| |
Salween is home to new dam row
ANALYSIS / POWERING THE NATION
Proponents of three dams planned for the border with Burma tout the cheap energy rates possible. Opponents say the suffering caused to disadvantaged groups and the environment is too heavy a cost to pay.
KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI, Bangkok Post, Apr 09, 2003
Sittiporn Rattanopas is fully aware of the problems facing the massive Salween dam project in an area of Burma which is home to ethnic groups fighting the Rangoon government.
The governor of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand has PTT Plc's failure to complete its gas pipeline from Burma on schedule as an example. The pipeline ran into fierce opposition from human rights activists and environmentalists, and PTT Plc and its partners, global petrochemical giants Unocal and Total, were condemned worldwide for providing criminal support to a Rangoon regime accused of using forced labour, of forcibly relocating entire villages, of rape and ethnic cleansing in pushing ahead with the pipeline.
Obstacles are unavoidable when investing in Burma, Mr Sittiporn said. But these obstacles did not negate the benefits of the dams, which would have a combined capacity of over 5,000 megawatts of hydroelectricity available at a cost of 90 satang per unit. This compares with 1.80 to two baht per unit for petroleum and coal-generated energy.
``I have promised myself to see the Salween hydroelectric project realised while I am the Egat governor,'' the energy chief declared. ``The project is so huge that I might not have another opportunity to be part of it.''
Three hydropower dams are planned for the Salween. Egat has sought cabinet approval to develop two dams, the Upper and Lower Salween dams, at an estimated cost of 200 billion baht, while MDX Plc, a Thai construction outfit, has begun work on a 3,600-megawatt dam near Ta Sang in Burma's Shan state.
MDX executives say Ta Sang dam would be the largest hydropower dam in Southeast Asia. It also would be the first dam built on the 2,800km Salween.
Egat's 4,500MW Upper and 800MW Lower Salween dams are located adjacent to Mae Sariang district in Mae Hong Son province, where the river forms a natural 130km section of the border.
A preliminary study by Japan's Electric Power Development Co Ltd in the early 1990s identified five potential dam sites. Egat opted for the two border locations because it was thought it would be much easier to seek investment funds from financial institutions.
``Investors and financial institutions would probably be reluctant to invest in the projects if they were located on Burmese soil,'' Mr Sittiporn said. ``They might also be uncomfortable dealing directly with the military junta. The projects would be more attractive if the Thai government were a co-investor.''
Mr Sittiporn is determined to have the dams go ahead after they were put on hold almost a decade ago because of tighter funding at Egat.
He pledged soon after his appointment in October to also push ahead with the Asean Power Grid project, which calls for a transmission network linking the region's power sources. These sources include the immense hydropower potential of Burma, northern Laos and southern China and the substantial fossil fuel reserves of Malaysia and Indonesia. The network would facilitate power exchanges and energy trading among Asean member countries.
``The dream of the Asean Power Grid cannot be realised without the Upper and Lower Salween dams,'' Mr Sittiporn said, adding that he had persuaded Asean leaders attending a conference of major power producers in Japan in November to support the power grid.
He then travelled to Rangoon, where he secured backing for the project from the head of Burma's Electric Power Department. He also accompanied Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to the Greater Mekong Sub-region Summit in Cambodia in November, where he again promoted the power grid.
Mr Sittiporn also has tried to convince Pongthep Thepkanchana, the energy minister, the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Energy Committee of the merits of the scheme. Egat is tying its push for the Salween dams to the Asean Power Grid.
Mr Sittiporn expects construction of the dams to begin in 2007 and electricity generation to start in 2012. He said Egat was prepared to buy the entire electricity output for onward sale to Malaysia and Indonesia, which are forecast to become net importers of electricity by 2010.
He said Egat was prepared to fund the entire project if there were financial constraints on Burma _ ``We may have to put up the money first through our capital or by issuing bonds.'' He said Egat had allocated 30 to 40 billion baht for investment in the project.
Energy Minister Pongthep announced in January that he would ask the Finance Ministry to consider investing in the project. Negotiations with the Burmese government are the next step.
Mr Thaksin declared his support for the dams after visiting Burma in February. He also announced during a visit to the Egat headquarters that the Salween dams were essential elements in plans by eight Asean members to develop a power grid, and they should go ahead despite the concerns about the possible environmental and social impact.
