The Kamchay Hydropower
Project
Hydropower development in Cambodia and Eastern Asia
2002-12-10 Peter Malmquist Mats Sigfridsson
Summary
The objective in this case study is to highlight typical problems of a planned hydropower dam project in Bokor National Park, Cambodia. The focal point in the line of questioning is the usage of public participation in larger exploration plans in a development country and to give a comprehensive survey of some of the participants involved. The study also discuses how the WCD report is used by non-governmental organisations to validate their claims. To be able to understand how the Cambodian society works, the study also includes a short briefing of recent Cambodian history.
The study shows that the local people are more or less neglected in the preliminary investigations. Even if information meetings are held open, they are conducted in such a way that it is hard for common people to participate. The meetings are held in English and not in the domestic language Khmer. Critical groups are not formally invited but welcome to attend, most of their statements are withdrawn from the official protocols. The study also reveals that the leading entrepreneurs more or less neglects the environmental hazards in the construction by focus their information and calculations on the positive effects of the project.
Acknowledgements
Per Hillbur, Ann Lund and Heng Socheath for all the help and for being our supervisors during this study.
Annika Landberg, Göran Ek, Peter Gustafsson, Daniel Asplund, Mattias Burell, Eva on Zenit and Joe Strahl for all administrative help during the realisation of this project.
Michael Ounsted, Marc Wilborts, Hans Guttman, Ian Cambell, Bunnarith, Malena Karlsson, Yoen Soek, Holly Te, Cian Pross, Marko Keskinen, Jörn Kristensen and Sein Mya for providing us with valuable contacts and information.
Mr Lee, Lim Heng, ”The Eightball hat”, Slim Wit and his brother for transport and arrangements during the time in Cambodia.
Special thanks to Tom, Sieng and the “Khmer restaurant” on Sangkat Boeung, Keng Kang 1 for the food and the relaxed atmosphere.
Abbreviations
A list over abbreviations used throughout this report.
NGO Non Governmental Organisation
PP Public Participation
WCD World Commission on Dams
MRC Mekong River Commission
CEPA Cultural and Environment Preservation Association
CIDA Canadian International Development Agency
SIDA Swedish International Development Agency
WW2 World War Second
KR Khmer Rouge
SAS Special Air Services
CPP Cambodian People's Party
EIA Environmental Impact Assessment
DED Deutsche Entwicklungsdienst
WWF World Wildlife Fund
WCS Wildlife Conservation Society
For further information about organisations appearing in this report, a compilation is placed in appendix 2.
SUMMARY... 1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS... 3
ABBREVIATIONS... 4
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND... 6
PROBLEM SPECIFICATION AND QUESTIONS AT ISSUE ... 6
DATA COLLECTION TECHNIQUES... 6
THE CAMBODIAN CASE-STUDY... 7
METHOD... 8
AN INTRODUCTION TO MODERN CAMBODIAN HISTORY... 8
THE ENERGY SITUATION ...12
DAMS AND DEVELOPMENT – THE WCD REPORT ...15
DAMS AND DEVELOPMENT...16
THE DAM DEBATE...17
ECOSYSTEMS...17
DISPLACEMENT...17
DECISION-MAKING AND PLANNING...18
THE FUTURE...20
KAMPOT-KAMCHAY HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT...20
TECHNICAL INFORMATION...21
HAZARDS...22
SOCIAL ISSUES...24
THE CONCLUSIONS FROM THE WORKSHOPS...25
WHAT ARE THE NGO’S CONCLUSIONS FROM THE WORKSHOPS ? ...27
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN CAMBODIA ...31
REFLECTIONS...35
CRITICISM TOWARDS THE WCD REPORT ...36
DISCUSSION...38 REFERENCES ...41 BOOKS...41 INTERVIEWS...41 INTERNET...42 MEETING MINUTES...42 PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL...42 APPENDIX 1 ...43 HOW DAMS WORK...43
THE MAIN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF DAMS...45
APPENDIX 2 ...47
Introduction and background
This study deals with the energy situation in Cambodia and Eastern Asia. The study is focused on a hydropower project on the river Kamchay in the Province of Kampot, which is in the southwest of Cambodia. To get an understanding of the problems surrounding a project like this we also looked at the environmental aspects, public participation, hydropower development, and the status of Cambodian national parks. The study also handles the occupations, future-beliefs and development of the native Cambodians. To get an understanding of the country and the political situation today, we will give a brief introduction to the modern history of Cambodia. This study is both a degree-project and a Minor Field Study, which means that some of the preliminary investigations and most collections of data are done on location in Cambodia.
Problem specification and questions at issue
The problem specification revolves around three main topics; the country (Cambodia), the proposed hydropower project-site (Kamchay) and the participants involved.
The objective has been to investigate the natives right to participate through “Public Participation” in the preinvestigations and not being neglected by the government, companies or directed by different NGO's ideal solutions.
The WCD report released in October 2000 reveals some of the problems regarding large dams and gives proposals and guidelines for the future development in the subject. An attempt has been made to validate how well these proposals and guidelines are implemented in the Kamchay project. The study also compares the advocators and the opponents to get an insight into the strategies used to proclaim their goals.
Data collection techniques
The techniques used were primarily interviews, field observations, internet scanning and literature studies in the Mekong River Commission voluminous library, which is considered to be one of the few proper libraries, on this subject, in Cambodia. We also attended several meetings where the future of hydropower-development and implementation of public participation were discussed. Documents from previously held workshops in Kampot have also been a source of information as well as contact persons. Some parts of the study have been carried out through discussions and correspondence between different NGO groups.
The Cambodian case-study
Electric power is an important prerequisite for development and gives the opportunities for a country to evolve. In Sweden the production of electric power has never been an actual problem due to our many rivers and nuclear power plants but in other parts of the world the need for power widely exceed the supply. Since this was a matter that we (the authors) have always been interested in, we saw the opportunity to learn more about the real situation in the 3rd world.
To get some information about hydropower projects around the world we got in contact with Göran Ek, who is handling hydropower issues at the Swedish Foundation for Nature Conservation. Göran informed us about the future plans of hydropower development in Cambodia. Via Göran Ek we got in contact with the Mekong River Commission (MRC) in Cambodia.
At the MRC we got in contact with Ms Ann Lund, Executive Officer at the MRC secretariat in Phnom Penh and told her about our ideas and what we wanted to do. Ann approved of our ideas and welcomed us to do our study at the secretariat. She also agreed on being our supervisor along with Heng Socheath during the stay in Cambodia.
When we arrived in Cambodia it was time for the "international water day", on March 22, and there were several meetings held discussing water development throughout Phnom Penh. We were invited through Oxfam America to CEPA's (Cultural and Environmental Preservation Association) local NGO office where a meeting about hydropower dams and the participants where both NGO's and government people. Oxfam America was one of the main actors behind the initiative of the meeting.
