BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE
_____________________________________________________________________________________
CONTENTS
1. SALWEEN ACTION
ALERT, slightly revised from original sent out on 1st Febuary
1999
2. OVERVIEW OF
THE
3. EMAIL NOTE:
From an anonymous Shan source,
4. UPDATE ON THE
5. 3D VISION: THE
6. FREE BURMA
COALITION TO LAUNCH A CAMPAIGN IN PROTEST OF JAPAN'S RESUMPTION OF ODA TO BURMA, Free Burma Coalition
<[email protected]>, 4/3/98
_____________________________________________________________________________________
1.
Source:
Date:
After
years of talk but little action, there are now strong indications of serious
efforts on behalf of Thai, Burmese and Japanese companies to gain approval and
funds for damming the mighty
The
dam would be both for electricity generation plus large-scale diversion of
water from the
If
built, the dam - or dams - would have far greater environmental impacts than
the controversial
These
moves come in the wake of the announcement of the US$ 30 billion Japanese
economic recovery plan by the conservative LDP government, and talk of resumed
humanitarian and technical aid by the UN and World Bank.
We
ask your help in opposing this unacceptable project and the corruption-ridden,
socially and environmentally unsound development ideology that it is a part of.
On the 2nd of February the Thai Government decided to
approve a proposal by the Science, Technology and Environment Ministry to carry
out a feasibility study on what it calls the Salween Water Diversion Project.
According to Science, Technology and Environment
Minister Suwit Khunkitti, the
feasibility study will be carried out as quickly as possible. The Ministry is
seeking 185 million Thai Baht (approximately US $ 5.5 million) for the study, a
notably large budget for a feasibility study.
The
Although different official sources state different
things, the justification for the dam will be twofold. The dam is being planned
to divert water from the
The proposed dam would enable
For
Successive Thai governments and officials have long been
talking about water from the
These negotiations resulted in a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) for
Previously, the economic cost of the dam, combined with
its intense political sensitivity and the inevitable environmental and social
issues would have rendered its construction impossible. Figures
for the price tag on the dam quoted by local sources familiar with the current
feasibility project range from US$4 billion up to $7 billion. Now
however there are indicators that the Japanese government may under certain
circumstances be more inclined to accommodate the request. A recent UN / World
Bank offer of US $ 1 billion in conditional assistance may also indicate that
Western countries may not oppose such a move strongly enough to prevent it.
The Japanese government has been criticized in recent
years for resuming some aid payments to the Burmese regime. It has however been
noted that the Japanese are concerned about greatly increasing Chinese
influence, presence, money and technology in
The conservative Japanese government has recently
introduced a US $ 30 billion fund called the Miyazawa fund. The fund is to give
a boost to regional governments but has been made subject to the condition that
funded projects utilise Japanese expertise and technology.
The Thai Science, Technology and Environment Minister
and his Deputy Minister have both announced the intention to seek from
Towards implementing the dam project on the ground,
there have been a number of preliminary studies done on damming or diverting
the
Survey work is being conducted in the
The work is being done at a steep gorge an hour upstream
of a major river crossing point called Ta Hsang on
the road between Mong Pan and Mong
Ton The gorge is a little distance south of the confluence of the Salween and
the Nam Hsim River, one of the larger tributaries.
Ta Hsang is of relatively high
elevation, a most important factor if large amounts of water are to be diverted
and made to flow by gravity into
The main visible company involved in the survey work is
MDX Power Plc., a Thai development company specialising in dam consultancy and
construction. An MDX company representative claims it has signed a contract
with the Burmese government to do the feasibility study. It also claims to be
putting up the money itself to do the work, despite rumours that the company
and its partner Italian - Thai Development Plc. are both currently financially
weak. It is not currently clear or confirmed as to the level of EPDC
involvement in the surveying, or if they are channeling funds to MDX to do the
groundwork and to employ local contractors.
In the context of the Ta Hsang
site the involvement of MDX Power Plc. is especially significant. This is
because the company for the past 2 years has been involved in surveying a
potential dam site on the
Not least of the reasons why is that
another controversial scheme is in the last planning stages, the Kok -Ing -Nan Water Diversion Project.
The Kok - Ing - Nan Water
Diversion Project aims to send water from the Kok and
Ing Rivers, both tributaries of the Mekong, into the
Nan River which flows into the Sirikit Dam and
ultimately into the Chaophraya River. It would involve 117 kilometres of canals
and tunnels and a blocking dam on the
In regard to the
A logging company called Thai Sawat
has reportedly been closely involved in the facilitation of these negotiations.
