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DAM-L LS: Commentary on WCD/Pak Mun (fwd)



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Date: Wed, 4 Oct 2000 11:23:55 -0700 (PDT)
Message-Id: <200010041823.e94INtN15197@DaVinci.NetVista.net>
subject: LS: Commentary on WCD/Pak Mun	
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And the proof is in the report

Sanitsuda Ekachai, Bangkok Post, September 28, 2000

It's official. The Pak Moon dam is a disaster. In an eye-opening report, 
the World Commission on Dams confirmed what the Pak Moon villagers have 
been saying all along, but have gone unheeded. The question is: What 
next?The study was done by an independent, neutral party to tell it like it 
is. If respected, the long-denied truth can help resolve conflicts between 
the people and the state in the face of a spiralling natural resources wars.

The report exposes serious flaws in the state agencies' decision-making and 
the need to open up the system-from planning to implementing to 
monitoring-to all stake-holders.

It also illustrates the necessity of participatory post-project assessment 
by a neutral body to bring rationality back to the picture when discord has 
turned into a question of face for the state agencies involved.

But will rationality prevail?According to the WCD report, the Pak Moon dam 
cannot be justified economically. The 135 megawatt dam can produce only 15% 
of planned electricity output, or only 21 megawatts.

Egat, the state power agency and dam developer, didn't have the required 
environmental impact assessment done after the redesign. The number of 
affected villagers was gravely underestimated. The adverse impact on the 
fisheries and environment was ignored. As a result, the compensation 
pay-out shot up to one billion baht from 231.6 million baht. And the Pak 
Moon river ecosystem was destroyed forever.

In addition, the claims of the benefits of irrigation are misleading. The 
projected fisheries benefits from the reservoir are largely exaggerated. 
The fish ladder doesn't work. The dam interferes with fish migration and 
breeding patterns. The permanent loss of rapids, which are a fish habitat, 
is ecologically significant. Only 96 of 265 fish species remain after the 
dam. The fishing communities have lost over $1.4 million (58.7 million 
baht) per year from declining fish yields, not to mention the immeasurable 
human misery due to family and community breakdown.

Meanwhile, the conflict gets worse as Egat and the government use divisive 
strategies to split community opinion.

A full assessment of the impact on nature and the villagers' livelihoods 
could have prevented unnecessary misery and Thailand would not have lost an 
important ecosystem, says the report.

"... if all the benefits and costs were adequately assessed, it is unlikely 
that the project would have been built in the current context", it concludes.

Details are available at http://www.dams.orgWill Thailand ever learn the 
lessons?It depends on whether we can see through the state myths on 
development, how we envision our goals in life and how much we value truth 
over face and self-interest.

The villagers cried foul over Pak Moon dam from day one. Why did we have to 
wait 15 years for the WCD findings to believe the villagers' cause is valid 
and their problems real?Why? Because Thai society primarily looks down on 
the poor. Poverty is considered a sin. The education system teaches us to 
look down on our cultural roots and village simplicity while making Western 
affluence our ultimate dream.

That's why the state development mantra of consumerism never fails to 
hypnotise and blind us from the sufferings the rural poor must live with 
for us to enjoy our city comforts.

Egat is in total denial regards the WCD findings, the government is too 
busy making money from mega-projects, and the public are indifferent.

The Pak Moon struggle cannot wait for an enlightened city folk. The people 
want the Moon river to run free once again. And they're prepared to 
continue their fight.

Meanwhile, the bureaucracy is planning more dams. Will we ever learn?

Sanitsuda Ekachai is Assistant Editor, Bangkok Post

sanitsuda@bangkokpost.net
  


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