Villagers Wary of Hydropower Projects
Villagers warned that a dam already in place in Vietnam should serve as a warning to others, as Cambodia seeks increased hydroelectrici
Irregular, powerful flooding, the loss of resources andforced relocation were all consequences of hydroelectric dam projects,villagers and environment experts said this week. In a search for power for a populace that lives mostly offthe grid, Cambodia isconstructing at least five dams in three provinces, but villagers living alongthe Se San river, in the northeast of the country, said a dam built in Vietnam in 1991should serve as a caution. “The village became a victim because of a dam in Vietnam,” saidKlan Ty, a Jarai minority from Andong Meas district, Ratanakkiri province, whospoke at a two-day forum on hydropower that ended Wednesday. “The Se San riverbecame dirtier, killing the fish and the natural resources in the river. Thereis a flood two or three times a year. The old people, the children, the animalsdied because of the power of the floodwater.” In 2007, all the residents of one village in Andong Meas’Talao commune were forced to move when their houses fell from a collapsed bankinto the river, Klan Ty said. Another villager, Phay Ton Youk, from Talat commune, inSteng Treng province’s Se San district, said the Se San dam in Vietnam hadcaused a drastic reduction of the fish in the river, forcing people to move toan area where they could farm instead. But even that has been difficult, hesaid, because the rice fields are hurt by irregular flooding. Koh Kong resident Sim Buntheoun said Wednesday villagersworried they would be evicted if dams across the Tatai and Chay Areng riversare built. They’re asking for compensation from the construction company, which,like many developers of hydropower projects here, is from China. Chhith Samath, director of the NGO Forum, which sponsoredthe dam forum, said the dam in Vietnamand those under construction are putting heavy pressure on the environment,economics and the living conditions of people. Hem Kolaboth, secretary of state for the Ministry ofEnvironment, acknowledged the ill effects hydropower dams can have, claimingthat dams can have a worse effect on the environment than they benefit thepeople, if the developers doesn’t strictly consider the needs of the people.