The company, which jointly holds a concession with B & F Goodrich Co. Ltd. has been deforesting the area under concession
arrangements with both the Burmese military and Khun Sa's MTA since 1989. The company has been building roads
throughout the area in cooperation with the Burmese government and groups such
as the southern Wa faction. of the United Wa State Party. It
is believed to be seeking a concession to log the areas to be flooded by the
dam.
Despite the ample evidence that serious studies have
been underway since at least October 1998 the Thai government did not announce
any plans for damming the
Reasons to oppose the dam abound. Its construction would
have very serious environmental impacts. To raise the water level to the point
where 10 percent (or more) of the
There would be a much greater earthquake hazard in a
quake prone area. Deforestation would be serious both from resettlement or
illegal subsistence farming by displaced people and by logging companies that
would be granted concessions in the area to be flooded. Water borne diseases
such as malaria and schistosomiasis would increase or be introduced. Indigenous
fish populations and land-based wildlife would be radically affected or
annihilated. Riversides would be completely changed all the way down to the
delta, with riverbank erosion and possible disappearance of islands in the
delta. Well water supplies in the city of
None of the previous dams built or planned by the
Burmese government have had environmental impact assessments done for them.
Even if an EIA was to be conducted it seems highly unlikely that it would be
made public or given any serious attention by the authorities on either side of the
border. There is little evidence that a proper environmental assessment (EIA)
will be done.
The project is questionable from an economic point of
view due to the predictable short life of the dam due to the very high silt
levels carried by the river from the increasingly deforested hills. Very long
power transmission lines would need to be installed to deliver the power to
There is little evidence to show that a proper social
impact assessment (SIA) will be done either. Given the extreme human rights
violations that continue to take place in the
The Burmese government does not have a good social
record. It has been waging brutal war against the Shan and other indigenous
populations in the area for the past 37 years. It is widely accused of
profiting from and controlling much of the drug trade from the region, which is
among the worst in the world. Furthermore, its past history with development
projects such as the
The Burmese government and its army would be key
participants in the project. Burmese army engineers are reportedly involved in
the surveying work. They are also in the process of building a bridge over the
Aside from the surveying at Ta Hsang
there is also mention of interest in another site lower on the
Although improbable due to its relatively low elevation,
Hat Gyi has also been mentioned in the context of
water diversion. A Thai study made during another long drought in 1995
postulated the siphoning off of
Whilst nothing is certain in regard to the ultimate
decision on whether to build the dam or not, when to build it, and where the
very large amounts of capital would be found for the project, there is still
reason for more than passing concern that a large multipurpose dam is to be
built. The Thai Cabinet approval of the US $ 5.5 million feasibility study
represents a large step towards its final approval. It is highly unlikely that
the would-be dam builders will turn aside from the project on the grounds of
later information about the environmental, social and economic costs of the
proposed dam after having spent such an amount of money on it.
It is all too evident that the successive governments of
On the part of the Burmese government, it is equally
evident that making a huge dam in the land of the Shan people is an act of
neo-colonial occupation, if not an act of war. Such natural resource
exploitation as the dam, mining concessions, logging and fisheries concessions
and the Yadana gas pipeline has been done in the
interest of securing cooperation against its ethnic and political opponents in
the
Such a dam would not serve as a "peace keeping
dam" as was suggested during the period of dictatorship in
All factors considered, the
construction of dams and related infrastructure that would significantly alter
the 3 major watersheds of
Since
the Royal Thai Government has decided in favour of carrying out the study, it
is time for action. It is necessary to ensure that the many social, economic,
political and environmental concerns are adequately addressed, and not glossed
over. There is a great need to ensure that the wrong-doings of those who would
like to profit from the making of this dam at the expense of the people and
their environment will be exposed.
____________________________________________________________________________________
2. OVERVIEW OF THE
Source:
Date:
Up to December 1998 it appears that studies exist for 5
dam sites on the
Despite -- indeed because of -- the number of plans
nothing is particularly certain as to what will be done where,
or when - if ever - it would be done. Some of the uncertainty comes from the
many different interest groups:- different Thai
politicians, the SPDC, foreign and local business and industrial groups. These
compete on the national and local levels for projects and locations that most
benefit themselves. However it also appears that to a degree the dam planners
create this uncertainly deliberately so as to prevent opposition from becoming
too organised. A similar pattern of dissembling and concealment was evident
also in the gas pipeline preparations.