These concerns have been voiced by senators, environmentalists, human rights activists and advocates of ethnic groups based in Thailand and Burma.
And the early indications are this could well be one of the more interesting anti-development campaigns to date. The project involves so many different issues _ from Thailand-Burma relations to ethnic cleansing, forced labour and rape, to the assault on the environment.
Burma's opposition National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi and 69 Thai and Burmese NGOs submitted a letter in December to Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, demanding that the government scrap the project.
``The Salween dams are large-scale projects which will have major impacts on communities in the area,'' the letter read. ``Whether the dams are built in Shan state or on the Thai-Burmese border, they will involve human rights violations. Up until now, Thai politicians, Egat and private companies have claimed that the Salween River Basin is not populated. In fact, over 10 million people of 13 different ethnicities are living in the basin and relying on the river, which is one of the richest river ecosystems in the world.''
Salween Watch, a Chiang Mai-based non-governmental organisation, reported recently that over 300,000 Shan and other ethnic people had been forced to relocate from central Shan state to make way for MDX's Ta Sang dam.
Sai Sai, a Tai villager who takes refuge in Thailand and works as a volunteer for an NGO, pleaded with the Thai government to stop taking advantage of Burma's lack of democracy and its disregard for human rights and the environment for its own benefit.
Bangkok's decision to go ahead with the Upper and Lower Salween dams will lead to further hardship for a huge number of ethnic people, similar to those who have been relocated to make way for or forced to work without pay on MDX's Ta Sang dam, he said. ``These ethnic people will have no choice but to take refuge in Thailand,'' Sai Sai said.
Senator Kraisak said the project would exacerbate the problem of illegal labour and refugees. There are already more than four million Burmese immigrants living illegally in Thailand.
He also warned that the government would come in for international condemnation if it decided to do business with the Burmese military junta.
``The government should scrap the project for the sake of the nation's image.'' he said. ``Do not repeat past governments' mistakes of developing the Thai-Burmese gas pipeline project.''
Environmentalists, most of whom are based in Chiang Mai province, say the Upper and Lower Salween dams would cause major damage to the river's rich biodiversity and the lush forest of the Salween river basin. The dams would be much larger than the Bhumibhol dam in nearby Tak province.
The Salween river originates high in the Tibetan mountains, flows through China's Yunnan province into Burma, and then forms the border between Thailand and Burma before emptying into the Andaman sea. It is Southeast Asia's second largest river, after the Mekong, and the world's 26th longest.
A preliminary study by the Chiang Mai-based NGO, Southeast Asia Rivers Network, found the dams' reservoirs would divide the Salween wildlife sanctuary and national park on Thailand's western border, arguably Southeast Asia's most fertile forest. The report said the forest was a habitat to several rare animal and plant species common to the area.
Supakit Nantaworakarn, an independent energy researcher, also argued against the dams on energy grounds, claiming they were superfluous to the nation's needs.
``Due to the economic situation in Thailand, the power demand has slowed significantly,'' he said. ``Thailand currently has power reserves of around 40%, which makes the project implementation absolutely nonsensical.''
Mr Supakit did not take up the matter of Egat planning to sell the electricity generated by the dams to Malaysia and Indonesia.
Mr Sittiporn accepted the point that there was currently enough electricity but claimed that without the dams, Thailand would lose a cheap source of energy and users would pay more for power.
About 20,000 rai of pristine forest in Thailand would be lost to the dams if the project goes ahead, he said. How much forest would be flooded in Burma cannot be determined until field surveys and an environmental impact assessment are carried out after an agreement is reached by the Thai and Burmese governments.
The Egat governor said an agreement with Burma on the Salween project would probably come later this year.
He said he had tried to allay environmentalists' fears by promising that Egat would not hesitate to cancel the project if studies by reliable bodies showed the social and environmental damage would be too severe. ``We are not such an obstinate agency.''
Environmentalists do not look mollified. Many are gearing up for the battle to protect the Salween and the ethnic groups whose lives depend on it despite their already busy agendas, made up of, among other things, the opposition to blasting of reefs along the Mekong river to widen and deepen the navigation channel.
They promise to form a broad coalition of groups from Thailand and abroad, ushering in just the latest chapter of protest against dam building in |
|