At the meeting we got in contact with an employee of the Ministry of Environment. He briefed us about a project outside Kampot in the southwestern part of the country, called the Kamchay hydropower project. The project was very controversial because it was situated in a national park and the feasibility study was financed through Canadian CIDA and conducted by a Canadian company called Experco. The people from CEPA had been attending two workshops that the Canadian company set up in Kampot and these people were very critical to the proposed ideas. We found this project to be a perfect example for the study and decided to proceed.
When we mentioned the project to our tutors they established contact with the "Rural Development" office in Kampot. After discussing the project with one of their rural development advisors, we were invited to Kampot to study the project closer.
Method
We have used a method for investigation where we try to give the reader a clear understanding of the situation today by presenting the data collected throughout our visit, along with the analysis made. Very little research focused on Cambodia has been done in this field; therefore very little background material is available. This made the interviews more important and almost the only way to get updated information. To minimize the risk of second hand information and false rumours we mainly tried to interview people in executive positions. Since every interview situation where unique, we had to improvise and adapt every interview to the specific situation. This made the usage of a standardised line of questioning obsolete. The interviews where conducted in English, sometimes it was necessary to use an interpreter.
On numerous occasions in discussions and interviews conducted in Cambodia, NGO people talked about the “WCD report”. Many of the NGO's used the report to vindicate their claims against hydropower development both inside and outside Cambodia, therefore we thought it would be interesting to include some of the conclusions of the final report and search for opinions about it. In the Kampot/Kamchay-case the report was directly used by NGO's to highlight typical negative dam-related issues.
It has been essential to be as neutral as possible in the approach to validate the national park values against the value of the energy produced in the proposed hydropower-dam. It's also relevant to point out the technical problems with current methods for energy production in Cambodia and the fact that hydropower energy by many is considered to be obsolete.
An introduction to modern Cambodian history
Every country in the world is marked by their history but the last fifty years in Cambodia has changed a relatively modern community into a feudal rulership followed by a long civil war. But the deep scars from the past are reflected in the daily living. To understand how things and people work in this country, it is of great importance to get a little insight from their recent history. A history filled with tragedy, violence and abuse.
In 1953 Cambodia tried, just like many other colonial countries, to use the opportunity given by the aftermath of WW2 to break loose from their ruler state, in this case France. In January King Sihanouk took decisive action and declared martial law and embarked in something later recalled as the "royal crusade". Independence was proclaimed on November 9 and by May
1954 Cambodia was recognised by the Geneva conference. This action permanently ended the French control of this part of the world former known as Indochina.
Frightened by the activities in Vietnam the government was convinced that USA was plotting against Cambodia. Therefore they broke all diplomatic relations with Washington and welcomed a relation with North Vietnam, Viet Cong and China. This led to an agreement with the Viet Cong army to use Cambodian territory in the war against South Vietnam and USA. This change of allies directly led to more turmoil in the society. The increased war in Vietnam soon spread to Cambodia and in 1969 USA began a secret program of bombing suspect communist base camps in Cambodia. This program was running until 1973 when it was haltered by the US congress. This ended four years of carpet bombing, killing thousands of civilians and turning hundred of thousands into refugees1.
On April 30, 1970 US and South Vietnamese troops started an invasion in an effort to route around 40 000 Viet Cong soldiers that had taken their refuge over the Cambodian border. This led to that the Viet Cong withdrew even deeper into the country. This in combination with increasing troubles in the government and great corruption and greed lead to a state of chaos and misery. Millions fled the rural areas to seek shelter in the relative safety of the provincial capitals and the capital Phnom Penh. Several hundred thousands of people died in the savage fighting that followed the situation between 1970 and 1975.2
During this five-year period, a military organisation nicknamed "Khmer Rouge" was increasing their popularity due to their struggle to get rid of the existing regime. In 1973 the Khmer Rouge supported by South Vietnamese forces was controlling large parts of the countryside and on April 17, 1975 Phnom Penh surrendered to the Khmer Rouge.
After gaining the power The KR had one goal, to transform Cambodia into a peasant, agrarian co-operative lead by a self elected elite. Only two weeks after the fall of Phnom Penh most personal belongings of the people were destroyed and everybody in the city were mobilised to work in the fields in the countryside. Slave labour like preparing fields, digging canals for 11-15 hours a day was not unusual and any form of disobeying was immediately punished by execution.
1Ray. 2001 2Ibid.
Image 1. A victim of the Khmer Rouge regime.
Education was considered as a threat and could lead to imprisoning in one of the death camps. Only in Phnom Penh, 17 000 people were taken to the death camp S-21 and only 7 persons lived to tell about their experiences. The rest ended up in several mass graves later known as "The Killing Fields". During the following three years, eight months and twenty days, around 2-3 million men, women, and children were tortured, raped and killed.3
In 1978, Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia, chasing the KR out in the jungles close to the border of Thailand but it took until 1985 before the Vietnamese army had destroyed all major rebel camps in Cambodia. This led to that the Khmer Rouge escaped into Thailand. The Khmer Rouge now changed their tactics and started to aim for demoralisation with their opponents. This caused spreading of mines in rice fields and on major roads, blowing up bridges, kidnapping and killing. Favourite targets where teachers, administrators and village chiefs. Throughout the 1980s Thailand supported the Khmer Rouges as they saw them as a counterweight to the Vietnamese activity in the region. At the same time China supported them with weapons delivered along with food by the Thai army. As if it weren't enough,
British SAS (Special Air Service) personnel were training fractions of Cambodian guerrilla warriors in mine laying techniques in Malaysia and Singapore. This was knowledge that soon ended up with the Khmer Rouge4. In 2002, an estimated sum of 6 million mines is still hidden all over the country and every year between 150-200 people fall victims for this devastating weapon, leaving Cambodia with one of the highest rates of amputees in the world. The economic setback of this is tangible due to the fact that a large amount of their cultivated land is not used5.
The crimes of the KR was outlawed in 1994 and this only lead to a new tactic of theirs, attacking tourists. Only in 1994 six persons were abducted and killed6. Cambodia Peoples Party started a final crusade against the KR in 1998. They closed down the largest KR strongholds Along Veng and Preah Vihear. The only regret was that Pol Pot evaded capturing and later died in a KR camp7.
Four years have since then passed with more or less turbulence. Elections have been held with the three parties FUNCINPEC, CPP and The Sam Rainsey Party. But the obvious corruption and bribe business have made most people that we meet during our visit in the country sceptic towards politicians.