Few of the dam plans go beyond preliminary or even
reconnaissance study stage. All would need pre-feasibility and feasibility
studies. Most of the dams would be impossible to build. Obviously the costs of
constructing the dams and related infrastructure would be very high, and some
of the plans are simply too impractical.
Many of the potential dam sites overlap each other.
Flood waters from some sites would inundate areas where other dam sites have
been suggested.
In 1994 the ADB employed the Norwegian consultancy
company Norconsult to evaluate energy projects in the
Greater Mekong Subregion. Norconsult
recommended that a study should be done of the whole
It's aim would be to look at all the plans to make dams on
the
Some of the dams planned for the
Tunnels and canals many kilometres long might also be
built to take water out of the
RECENT DAM PLANS FOR THE MAIN FLOW OF THE
The 5 potential dam sites on the Salween that have been
mentioned within the past 10 years, from closest to the Chinese border to where
the river meets the sea the sites are as follows:
1. TA HSANG: The most recent of the dam plans concerns an
area in the south central
It is possible that the survey is part of the study
called for by the Asian Development Bank in 1994. Until the recent activities,
since 1994 no known field study of the river has been done.
It is not immediately obvious why the latest site to be
studied is considered to be of interest unless it's
altitude and its proximity to the
[Note: Any really
large diversion of water is likely to simply be too costly to be pumped. A
volume of 10 – 30 billion cubic feet of water is an enormous amount, requiring
an enormous amount of energy to lift over a very long period of time. To be
feasible such a large amount of water would have to be able to flow mostly or
completely by gravity down from the Ta Hsang site.
The altitude of the
Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand documentary
sources state that the dam would aim to produce 3,300 megawatts of electricity,
while the Japanese Electric Power Development Corporation says 3,600 megawatts.
2. MONG HTA –
HOMONG: North west of Mong Hta and Mong
Kyawt, and north east of Homong
in the Shan State, at a place where water would be backed up to near Piang Luang and sent through
tunnels into the Mae Taeng stream and thence into the
Ping and Chaophraya Rivers. The site of the 6,000 megawatt dam would be
completely in
3. WEI GYI: The
site at Wei Gyi on the Thai
Burma border section of the
4. DAGWIN: The
smaller lower
5. HAT GYI:
Near to Myaingyingu, at a place called Hat Gyi (also called Hutgyi). This is
where there is a particularly powerful rapid that becomes a waterfall when the
water flow is reduced in the dry season. It is beside and part of the Kahilu Wildlife Sanctuary. The Burmese Generals favour this
site although Thai officials have not favoured this site at all. It is
completely in
SOME LIKELY IMPACTS OF THE
There would be many environmental, social and cultural
impacts resulting from the dam. Some of these would be minor and some major -
but altogether they would add up to a large set of very severe negative
impacts.
Some of the impacts will be felt quickly, others in the
coming years. Many will be felt a long time into the future. Furthermore, it
can be said that the bigger the dam, the more the impact. The Salween Dam will
be a very large dam - possibly the largest in the whole of
Most of the environmental and social impacts will be on
the peoples on Shan, Karenni, Karen and
These ethnic people will be the ones who will loose
their land to the dam.
They will be the people who will loose their sources of
income because of the dam.
They will be the people who become sick from the diseases
that come with big dams.
If anyone is killed by an earthquake caused, or partly
caused by the dam it is most likely to be ethnic people from these areas.
ECONOMIC COSTS:
All of these dams would have enormous financial costs
and risks, including greatly increased national debt. Big dams are very
expensive to make. The Thai National Energy Agency earlier estimated that a
6,400 megawatt dam on the
The dam would need very sizable loans to construct it.
This would naturally add greatly to the already unsustainable national debts of
both
Both countries suffer massive problems with corruption.
It is highly likely that both the feasibility study funding and any subsequent
dam financing would be heavily depleted through corruption.
Economic life of the dam limited, especially by the
heavy siltation caused by deforestation in
Cost of the dam especially high because of high
earthquake risk (also military and social hazards)
POLITICAL IMPACTS:
The dams represent the latest component of the
controversial Constructive Engagement policy.
Cordial relations between the Thais and the Burmese are often maintained
through discussion of and joining in big money making projects such as the logging,
fishing and the gas pipeline. This is especially the case in times of
heightened tension between the two countries. The dams also have been presented
as a form of "peacemaking", despite the atrocities being perpetrated
on the peoples in the areas to be flooded by the dams. The idea, promoted in
the discussions on the Greater Mekong Subregion is to
create peace through "interdependency". This is Asian Development
Bank style diplomacy. It is possible that other nations and the UN also endorse
this kind of "peacemaking", and will promote it with added components
such as Crop Substitution programmes and transport infrastructure development.
