Asia Times: Protests burst over Thai dams


	June 16, 2000	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Protests burst over Thai dams
By Gumisai Mutume

WASHINGTON - Pressure to open the floodgates of two dams in Thailand increased this week as activists here demonstrated at the Thai Embassy and the World Bank offices in support of the villagers.

More than 1,000 people are currently occupying the Pak Mun dam in Thailand and they say they will not budge until their demands are met. Another 200 villagers at the Rasai Dam are in danger of being swallowed by the swelling waters of its reservoir as they also demand the opening of the floodgates to allow fish migrations.

Construction of the 136-megawatt Pak Mun dam by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) was completed in 1994 with $24 million in financing coming from the World Bank. ''The Pak Mun dam struggle has been a 10-year struggle and we are here to say we stand in solidarity with the villagers,'' Njoki Njoroge Njehu of the 50 Years is Enough Network told the small group of protestors who braved the soggy Washington weather. Njehu says the Pak Mun dam project ''is yet another example of a World Bank-funded disaster''.

A letter addressed to World Bank president James Wolfensohn and signed by the affected villagers at Pak Mun says that the construction of the dam has destroyed their livelihoods. ''We were promised a better way of life but instead our fisheries were decimated and our communities destroyed,'' reads the letter. ''Over the past 10 years we have learnt that compensation will not solve our problems and will only cause new problems.''

The project came under fire from the outset. Critics had predicted that it would harm the fisheries of the Mun River, the largest tributary of the Mekong River. Villagers and activists contend that the dam has done just that and as a direct result some 20,000 people are affected by the reduction in fish populations.

A recent study by the World Commission on Dams shows that actual fish stocks in the reservoir are 60-80 percent less than in the pre-dam era, including a dramatic decrease in the number of fish species. Of the 265 fish species recorded in the Mun watershed before 1994 there has been an apparent loss of 169 species, the Commission says.

Apparently a $1 million fish ladder, promoted by the World Bank's fisheries experts as a mitigation measure, has proved unsuccessful. In March last year more than 5,000 villagers occupied the Pak Mun dam site and established a settlement there in protest. Last month some of the villagers occupied the crest of the dam declaring they will stay there until the gates are permanently opened and the river is restored.

''The villagers demands are reasonable given that these dams are not effective for their intended uses. The Pak Mun Dam is not performing well economically and contributes only marginal amounts of power to the grid,'' reads a letter to the Thai Embassy handed over by the activists.

The 50 Years is Enough Network mobilized the protestors outside the Thai Embassy in Washington and at the World Bank offices timed to coincide with a government meeting to decide on the future of the project. Similar protest action also took place at Thai diplomatic missions in Sydney, Australia and in Tokyo, Japan.

A committee set up to mediate between the villagers and EGAT recommended that the the gates of Pak Mun dam be opened for four months each year during the wet season, but EGAT has not yet accepted the recommendation. Activists argue that Thailand has a surplus of power making it technically feasible to forfeit the dam's capacity without causing interruptions to power supplies in the country.

The study by the World Commission on Dams says while the dam was supposed to have a 136-megawatt capacity, it is only generating 40 megawatts now.

The World Bank recently bent to pressure by declaring a moratorium on all new big dam projects, however, protestors say the bank also needs to take action against current projects that are detrimental to people's lives and the environment.

In Brazil some 600 large hydro-electric dams have displaced more than 1 million people and there are some 30,000 resettlement cases pending. However, Brazil may go on to build the 494 dams that are projected as required by the year 2015.

In India, pressure is also mounting against the Maheshwar Dam in Madhya Pradesh which could displace 35,000 farmers. In Ghana, concern over the possible forced relocation of 30,000 people has raised opposition to the Bui, the country's third largest hydroelectric dam.

(Inter Press Service)

back to the top

©1999 Asia Times Online Co., Ltd.