Even if Cambodia has similar opportunities as their successful neighbour Vietnam there is some distinct differences. Most of the military material that is spread in the country such as mines and unexploded bombs are put there in recent years. In Vietnam, most duds are from the sixties and early seventies and in most cases inactive. The irrigation techniques in Vietnam allow up to six harvests per year. In Cambodia they are only capable of producing one8. We soon understood that the most important questions for the locals were personal security. It is far from a natural thing to oppose a governmental decision. Bearing in mind their recent violent history it will take a lot of time before Cambodians will fully be able to trust any higher officials. This complicates implementations of several democratic procedures such as forms of Public Participation in larger projects. A mistrust for westerners is also
3Stuart Fox & Ung. 1998 4Sharp. 2002
5Embassy of Sweden. Phnom Penh 6Sharp. 2002
7Solomon. 2002 8DED. 2002
immediate. This is not strange since Cambodia has been used as a game marker in the political war against communism.
The energy situation
There is a growing need for energy in Cambodia, as the country is trying to modernise itself and build up an industry capability. Today over 85 percent of the population in Cambodia is without access to electricity but with a young population the potential demand is extensive.9 The MRC conducted a study in 1996 were the electrical power demand was forecasted, the result of the forecasted Cambodian power requirement is listed below.10
Year Forecasted power requirement 1995 84 MW
2000 176 MW 2005 384 MW 2010 580 MW 2020 1649 MW
Table 1. Forecasted power requirement.
Over time and as consumption increases, there is a large potential for savings in the amount of electricity generated by reducing system losses and applying more energy-efficient equipment and processes within the countries. Today losses of up to 20 percent of all generated energy are calculated, due to an insufficient distribution net.11
The energy situation in Cambodia is characterised by its very low conventional energy consumption as compared to other Asian countries (Table 2). The major sources of energy for Cambodia are biomass and imported petroleum products. Woodfuels form the major source of energy (80.5%), followed by petroleum products (18%). The high proportion of woodfuel consumption reflects its widespread use, particularly in the rural areas. Consumption of charcoal amounts to about 1.5%.12
Electricity in Cambodia is generated in 22 isolated grid systems, mostly from diesel generators. These 22 grids are in no way connected to each other in a national grid but all work separately.
9CCC office. 2002 10MRC 1996 11CCC office. 2002 12SIDA. Phnom Penh
To establish the national supply grid system, the government would require USD 992.3 million for the construction of new power plants with total installed capacity of 683 MW and another USD 363.5 million for the rehabilitation and construction of transmission systems over the period.13
Table 2. Per capita conventional energy consumption in selected Asian countries in 1996. (SIDA. Energy department).
Total installed capacity of electricity generation in Cambodia is estimated to be 122 MW, of which 85 MW is in Phnom Penh. As a result of the small size of generation units (300 kW to 5 MW unit size), dependence on oil-based generation, and large distribution losses, the unit cost of electricity in Cambodia is among the highest in the region.14
The villagers generally use kerosene and fuel wood for lighting. Certain households with commercial activities, and those who have higher incomes, use batteries for lighting, watching television and listening to the radio, etc. For recharging the batteries, they carry the batteries to the nearest charging centre. Despite the nice name, the recharging centre often
13Ministry of Energy, 2002 14SIDA. Phnom Penh.
consists of a little house filled with cables connected from one diesel charger to approximately one hundred car batteries. Usually one charge can last for three days of use.
There are around twenty-five thousand of these generator sets in Cambodia today.15 One
problem with the recharge system is all the diesel cargo traffic from Vietnam and Thailand in order to supply all the small charging centres. Those transports are made in very poorly rigged vessels, both on land and water, which make the risk for explosions and leakage imminent. Much of the fuel is also smuggled into the country to avoid taxes and distorting the marketing environment. This is a big issue due to the turbulence it causes to the market and it would help a lot if the Cambodian government could create equal market conditions for local and foreign business operators.16
Image 2. Overcrowded transportation vessel.
Another problem is all the logistics involved in transporting thousands of batteries to and from the recharging centres each and every day.
The problems with the power grid remain; there is no infrastructure available to get the product to the consumer. There would be delays in production, until such facilities were built, which would drastically raise the project costs. Despite this, some projects involving gas is already launched. A power grid between Phnom Penh and Vietnam is planned and this would to be linked from Takeo to Sihanoukville via Kampot. This would allow connection of a 180 MW Gas turbine plant at the coast. The feasibility study of this plant is underway led by JICA
15CCC office. 2002 16Ibid.
(Japan). The plant is expected to develop a market for natural gas to be sourced from the ocean off Sihanoukville. Meanwhile UNICOL of Thailand and Woodside of Australia are currently evaluating gas reserves from this area jointly.
Again there is no infrastructure market potential for gas. The only present market for gas would be Thailand, but there is today adequate supply of gas for Thailand from other resources. Therefore this major market has no immediate need for further suppliers for quite some time.
Hydropower is therefore one of the solutions. Hydropower is adaptable with the power grid and doesn't need a separate grid as for example gas. Today no hydropower dams exist in Cambodia but several are planned throughout the country.
In a related development project Construction Company Beacon Hill from America was contracted to build a 60 MW gas turbine power plant to ensure a steady supply of electricity up to 2008. To secure electricity supply after 2008, three major projects were already lined up. They were the 128 MW hydropower plant that will be connected to the southern power grid and Battambang 1 and 2 to be linked to the northern power grid. From 2008 to 2016, two additional hydropower projects with combined capacity of 225 MW will be developed in Stung Atay while another 90 MW gas-turbine plant will be constructed in Sihanoukville.17
Dams and development – the WCD report
On numerous occasions in discussions and interviews conducted in Cambodia, NGO people talked about the “WCD report”. Many of the NGO's used the report to vindicate their claims against hydropower development both inside and outside Cambodia, therefore we thought it would be interesting to include some of the conclusions of the final report and search for opinions about it. In the Kampot/Kamchay-case the report was directly used by NGO's to highlight typical negative dam-related issues.
The World Commission on Dams “WCD” was to review the development effectiveness of large dams and assess alternatives for water resources and energy development. The commission should also develop internationally acceptable criteria, guidelines and standards for planning, design, appraisal, construction, operation, monitoring and decommissioning of dams.
