Thai government organizes public hearing on new dam project in Laos

BANGKOK, January 7 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment's Department of Water Resources, has organized public hearings to gather opinions and concerns from stake holders in eight Thai provinces along the Mekong River about Laos' construction plan of its new Don Sahong Dam. The sixth and last public hearing on the neighboring country's hydropower dam project was organized at the Army Club in Bangkok on Wednesday, after which the department will forward the gathered opinions and concerns to the Lao government. Krisakorn Silarak, a coordinator of the Assembly of the Poor, told the forum that the Don Sahong Dam is concerned to have more negative impacts on the ecosystems of the Mekong River, namely its flows, the species of aquatic animals and the lifestyles of people living in the Mekong River Basin. Krisakorn opined that engineering techniques should not reduce the impacts, citing as an example fish ladders did not work at the Pak Mun Dam in Thailand's northeastern Ubon Ratchathani Province along the Mekong River and impacts of the Don Sahong Dam should be more than 100 times worse. The Assembly of the Poor's coordinator proposed that Laos' Don Sahong Dam project be scrapped, pointing out that electricity the dam would produce would not be worth the natural resources which would be damaged and fishermen in the eight Thai provinces along the Mekong River would be in trouble, as the new dam would block the river and cause the shortage of natural resources. The Assembly of the Poor's coordinator urged the Department of Water Resources to convince Laos to shelve the project, instead of proceeding with its construction before listening to concerned countries. The department's director-general, Jatuporn Buruspat, told journalists that his department would forward the opinions and concerns to Laos so that the neighboring country could answer concerned parties or solve problems. Jatuporn insisted that his department has kept monitoring impacts of the new dam project and trying to protect the interest of people in the eight affected Thai provinces along the Mekong River and even the national interest. (TNA)