Mekong countries approaching to basin-wide hydropower decision

The Mekong River Commission on Thursday 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.

Source:Xinhua