Mekong countries approaching to basin-wide hydropower decision
25/9/2008 17:07
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) today launched the Regional
Multi-Stakeholder Consultation on its Hydropower Program in Vientiane, the Lao
capital, as the participants at the meeting proposed the planning process
involved in the development of hydropower dams in the Mekong region should
include expertise and views from a wide range of interested parties.
The
consultation, bringing together over 200 representatives from governmental
agencies, private sector companies and financing agencies, NGOs and civil
society groups, international organizations and the donor agencies that support
the MRC as development partners, runs from September 25 to 27.
Chantavong
Saignasith, MRC Joint Committee member for the Lao CDR, said during the opening
ceremony that hydroelectricity has long been recognized as one of the cleanest,
most sustainable and, in the long run, least expensive methods of generating
power. Acknowledging there can be negative impacts associated with hydropower,
he said it was therefore important that the Lower Mekong countries were able to
study the benefits and costs associated with building dams before making
decisions.
According to Chantavong, the MRC provides decision-makers in the
four Lower Mekong countries, Cambodia, the Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam, with a
sound knowledge platform, enabling them to assess the gains and impacts of each
hydropower proposal in a basin-wide context. This includes scientific input from
many different fields and sources across the Mekong region and beyond, from
village-level fisheries research to international navigation experience. The MRC
can source and provide such data, and also assesses plans for various
power-generating scenarios through integrated modeling tools.
Presentations
to the meeting were made by participants from all stakeholder sectors, including
national electricity enterprises from the MRC member states, environmental
advocacy groups, developers, and National Mekong Committees. Hydropower industry
experts from China and outside Asia also attended the consultation, thus
contributing to eventual outcomes in development.
The MRC Hydropower Program
is being designed to assist this decision-making process, and to help set up
mechanisms that can make sure the countries' concerns are addressed as approved
projects are implemented.
Jeramy Bird, Chief Executive Officer of the MRC
Secretariat, said the creation of a framework for regional and cross-sectoral
cooperation on hydropower gives great impetus to sustainable development in the
Lower Mekong Basin. The MRC believes, said Bird, that developing cooperation and
dialogue between countries, at multiple levels of society, can help ensure the
growth of the hydropower industry be managed in a way that conserves
environmental resources and the livelihoods of the people that depend on
them.
Xinhua
|