The commission began its work in May 1998 and on the 16 of November 2000 they launched the finished report. The commission's framework for decision-making is based on five core values: equity, sustainability, efficiency, participatory decision-making and accountability.18
Dams and development
Dams have been built for thousands of years to manage floodwaters, to harness water as hydropower, to irrigate fields and to supply drinking water or water for industrial use. As populations increased and national economies grew the number of dams being built has increased since the 1950's. At least 45000 large dams have been built to meet the energy or water needs of the modern society; today nearly half of the world's rivers have at least one large dam. One third of the countries in the world rely on hydropower for more than half their electricity supply; large dams generate 19% of the overall production of electricity. Half the world's large dams were built exclusively or primarily for irrigation and 30-40% of the 271 million hectares irrigated worldwide relies on dams. Dams have been promoted as an important means of meeting perceived needs for water and energy services and as long-term strategic investments with the ability to deliver multiple benefits. Regional development, job creation, and fostering an industry base with export capability are most often cited as additional considerations for building large dams. Other goals include creating income from export earnings, either through direct sales of electricity or by selling processed products from electricity-intensive industry such as aluminium refining.
Dams can play an important role in meeting people's needs but the last 50 years have also showed the social and environmental impacts of large dams. They have fragmented and transformed the world's rivers, global estimates states that 40-80 million people have been displaced by reservoirs.
The enormous investments and widespread impacts of large dams has made conflicts flare up over the siting and impacts, making large dams one of the biggest issues in sustainable development today. Proponents point to the social and economic development demands that dams are intended to meet, such as irrigation, electricity, flood control and water supply. Opponents point to the adverse impacts of dams, such as debt burden, cost overruns, displacement and impoverishment of people, destruction of important ecosystems and fishery resources.
The WCD concluded that any project achieves must be the sustainable improvement of human welfare. This means a significant advance of human development on a basis that is economically viable, socially equitable and environmentally sustainable. If a large dam is the best way to achieve this goal, it deserves support. Where other options offer better solutions, they should be favoured over large dams.19
The dam debate
The issues surrounding dams are the same issues that surround water, and how water-related decisions are made, as well as how development effectiveness is assessed. The problems all relate to what the dam will do to river flow and to rights of access to water and river resources. Whether the dam will uproot existing settlements, disrupt the culture and sources of livelihood of local communities, or deplete or degrade environmental resources, and whether the dam is the best economic investment of public funds and resources. The debate is partly about what occurred in the past and continues to occur today, and partly about what may unfold in the future if more dams are built.20
Ecosystems
The generic nature of the impacts of large dams on ecosystems, biodiversity and downstream livelihoods is increasingly well known. According to the WCD, large dams have led to:
The loss of forests and wildlife habitat, the loss of species populations, degradation of upstream catchment areas, loss of aquatic biodiversity of upstream and downstream fisheries, cumulative impacts on water quality. The ecosystem impacts are more negative than positive and they have led to significant and irreversible loss of species and ecosystems.21 This is one issue that can be related to the "Kampot Project" where many of the species and ecosystems aren't even properly examined. Therefore there is an imminent risk for that invaluable nature would be lost forever if the dam would be built as planned.
Displacement
Dams worldwide have physically displaced some 40-80 million people. Millions of people living downstream from dams, particularly those reliant on natural floodplain function and fisheries, have also suffered serious harm to their livelihoods and the future productivity of
19WCD. 2000 20Ibid. 21WCD. 2000
their resources has been put at risk. Many of the displaced were not recognised as such, and therefore were not resettled or compensated. Where compensation was provided it was often inadequate, and where the physically displaced were enumerated, many were not included in resettlement programmes. Those who were resettled rarely had their livelihoods restored, as resettlement programmes have focused on physical relocation rather than the economic and social development of the displaced. The larger the extent of displacement, the less likely it is that even the livelihoods of affected communities can be restored.22
Image 3. Children are always a vulnerable group.
In the case of Kampot, the fact that the dam is being built in a national park and forest, there are not many people that have to be relocated. The main problem here is the loss of income due to the destruction of raw materials that the local craftsmen are using.
Decision-making and planning
As a development choice, large dams often became a focal point for the interests of politicians, dominant and centralised government agencies, international financing agencies
and the dam-building industry. Involvement from civil society varied with the degree of debate and open political discourse in a country.
Dambuilders often reveal a generalised failure to recognise affected people as partners in the planning process. The participation of affected people and the undertaking of environmental and social impact assessment have often occurred late in the process and were limited in scope.
Image 4. Sometimes it’s hard to recognise affected people as partners.
The net effect of these difficulties is that once a proposed dam project has passed preliminary technical and economic feasibility tests and attracted interest from government, external financing agencies or political interests, the momentum behind the project often prevails over further assessments. As a result, many dams were not built based on a comprehensive assessment and evaluation of the technical, financial and economic criteria applicable at the time, much less the social and environmental criteria that apply in today's context.23
The workshops that were held in Kampot clearly prove that the same order is used here. The meetings were held only in English to bar the locals. The NGO's were not invited in the first stage and had already made up their opinion.
The future
To improve development outcomes in the future it's important to look at proposed water and energy development projects in a much wider context, a context that reflects full knowledge and understanding of the benefits and impacts of large dam projects and alternative options for all parties. It means that it's important to bring new voices, perspectives and criteria's into decision-making and to develop an approach that will build consensus around the decisions reached. This will result in fundamental changes in the way decisions are made.24
Kampot-Kamchay Hydroelectric Project
The idea of the planned hydropower dam in Kampot-Kamchay is not new. Already in 1963, just before the war, the Cambodian government and King Shianouk decided that a hydropower dam would be built in the in the area of Bokor. At this time the national park was not yet founded which contributed to the low concern for environmental aspects in the first planning phase of the dam. In the sixties, before the civil war, Bokor and the nearest town Kampot was a prosperous area. The towns were characterised by French architectural influences due to their colonial rule.25
The situation today is totally changed. The infrastructure is non-existent, the maintenance of houses and roads are suffering from shortage of funds. Only a couple of houses, hotels and governmental buildings are kept in shape. The only thing that still seems to be unchanged is the struggling people and the lack of electrical power.
Today only 12 % of the households have access to electricity; this is the lowest ratio in Southeast Asia, to the highest cost imaginable.26 In the last ten years the idea of realising the dam project have got new life. Setbacks caused by nearly three decades of civil war has changed the situation completely, now the dam has to be built in a National Park and not in a plain forest. This would maybe not be a problem a couple of years ago, "even Sweden has built dams in national parks"27 (Stora Sjöfallet)28, but the climate for these types of projects have changed. A deeper knowledge about the hazards of hydropower and the presence of environmental organisations from all around the world makes the continuation of the project a little more complicated.
24WCD. 2000 25Experco. 2001 26SIDA. Phnom Penh 27CEPA. Speech. 20002
-“The first thing that had to be done was a feasibility study in order to better define Kamchay as an option for a hydropower project and as provider of electrical energy in Cambodia. This was maybe easier said than done, the report from the feasibility study has been postponed and nobody knows when it’s going to be released”.29
The following text contains facts that the company conducting the study (Experco International) used as information to the involved parties before the workshops where held. According to Experco International the following parameters is of great importance and will be carefully evaluated: technical, economical, financial, social, environmental and gender equity.30
Technical information
The location of the hydropower dam is on the Kamchay River 15 km north of Kampot but the study area covers Kampot and Kompong Bay districts.
