projects on the Salween River, which is
contributing to an environmental and social disaster.
Logically, in light of the recent developments and repeated calls by civil
society organisations, Egat should scrap all energy projects in Burma and
stop betting Thailand's energy security on inappropriate projects in
war-torn and unstable Burma. In the short term, this will help save the
lives of Egat's staff. In the long term it will pre-empt incalculable
trans-boundary environmental and human impact.
The writer is with Salween Watch, a coalition of civil society organisations
from Burma and Thailand that advocates the protection of the ecosystem and
rights of locals in the Salween River Basin. For more information, visit:
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