Full Meta House yesterday, mainly to hear from Mother Nature about the Areng Valley Dam. A Ministry of Mining and Energy staff also attended and tried to justify the dam but the event was not set up as a debate and even if so, the facts to inform such a debate are not available, at least on one side. Then this morning we read this again... phnompenhpost/national/impact-assessment-areng-dam-nears-final-steps-project-looms Dams are problematic everywhere: a French activist was killed in a riot around a dam over there just last weekend. What I perceive as the most unacceptable in the Cambodian case, besides the usual back-and-forth maneuvering of Bong Thom, is that there does not seem to be a Master Plan for energy supply for Cambodia for the coming lets say 25 years which this string of dams (and possibly other investments e.g. in solar energy) would be part of. This, which would include independent and transparant PRE-, not POST-business deal EIAs, would allow everybody including the Chorng people involved, to develop rational arguments based on facts. Now we are in the typical situation where government has tried to impose things by ruse and force without any democratic justification nor control, then points the finger at the company as if it had operated in no mans land, then tries to buy time while in fact continuing operations under the radar. More opposition and polarisation is bound to follow, with likely victims among local protesters as is becoming a daily routine. I read all sorts of real-politics justifications for BTs way of running the country (peace and stability, economic growth, investors confidence etc. etc.). I only see the brutality, incompetence, missed opportunities to do MUCH MUCH better for the people. E.g. lets say they build all those dams, even the one in Areng. Then what guarantee do we have that access to electricity will spread and remain affordable for those who dont have it today ? What is the deal between Govt and Sinohydro and others ? Where is oppositions MPs voice on this ?
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 06:58:42 +0000
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