Image 5. The location of the hydropower dam site. (MRC)
28SNF. 2002 29DED. 2002 30Experco. 2001
The main dam is going to be 145 m high with concrete gravity or concrete-faced
embankment. The water volume will be 2,6 x 106 m3 and the reservoir will cover 2600
hectares with an elevation of 175 metres. Maximum outflow in the spillway will be approximately 7700 m3 /s. The power intake located 500 metres southwest of the dam will have a capacity of 110 m3 /sec directed through the powerhouse that will be operated through three "Francis" turbines generating approximately 135MW and the 10-kilometre transmission line will have a voltage of 230 kV.
The estimated cost is 220 million US dollars; this includes access road, main dam, powerhouse and the 230 kV line to Kampot substation. The construction period will be approximately five years and require 2000 to 3000 workers. After the construction period there will be 100 permanent jobs. These jobs will mainly be workers handling the maintenance of the dam.31
Experco International estimates that the dam reservoir will inundate 2600 ha of the Bokor National Park. This is equivalent to two percent of the total park area. Experco also states that they will protect the park as much as possible through careful measurements.32
At first it seems that two percent of the park area is a surmountable loss but a closer look shows that these two percent contains all of the material that the local craftsmen (basket makers and bamboo cutters) uses.33
Hazards
The area that’s affected is not easy accessible and one of the first measurements that have to be dealt with is to build an access road to the project site. The road that exists today is more of a walking trail and there are several problems connected with an expansion of this road. Poachers and illegal loggers who haunt the area today, probably would take advantage of the road in their business. There are several other examples from around the world that shows that a road into a forest can be very harmful because the access they give to a wider part of the main forest.34
According to Experco International the construction period will have some negative impact, the population along the access road will be affected by the heavy traffic to the construction
31Ibid. 32Ibid. 33CEPA. 2002
site. It will also have impact on the bathing area, located in front of the dam site and frequently used by the locals of Kampot for bathing and recreation. An EIA will be conducted on vegetation, fish and mammals to prepare an environmental management plan and compensation for eventual loss.
Image 6. The proposed reservoir area in the Bokor National Park.
There will also be a social impact assessment to identify people likely to be affected and vulnerable groups; people that work with cutting bamboo, rattan and liana in the reservoir area will lose their income. The number of affected people is about 300 families. There is probably also going to be some impact for shopkeepers and restaurants in Toeuk Chhu Resort during the construction period.35
It may seem that the Bokor dam is just a small dam and this would create smaller problems. But this is certainly not the case. In some projects the designers were misled to think that a smaller dam could slip away with reduced amount of background investigation work such as soil and rock sampling. Other problems are that small dams sometimes can boost colonies of
34Experco. 2001 35Experco. 2001
insects and parasites better than bigger dams. This could in the case of Kampot be a serious problem due to the fact that malaria is common throughout the area already. This has led to serious trouble in other hydropower projects. In a case from Jamaica the ground was so porous that the embanked water sunk away immediately, leaving useless embankment pits. In another case in Nepal the amounts of soil in the embanked water were not calculated which led to destroyed turbines in just five years. The repayment time for the whole dam was fifteen years so the problem only produced economical problems for an already poor country. This is only a few examples from different small-scale hydropower projects that prove that small is not always better.36
Social issues
Experco thought that the people that will lose their income in the reservoir area after the dam is built should be compensated. The people involved, mainly the bamboo cutters, should at first be employed as construction workers during the building phase. After the construction is finished some of the affected people should be given the opportunity to work with maintenance of the dam. The remainder are going to be employed in factories that hopefully are going to be established once electricity is available in the community.
The fair income restoration measures for people losing income due to the reservoir at short term and long term and the actions to minimise the detriment should involve the prioritising of the families affected by the project for the employment. All families in the area with recognition from the local authorities should be listed and provided technical and skill training. Employment priorities should be given to direct affected groups. The shopkeepers and restaurant owners are believed only to have small impacts on the business such as dusty smoke from the trucks, soil vibrations and sound pollution. If there is a loss in income during the construction period the Construction Company must compensate them further for the loss that may occur. To avoid health and hygiene impacts during the construction, the project will strictly follow the Cambodian labour law and the environment law. A health agent must work permanently on the site and the workers should be life and health-insured by the project financiers.37
36Goldsmith & Hildeyard. 1993 37Experco. 2001
Image 7. Income is needed for the restoration of Kampot village centre.
To ensure that affected people and key stakeholders in the project area are aware of the project and could explain their opinion on the project and help design appropriate mitigation measures, Experco International believes that by consulting the population, the project will gain in effectiveness and efficiency. The first step in trying to gather and share information between different stakeholders was to set up two workshops. The first one handled the financial and technological issues and the second focused on the environmental and social impacts during the construction period and the continuous running.38
The conclusions from the workshops
Regarding the material collected from the two workshops held in Kampot, the conclusions from the planners are unanimous: there are no problems at all once the dam is up and running.
The only problems occur during the building phase. And these problems are more in the character of traffic jam and that the tourism will decrease. The positive conclusions are that factories will be built, electricity will be cheap, many people will have jobs, the amount of poor families will be reduced and the agricultural production will be increased. Their conclusion of the negative impacts after the construction period is simply:
-"Everything is good".39
This conclusion was later described (during an interview) as “dam thinking”, an expression from Holland, which means that you just go, full speed ahead, no obstacles will stop you. “You can’t stop the future”.
The irrigation advisor at the DED office in Kampot has tried to prevent this way of thinking and implement some European ways of thinking. For example: at big projects that will affect the environment you could set aside some money to “create” nature somewhere else due to the losses created on the site. Maybe only a way to ease a bad conscience but still better than doing nothing.40
The more comprehensive conclusion from the workshop is that hydropower energy is the real need of the people in the region. The project is causing minor negative impacts but gives large benefits to the beneficiaries. -“Only a few people are opposing it because they are looking to
deep into environmental concerns”. The proponents mean that the dam must be constructed
as planned due to the positive benefits for the people in the area and throughout Kampot province.41
Or as the Third Deputy Governor of Kampot, expressed the project:
-"Kamchay Hydroelectric Project will contribute with the poverty alleviation among Cambodian populations in accordance with the Cambodian government policy. The project had been planned since the 1960s but was abandoned and restarted in the 1990s. If the project is successfully done, our beautiful Bokor National Park will have better protection and more values. I would suggest all participants to discuss thoroughly and openly in order to
39Wild Aid. 2001 40DED. 2002 41Wild Aid. 2001
implement this project successfully with more focusing into the environmental and social issues. Kamchay Hydroelectric project will show the independence of Cambodia and make Cambodia developed by it self".42
Image 8. The ”Provincial Department of Rural Development” building. Where the workshops where held.
