Damming the Theun river: Nordic companies in Laos

Ecologist

Volumn 26, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 85-92

  Usher, Ann Danaiya ^a,b  

^a The Nation   (Thailand)

^b Development Today   (Sweden)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

DAM CONSTRUCTION; DEVELOPING COUNTRY; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; HYDROPOWER DEVELOPMENT; NORDIC INVESTMENT; SOCIAL IMPACT;

LAOS, THEUN RIVER;

EID: 0030465701     PISSN: 02613131     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (41)

1. Bangkok Post, 4 June 1994.
2. The Nation, 4 March 1994.
3. MIDAS Agronomics and Burapha Development Consultant, "Rural Development and Land Use", Final Report, Theun Hinboun Environmental Studies in the Lao PDR. Submitted to Norplan, October 1995, p.9.
4. Wildlife Conservation Society, "A wildlife and habitat survey of the area to be affected by Theun Hinboun hydropower project, Lao PDR", a report to the Hydropower Office of the Lao PDR Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts and to Norplan, Vientiane, August 1995, p.1.
5. Department of Livestock-Veterinary in Association with Burapha Development Consultants, "Nam Theun 1-2 Study on Aquatic Life", Final Report, February 1992, p.5.1.
6. Lohmann, L., "Remaking the Mekong", The Ecologist, Vol. 20, No. 2, Mar/April 1990, p.62.
7. Statkraft of Norway own 50 per cent, Vattenfall 40 per cent and the remaining 10 per cent is owned by Nordic Power Invest (which is, in turn, owned by Sydkraft of Sweden, Imatran Voima of Finland and Elkraft of Denmark).
8. Asian Development Bank, Report and Recommendation of the President to the Board of Directors on a Proposed Loan to the Lao People's Democratic Republic for the Theun-Hinboun Hydropower Project, October 1994 (confidential). The Norwegian consultants' 1993 financial analysis of Theun Hinboun estimated a peak price ranging from 5.8 to 8.69 US cents per kilowatt hour. See Norpower, "Nam Theun 1/2 Hydropower Project, Feasibility Study", Volume 3, Environmental Impact Assessment Report, May 1993.
9. See Asian Development Bank, op. cit. 8., p.26. The rest of the finance comes from commercial banks, export credit agencies and the Thai financial market. Citibank is coordinating export credits for equipment purchases which are likely to come from Nordic companies such as turbine manufacturer Kvärner.
10. Author's interview, 16 April 1996.
11. Lövgren, L., "The Dams Debate in Sweden" in Nordic Dam-building in the South, Proceedings of an International Conference 3-4 August 1994, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Stockholm, p.56.
12. Author's interview with Norwegian anthropologist Terje Brantenberg, May 1995.
13. Usher, A. D., "Dam-building in the South: The Nordic Connection", Sveriges Natur, May 1994.
14. The Nation, 13 August, 1993.
15. See Palme, O., Documents on Swedish Foreign Policy 1970, Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Stockholm, 1 May 1970, p.111.
16. SIDA was restructured in 1995 and renamed the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). All references in this article are to SIDA before this restructuring.
17. Author's interview, June 1994.
18. Letter from Paho Boonaphol, Lao Minister for External Economic Relations, to Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, undated.
19. Author's interview, March 1994.
20. Bangkok Post, 24 February 1995.
21. The Nation, 13 April, 1993.
22. Although SIDA had financed the Xeset dam to export electricity to Thailand, it reasoned that further development aid funds should not be used to underwrite Thailand's electricity consumption. As Jan Bjerninger, who was in charge of SIDA's Infrastructure Division at the time,said, "once was enough".
23. The Nation, 13 August 1993.
24. Norpower, op. cit. 8, pp. 1-8.
25. Ovesen, J., "Social Anthropological Survey, Nam Theun 1/2 Hydropower Feasibility Study", Department of Cultural Anthropology, Uppsala University, Sweden, for Norpower, EdL, Hydropower Project Office, Ministry of Industry and Handicraft, Vientiane, Lao PDR, 7 April 1993, p.55.
26. Ibid., p.13.
27. "Laos: NORAD says Norconsult's role in Nam Theun 1/2 project is a case of setting the fox to keep the geese", Development Today, 15 Oct. 1993.
28. Directorate for Nature Management, "Nam Theun 1/2 Hydropower Project, Laos: Assessment of Environmental Impacts", Directorate for Nature Management, Trondheim, 16 Aug. 1993.
29. FIVAS (International Association for Water and Forest Studies), "More Water, More Fish? A report on Norwegian Involvement in the Theun Hinboun Hydropower Project in Lao PDR", Oslo, January 1996.
30. Sjöström, P., "Environmental Considerations Regarding the Theun Hinboun Hydropower Project", Vattenfall, Stockholm, 27 Jan. 1994.
31. Author's interview, March 1994.
32. Development Today, op. cit. 27.
33. Ibid.
34. Norplan sub-contracted various parts of the study: vegetation and wildlife to the Wildlife Conservation Society; water quality, minimum flow release and aquatic ecology to the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) and the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA); hydrology, erosion and sediment transport to the Swedish firm Hydroconsult AB; and land use and rural development to the Vientiane-based, Swedish firm Burapha and the Bangkok-based MIDAS. See Norplan Consulting Engineers and Planners, "Impact Studies for the Theun-Hinboun Hydropower Project, Laos", Draft Final Report, Ministry of Industry and Handicrafts Hydropower Office, 10 November 1995.
35. Midas/Burapha, op. cit. 3, p.40.
36. Norwegian Institute for Water Research and Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, "Theun-Hinboun Impact Studies Lao PDR, final report, Water Quality and Aquatic Life Study", October 1995, pp.44-45.
37. Wildlife Conservation Society, op. cit. 4, p.26.
38. DeVylder, S. and Sonnerup, B., "Lao PDR, Energy Sector Review", SIDA, Stockholm/ Mälmo, January 1994, p.38.
39. Ibid.
40. FIVAS, op. cit. 29, p.27
41. Author's interview, op. cit. 10.