Villagers sue over proposed dam

Bangkok, 8 August 2012: Thai opponents of a planned multi-billion dollar dam in Laos submitted a lawsuit to a court in Bangkok on Tuesday seeking to prevent their country buying power from the hydropower project.

Fifty Thai villagers representing communities along the Mekong River filed the suit against the state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, the energy ministry and the Thai cabinet at the Administrative Court.

“The river is our life. A dam will definitely affect our lives,” said 52-year-old Niwat Roykaew, who lives alongside the Mekong in the northern Thai province of Chiang Rai with his family and relies on it for water and fish.

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Mekong River lacks promotion

BANGKOK, 29 March 2012: Mekong River tourism has the potential to be the star attraction of the Mekong Region, but there needs to be stronger regional support and partnerships, said ASEAN-Japan Centre director, In Thoeun.

Mr Thoeun was speaking at a seminar hosted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and ASEAN-Japan Centre (AJC), Tuesday.

He was commenting on river tourism mainly in the four Mekong Region countries; Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, but with references to Thailand as a gateway destination.

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Controversial talks on Mekong dam

PHNOM PENH, 7 December 2011 – Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam hold high-level talks on Thursday to decide whether to approve a controversial proposed dam on the Mekong River fiercely opposed by environmentalists.

The US$3.8 billion Xayaburi project in Laos is the first of 11 dams planned for the mainstream lower Mekong, and activists warn that a green light could spell disaster for the roughly 60 million people who depend on the waterway.

Thailand, which has agreed to purchase some 95 percent of the electricity generated by the dam, has already indicated it will not oppose the project at this week’s environment ministers’ meeting in the Cambodian city of Siem Reap. Read more