What are the NGO’s conclusions from the Workshops?
CEPA was the only environmental organisation that was invited to the two workshops in Kampot. No other NGO’s were formally invited. When other groups like Wild Aid showed up the organisers told them that they and all other interest organisations had got invitations but some fuss had occurred. CEPA claims that this is falsehood because WWF (World Wildlife Fund), WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society) and all other organisations were not invited. CEPA was also critical to fact that the workshops nearly exclusively debated positive effects surrounding the hydropower project such as training centres and factories and that it did not discuss the actual question whether the dam should be built or not. As soon as question was raised by CEPA they were told that it would be discussed later, in smaller groups. The chairman also declared that it was impossible to decide if the dam was a threat to the park, because it was not yet built.
CEPA’s questions were ignored by most of most attendants, especially by the ones that were about to conduct the feasibility study. They didn’t like the questions and therefore the questions were withdrawn from the meeting protocol that, in the end, consisted solely of positive reflections. A neutral attendant wrote a totally different report from the meeting and when it is studied it clearly reveals that the meeting attendees were not as unanimous as the official protocol shows.43
The advocates also believe that they can protect the national park by building the dam. This seems strange when the building of the dam leads to destruction and drowning of it. Structures such as flood control dams and structures around the building site will also need space and the activity during the building period can create problems that are very hard to predict. The statements that the dam will produce a lot of jobs to the local people fall due to the fact that these people are poorly educated. It seems strange that for example a bamboo cutter, on short time will be re-educated to run a hydropower dam. Unofficial statements say that between 3000-5000 people will be hired during the construction. After that some people will be required to maintain the dam. No one has said that these people will be selected from the ones that work in the forest today. The facts that are discussed is that the 100 hundred bamboo cutters that will be out of job are going to be offered training and new jobs.
The odd about this information is that it is not coming from the company conducting the feasibility study but from local interest groups, not involved in the specific project, which has interests in the project. Probably, the company that is going to build the dam isn't at all interested in training locals if they can hire competent workers from the beginning. It’s naive thinking, to believe that jobs and schools will occur during a building of a dam.44
Most locals that we met during our visit to Kampot seemed very happy about the project. CEPA means that if you explain the benefits and the disadvantages more clear, they aren’t so sure anymore. Regretfully no one is active in doing this, the information is focused on how cheap the electricity is going to be once the dam is built. People also believe that electricity is going to be available to all households after completion. The problem is that there is no existing power grid to connect to and no foreseeable plans of creating one is known.
42Governor. 2001 43CEPA. 2002 44CEPA. 2002
In today’s price the electricity costs 500 Riel / kWh (0.13550 Euro / kWh). There are not many that can afford that price today and no one knows the price after completion of the Kampot dam. There’s also an uncertainty of the ability to pay among the local people. Often it isn’t the locals but the cities and larger industries that benefit from a dam because they get access to a more reliable power source.45
One disturbing fact is that the water flow in the present river is very low and weak, although Experco think this will be enough to feed a large dam and still have water left for irrigation, drinking water and so on. Common sense says that it will be hard to even fill the dam basin. On top of this a well-known problem is that the ground water will vanish during the construction period due to water rerouting. This could be a major problem during the dry season of the construction period.46
Image 9. The Kampot river is important for irrigation and recreation.
CEPA is against the project mainly because it is conducted in a national park. Probably the locals are not equally resistant towards the project, presumably because they are not familiar
45Ibid. 46Ibid.
or aware of the status the conception "National Park" gives to an area. There will be a lot of advantages for the locals but at the same time, they haven’t asked for it and why shall their environment be severely damaged?
According to CEPA, there is no claim or demand for electricity by the people in the area, the claim comes from the Government. If the country can provide electricity they also attract larger industries.
Thai industries are on the verge in the area and are presumed to play a concealed but active role in the project. One other possibility is that the electricity is going to feed the increasing industries and tourism in Sihanoukville beach resort.
CEPA also states that the whole project is surrounded by diversion activities. Rumours is spreading that the close neighbourhood will flourish once the dam is built and that there is going to be built a health centre. This is not official yet and it’s probably hearsay. There are a lot of strange promises surrounding the project and nobody seems to know where they are coming from.
It’s strange to say that the reservoir is going to increase the tourism in the area. It’s more reasonable to believe that the people will go to the growing beach resorts Sihanoukville or Kep instead.
It is easy to get the opinion that there were only one or two organisations conveying a more careful consideration due to the environmental topics at the workshops. The deputy director of the organisation Wild Aid wrote his own protocol, and when this was compared to the official it diverged on several points. Even if the overall opinion towards the dam was positive, several critical voices were left out from Expercos protocol. For example a series of statement regarding the importance of the preservation of the Bokor National Park emerged. Statements that the National Park is very important, not only to the province but also to the whole country. The first problem when regarding a hydropower project of this calibre is to understand that the water is not just a natural resource. It is also an ecosystem that most certainly will collapse or in best case be reconstructed from the base after the construction. It is regarded as one of the most prioritised areas in Southeast Asia. The people living close to the park are unfortunately unaware of this fact and look upon the park as just another forest. The park needs to be protected since the ecosystems that are existing today are far from explored. Some species of animals, birds and fishes are endangered, and most vegetation is
not yet studied. The Kampot River is also very important. Local people use the water from the river for irrigation and daily consumption. It also helps in the environmental balance for the park and in the near future it can be suitable for eco-tourism. The paradox here is that the planners behind the project expects that there will come more ecotourists once the dam is built due to the benefits that electricity can give for the tourist industry. 47 Isn’t it more likely for ecotourists to desire untouched areas rather than exploited ones?
An interview made with a local entrepreneur revealed another approach. As an mountain guide, hotel- restaurant owner and vehicle supplier, frequently engaged by the project co-ordinators, he saw a bright future despite the NGO warnings. The entrepreneur welcomed the project because he thought it would be good for the region. He thought it was more likely for the local craftsmen and their families to increase their standard of living instead of the opposite. Today the employment situation in the region is far from satisfying and every attempt for improvement is welcomed. Kampot has all the basic conditions to regain the status as a tourist paradise that it once had. To realise this, electrical power is essential. 48
Public participation in Cambodia
In Cambodia the government has no law that regulates public participation (PP). MRC has recently developed a strategy how to deal with the public in larger projects but the process is slow and the low level of education among the public is not regarded in consultations as important or reliable.49 There is a current recognition by the MRC that new approaches and initiatives need to move towards incorporating participation processes. The sensible assessment is that public participation is an integral component of the momentum towards further development of the MRC's role and operations in the Mekong Basin. The strategy provides a set of guidelines and a mechanism for public participation. Preceding this, it offers a public participation definition and ideas regarding the stakeholders who are essential to the process of participation in Basin management.
