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dam-l LS: Pak Mun Panel to push for opening of spillways



A Bangkok Post editorial on Pak Mun follows this article.


Bangkok Post June 14, 2000 
PAK MOON DAM 

Panel to push for opening of spillways

Deal proposed to end protracted protest

Ploenpote Atthakor

The national committee charged with solving the Pak Moon dam crisis will
meet Interior Minister Banyat Bantadtan today to discuss its plan to open
the dam's spillways for three months.

The meeting at Government House was postponed from yesterday because Mr
Banyat had to attend the funeral of veteran politician Montri Pongpanich.

Committee chairman Banthorn On-dam would suggest to Mr Banyat that all the
dam spillways be opened until the end of August to allow fish to spawn
upstream.

Committee spokesman Anuchart Puangsamlee said the protesting villagers
would also have to leave the structure's car park.

The authorities would be asked to stop all activities which might be
construed as intimidating the protesters.

"It is important that all legal cases against the protest leaders be
dropped and the authorities stop all intimidating activities which may
aggravate the villagers and harm the long-term solution." He said the
proposed measure was a short-term solution which would need to be assessed
by a neutral working group. Long-term solutions to restore displaced
communities and study the lessons from the dam were also proposed.

Mr Banthorn did not think the plan would be approved by the electricity
generating authority, which runs the dam.

"The government has to convince Egat to accept it," he said.

Senior Egat officials earlier disagreed with the proposal, saying the dam's
closure would be economically damaging.

Deputy Egat governor M.L. Chanabhandu Kridakara said losses could amount to
212 million baht in four months or 500 million baht for the year.

He was also concerned about what impact the low water level of the Moon
river would have on the area's fish farms. However, one panel member was
assured that the fish farms would not be affected.

Protest leaders were satisfied with the proposal and were ready to
co-operate with the government-appointed committee.

"It is a good start for a long-term solution. Besides, it should help avert
a confrontation," said Wanida Tantiwittayapitak, adviser of the Assembly of
the Poor. Protest leader Thongcharoen Sihatham said the villagers would
lift their siege if the government responded positively.

He said the protesting villagers would return to their make-shift homes in
Mae Moon Man Yuen I on the opposite side of the dam compound. "We will
fight to the end if the government ignores the resolution," he said.

Prakob Wirojanagud, dean of engineering at Ubon Ratchathani University and
a committee member, urged the government to take the solution seriously
since it was the best way out of the deadlock.

The villagers at the Ubon Ratchathani dam site also complained that they
were being intimidated by some 200 people who officials had assembled.

The incident happened when local residents rallied in front of the
provincial hall on Monday to demand government action against the
protestors, whose siege entered its 29th day yesterday.

The residents of three villages, who claim that they have been affected by
the prolonged protest, said they would take matters into their own hands if
the situation was not resolved.

__________________________  
June 14, 2000  Editorial

At long last, a way out of dam dispute

The national committee set up by the government to resolve the protracted
Pak Moon dam protest has come up with a proposal that it hopes will put an
end to the months-long standoff. It calls for the Electricity Generating
Authority of Thailand to open all dam spillways until the end of August to
allow fish from the Mekong River to spawn in the Moon River. lhpEgat has
also been asked to withdraw all lawsuits filed against protest leaders. In
the meantime, the protesters must lift the siege at a parking lot near the
dam to enable Egat staff to return to work.

The proposal represents a compromise solution that should be acceptable to
the two conflicting parties, namely Egat and the dam protesters, because it
is reasonable and practical, with both sides gaining something and losing
something. To spurn the proposal outright would only prolong the stalemate
and could aggravate the conflict which, in the end, will inflict more
damages on the public. After all, for a diverse and complicated society
such as the one we are living in to achieve peaceful co-existence and
social harmony, the middle path approach seems to be the most pragmatic
means of problem-solving.

There is no question that laying siege to the parking lot of the dam, which
is state property, is against the law. Also, many of the protesters have
already been compensated by Egat for losing their land and property as a
result of the dam's construction. But just to be fair, one has to look
deeper into the root cause of the villagers' frustration and desperation.
To be uprooted from their ancestral land is already cruel enough, but to be
deprived of a means to make a living because the dam has failed to deliver
what it promised, is indeed a double tragedy.

What the protesters have been demanding from the start is not compensation,
but a return of their livelihood which was robbed by the dam. They hope the
opening of all the spillways until August will facilitate the return of
fish from the Mekong River into their natural spawning grounds in the Moon
River. Then in years to come, they hope they will be able to make a humble
living by fishing, which they used to do before the Pak Moon dam was built.

It might be too embarrassing for a giant organisation like Egat to accept
the truth, which amounts to admission of its own failure. The truth is that
the fish ladder highly touted by Egat as facilitating the flow of fish to
its natural spawning grounds, has been a total fiasco. Another truth is
that Egat's projection that the dam will produce up to 136 megawatts of
electricity has never been achieved since it started operation five years
ago. About 44 megawatts of electricity are generated annually, which is an
insignificant amount compared to thousands of megawatts of surplus
electricity available these days.

A temporary shutdown of the power plants at Pak Moon will not cause a
blackout in Ubon Ratchathani because of surplus electricity unless, of
course, Egat wants. And with more power coming into the grid from Laos
under the IPP programme in the foreseeable future, the production units at
Pak Moon will be rendered even less significant.

Since Egat is already opening some of the spillways, opening them all will
not make much difference. Also, it is unlikely to cause damage to fish
farming in the Moon River. Besides, the measure is temporary. A detailed
study is needed to evaluate the long-term consequences of the measure on
natural feed stocks in the river. And who knows, the protesters can be
wrong in their judgement.

The dam standoff has dragged on far too long and should be resolved. It is
about time that the two protagonists come to their senses and accept the
compromise solution drawn up by the national committee.

Last but not least, the Pak Moon protest should serve a valuable lesson to
future governments, if not to Egat, that they must think harder and, more
importantly, allow public participation, the next time they plan to build
another dam. 
  


© Copyright The Post Publishing Public Co., Ltd. 2000
Last Modified: Wed, Jun 14, 2000
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Aviva Imhof
South-East Asia Campaigner
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley CA 94703 USA
Tel: + 1 510 848 1155 (ext. 312), Fax: + 1 510 848 1008
Email: aviva@irn.org, Web: http://www.irn.org
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