In interviews with both Ian Cambell and Hans Guttman, Environment program co-ordinators at MRC, we found out that it wasn't common to involve the public but it happened. To them the problem with public participation in Cambodia today is that the public are only asked a
47Wild Aid. 2001
48Local entrepreneur. 2002 49MRC. 2002
couple of random questions and are not being integrated as a part of the whole process. Therefore the feedback is lost and the people are not given a proper chance to actually make a difference.50
This is an important problem that some NGO's is working hard with, trying to give the locals a better insight in projects that are carried out in their surroundings. They are also trying to fill the gap between the locals and the government/companies. One of those is Oxfam America that is trying to keep an open dialogue with the affected people and trying to build bridges between them.
Image 10. MRC has recently developed a strategy for public participation.
But besides of Oxfam there are a lot of interest groups and critics on location in Cambodia. But only a few are respected neutral institutions that are able to look at a project from the inside and give their point of view. The most criticism and opinions come from NGO, which lead to neglecting from sponsors and the government. This is most often the case if the government wishes for the project. Even if the NGO’s have certain opinions about the project,
the government action is based on their believe in what’s best for the country. Some people consider NGO’s to have lost their credibility by being reactionary and criticise everything.51 Another problem is the personal security question. With the violent history of Cambodia it's not an obvious thing to share your personal thoughts and feelings and especially not when it's concerning projects with governmental interests. This explains why the locals, even if they are given a chance to participate, often recline due to the risk that follows with sharing your thoughts in public. This is something that only years ago could easily led to serious troubles and even cost your life. This gives the result that if someone comes from an important organisation and asks questions about personal opinions, the questioned is precise to give the answers wanted by the interviewer rather than give his or hers real opinion. Once again the feedback is lost and the whole idea of hearing the locals opinion is meaningless from the beginning.
Security aspects are among the most important values, foremost in the countryside.52
A small but still powerful example of the security issue is an outburst from one of the speakers on the Kamchay Hydropower Workshop. A man had risen there and said that the dam had to be built and if anybody disapproved he would personally have a talk with him or her. Due to their history a statement like that in Cambodia, can be regarded as very strong.53
MRC revealed another side of theirs when they during our interview claimed that on several occasions people had tried to take benefit from information spread from preinvestigations due to public participation meetings.
-When Cambodians find out about a project they tend to move to the area with their friends
and relatives. They then try to get compensation for their "losses".54
This statement was very criticised by the CEPA office in Phnom Penh. Their immediately commentary on the case was:
51MRC. 2002 52MRC. 2002 53DED. 2002 54MRC. 2002
-A very cynical point of view, not unusual though. It’s known that this kind of things has
happened. Maybe they are just trying to get their share; otherwise they wouldn’t get anything. It is often easier to be heard if you are a bigger crowd, rather than one single person.
An example on that the same thoughts are being developed in other parts of Asia is a statement told by CEPA personal in Phnom Penh about a Canadian man that were in charge of a health clinic on a project in Laos.
-"We must charge people in Laos. Otherwise they will be running to the doctor all the time cause they like medicines and want cures for everything."55
The locals are often very dissatisfied with the government, because the investigations are often done behind a desk without field studies required.
It’s often only the “provincial governor” who’s informed about projects or proposals in the area, he can then decide for himself and often makes some money on it at the same time.56 When we asked CEPA about this kind of conclusions their first reaction was "why have democracy at all". In Cambodia the government owns all land. If a company wants to build at a certain area the government can make the people in the area move without telling them why. This is called “governmental decisions” and it is the provincial governor who’s responsible for giving criticism against the government. To avoid critic and problems it’s easier to pay off the provincial governor than to talk to the people, a method that is commonly used even if it is an illegal act.
The right way for the provincial governor to perform his duties is to inform the people in the area about the plans and listen to what they have to say and then inform the government about the local’s opinions. But if no one knows what's happening, no one complains. And if no one complains everything seems OK.57
The history of distrust in the higher officials and fear of making the wrong decision is a problem that not only affects interviews with locals; they create problems during projects to. In a fish-breeding experiment conducted by MRC a couple of years ago, a group of villagers were given an amount of fish and the equipment needed to start the breeding process. Every time people from MRC showed up in the village to check up on the progress, the involved villagers thought that they had come back to reclaim the fish so the profit would be lost. It
55CEPA. 2002 56MRC. 2002 57CEPA. 2002
didn’t matter how many times the MRC people explained that the fish was given permanent and they did it for the villagers. They still thought they would be left with the crumbles from the dinner table and didn't dare to do believe that they really got something for free.58
According to discussions with the EIA department of the Ministry of Environment in Cambodia, the public should participate in the process and their views and comments should be reflected in the EIA report. A public meeting is reportedly required at the end of the EIA process when the project owner should describe the project and receive comments from participants.
There is however resistance to the involvement of the public in EIA by developers and sector ministries in Cambodia. This is because of cases where the advertisement of public participation events, has encouraged people to move into the area being developed and thereby make claim for compensation. Public hearing events in Cambodia are therefore often viewed upon as being dominated by requests for compensation.
There are currently no details in the regulations on how, when or who in the public should be involved. There are also no guidelines currently available for public participation in the EIA process in Cambodia however we understood that guidelines are currently being prepared.59 At the end of the same workshop a lot of the NGO people and the people from the Ministry of Environment complained about the meeting being held in English and not in Khmer. An easy way to leave poorly educated people outside the discussion. Even if they had been, they wouldn't have been able to keep up. This did happen in the second meeting when 350 bamboo cutters showed up but there are no notes in the meeting protocol that anyone of them contributed to the discussion. This is almost a lawbreaking offence since the government has decided that it is essential to encourage public participation in the implementation of EIA process and take into account of their conceptual input and suggestion for re-consideration prior to the implementation of any project.60
Reflections
The feeling surrounding these questions was that nobody from the governmental or financial side really was interested in hearing the locals' point of view. MRC staff even went so far that
58MRC. Statement. 2002 59MRC. 2001
they admitted that they didn’t always listen to the NGO’s because of all the complaining. The NGO’s on the other hand acted and felt as they had full control and every possible chance to affect the outcome in different questions. When we met different NGO’s and asked them about their power of influence they showed us loads of invitations to meetings. They took this as proof for their ability to influence but for us it felt like the invitations were sent by the government just to follow a predetermined procedure. If different NGO’s occur in the attending list the meeting document gains in credibility. The example of the protocol from the workshops in Kampot stands as a clear evidence of this. Lots of fractions were listed as attendees, not all invited though, but their contributions in the debate were left out of the text. The main problem is the lack of credibility towards the NGO's by the government institutions. According to the regional director of Oxfam America, this is a result of that many NGO's is using rumours and doubtfully controlled facts to support their actions. They should instead use more of their energy to collect real facts and control the existing sources. This is according to Oxfam the only way to reclaim the status for NGO's in the long term.
The problem today is that much complains against hydropower development used by NGO’s is based on the WCD report. The WCD report is founded on just a few selected dams worldwide, which makes it a blunt instrument in a specific case study, such as the proposed Kamchay hydropower project. It’s also important to realise, that the report has received a lot of criticism from hydropower experts and energy advisors which decrease’s the reports credibility.
Criticism towards the WCD report
The overall tone of the report is undoubtedly negative as regards the role of reservoirs, which undermines the constructive elements. The report rightly exposes the position of the disinherited; those who suffered and were not compensated for their lands or livelihoods as a result of some poorly planned dams. It demonstrates the significant changes in aquatic ecosystems after dams have regulated a river; however, less attention is given to the needs of millions for water supply, irrigation for food, flood control and power for industry, schools and homes.
Few would dispute that the report gives a bleak picture of the social, environmental and economic costs of dams, while barely addressing or recognising their benefits. One of the first stated aims of the WCD was to remove the impasse that had developed between those for and against dams, at a time when a number of NGO's had called for a moratorium on the
construction of dams. It is unfortunate that the same organisations are now using the report to vindicate their claims.61
The report ignores the correlation between reservoir development and human life expectancy, and the fact that energy and water security is necessary for environmental protection. It also does not acknowledge that more than one billion people benefit from hydroelectricity.
The WCD acknowledges that it has reviewed a small fraction of the more than 45,000 large dams. Indeed only eight dams have been investigated in detail, seven of which were developed more than 20 years ago. Most of them at a time when environmental assessment and mitigation did not even exist as a concept.
The WCD estimate that dams have displaced 40-80 million people, even the original author of this extrapolation has expressed disappointment and surprise that the commission adopted these figures without further research.
If this strategy is applied, WCD should have presented the other side of the argument, making it clear that more than 1000 million people benefit from hydropower.62
To assess the development effectiveness of large dams, it is important to compare dams with other options for water storage (groundwater, decentralised storage and rain-fed systems) and the power sector (coal, nuclear, gas or oil). Non-renewable resources, which together with hydropower provides nearly 100 per cent of today's electricity, will continue to provide most of it in the foreseeable future. The report fails to recognise that if a hydro plant is not built, the replacement option will in fact be a fossil fuel or nuclear powerplant with consequent environmental impacts and political concerns. Instead, the report proposes theoretical potentials of decentralised micro power and fuel cells, which might be appropriate for remote areas, but cannot contribute significantly to the anticipated future demand in urban and industrial areas.63
The WCD has raised very important issues and it has proposed a set of core values and strategic priorities. However it has proposed guidelines, which are not always practical or universally applicable and could thus prevent good projects from going ahead if they become "regulations".
61Hydropower and Dams. 2001 62CCC. 2002
Discussion
When we first got in contact with this task, we thought it was a clear case of "development country exploitation" problem. The destruction of a National Park just to make place for a hydropower dam sounds just like a dream for people that wallow in problems! But even if there were many apprehensions we opted to approach the project with an open mind and with as little preconceived notions as possible. On location we found out that there were more sides to the story than the one that had reached us here on the other side of the world.
The problem specification and the question at issue deals with public participation as a focal point. Our conclusions about public participation in Cambodia today is that it isn’t common to involve the public in a satisfactory way. Preconceived opinions cause a week link between entrepreneurs, higher officials and the inhabitants. Many times the public are only asked a couple of random questions and are not integrated as a part of a whole process. The feedback is then lost and the people are not given a proper chance to actually make a difference. On the other side the mistrust in higher officials, due to the history, is widely spread among the public wich makes the process even harder. According to Ministry of Environment in Cambodia, the public should participate in the EIA process but there is no inspections being made to validate the quality of the participation. Methods like conducting consultations in English instead of domestic language may not be out of bad intentions but can have devastating consequences. A reason for holding meetings in English could be that the main part of the entrepreneurs is foreigners.
In the Kamchay hydropower project the participants involved came from totally different parts of the world and from different sectors of the society. Everything from small independent NGO with no thoughts of remission, to worldwide consult agencies delivering just another project to a developing country, was represented. Many of the NGO’s involved were against the project and could not see anything good come out from it. As long as these organisations use doubtful information to vindicate their claims, their credibility will be low among higher officials and decisionmakers. Through joint efforts and better background check on the information used, their impact would be greater. Even the government has pronounced that they would appreciate a closer co-operation where both parts benefit from each other.
Cambodia is a country that lacks a functional power grid and energy supply system. Diesel generators and car batteries run all power consuming equipment. The need for electrical power in Cambodia is increasing; the problem is that one single hydropower dam without a power grid to connect to is not going to solve any problems. Probably it will create more turmoil in the south of Cambodia than it will solve.
Solutions for the power grid is non-existing, the government is probably not willing to invest in a powergrid program when it’s uncertain if the dam project will be launched. The hydropower advocators seem to put greater efforts in showing the positive effects rather than the downs sides, by tone down the negative opinions in the official meeting protocols. But the demand for electricity in the rural areas is low, other issues as security and health is of greater importance for the everyday life on the countryside.
Image 11. Some of the few houses on the countryside connected to a powergrid.
It is obvious that Cambodia leers at the development in Thailand and Vietnam, countries with similar preferences that are in different stages in their development. It’s also believable that foreign companies are looking at Cambodia as an attractive country with cheap labour and great exploitation possibilities. To provide for these companies, along with an incipient tourist
industry into the country, a basic demand is to be able to present a satisfactory solution to the infrastructural problems.
To solve those problems, energyproduction is necessary. The main task is the way the energy is produced. A hydropower dam is one way to produce energy but the question is if it’s going to be efficient enough to supply for future demands if the land/region develops? The preferences for Kamchay hydropower project are still not fully investigated. If the waterflow in the river isn’t sufficient enough, the dam will not be able to produce a steady amount of energy all year around. Maybe other solutions or combinations of opportunities have to be taken into consideration. A more sustainable idea might get more positive support than the hydropower dam, when it can’t be realised without major interference of the national park values.
In the end the result must come down to what is most favourable for Cambodia and it's future, not what's most favourable at the moment.