The Burmese military government is likely to promote the project as bringing
the benefits of development to the border areas. In the interest of "peace"
the Thai government will to try to find large amounts of funding from overseas
and possibly try to find international support for the SPDC. This intent has
already been more or less stated by the Ministers of Science, Technology and
Environment.
INTENSIFICATION OF MILITARY PRESSURE:
The construction of any dam on the
If a government or a company wants to make a big
development project like a dam the first thing it has to do is secure the area
where the dam will be made. The government can not easily make a big dam in a
war zone. Any delay costs millions of dollars a day. If there is serious
fighting it can cause big and expensive delays. People who will make the dam
are mostly civilians who won't want to be in danger. If many of the trucks,
bulldozers, buildings, power lines and roads that serve the dam builders are
being destroyed it can cause both delays and more expensive security measures.
High security and political costs could make the dam economically unfeasible.
It may be more difficult to get financing for the dam from overseas investors.
However, as can be seen from the Yadana Gas pipeline,
it might still be possible if the dam is seen as a 'peacemaking' effort.
While some ethnic leaders have been led to believe that
their revolutionary movements will be strengthened by cash infusions by people
encouraging them to not interfere with the dam, the opposite is certainly the
case. The dam promoters most surely do not mean to strengthen the groups that
oppose Burmese control with supplies of money and arms. The last thing the dam
builders need is to prolong the conflict by strengthening the weaker group. dam construction requires "peace", stability and
smooth uninterrupted work.
Another military (and environmental) impact will be the
construction of more roads. These will open up the more remote areas and allow
the easier movement of troops and supplies. There will inevitably be more
security measures to protect the roads. Additionally, it is highly likely that
the forced labour and other human rights violations commonly associated with
road construction in
A completed dam on the
By the time the dam is nearing construction power
transmission lines would have to be installed. As with roads these would have
to go through militarily secured areas.
Any increased military presence in the areas would
involve high costs. The day to day expenses of maintaining security forces are
very high, as the ethnic peoples have recently experienced to an even greater
degree. The Burmese central command has recently ordered its field commanders
to provide for the needs of their troops from local resources, and has stopped
supplying many items that had previously been given as a subsidy. While this
indicates the extreme weakness of the regime and could presage its downfall,
the immediate effect is to place the added burden of supplying the troops on
the local communities.
SOCIAL IMPACTS:
The dams would also affect the other nationality peoples
all the way down and up the river. The people who benefit will be the
relatively well-off Burmese, some big foreign companies and powerful groups in
Local communities would be severely unbalanced by the
influx of alien workers, the influx of cash, rapid local inflation, and a rise
in social ills. Forced relocations will tend to become more permanent. The
Burmese government has already confiscated large tracts of land, much of which
has reportedly been given to soldiers or families of soldiers, or has been sold
to relatively wealthy Chinese immigrants.
Who will use the electricity? Foreign
industries in
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS:
·
The dam (s) would flood very large areas of land. Very
significant amounts of forest and lowland farm areas would be destroyed by
flooding.
·
Large amounts of decomposing vegetation in the flood
areas would produce very significant amounts of greenhouse gases.
·
Wildlife, especially the many unique and little known
fish species of the
·
Further resettlement of populations would force people
to clear large areas of new and inappropriate land for subsistence agriculture.
·
Construction of roads, power lines, channels,
accommodation and other infrastructure for the dams would change the local
environment completely. The channeling and tunneling work would continue all
the way down the Kok - Ing
-
·
Quarrying, blasting, transport of cement and other goods
would create noise, dust, exhaust gases and other pollution and annoyance.
·
The weight of water, silt and rock carried into the dam,
added to the weight of the dam wall itself could start earthquakes. A major
earthquake could rupture the dam with. The area of the
·
Riverbanks downstream, especially in the rice producing
floodplains would be severely eroded
·
Little more sand and silt would come to the delta areas,
so islands and newly formed land would disappear or be flooded with sea water
·
Well water supplies in areas near the sea are likely to
become salty
·
Important fish breeding areas in the Salween Delta,
including mangrove forests, would be radically changed or disappear. This would
further affect fisheries in the
There would be many other severe problems that are
beyond the scope of this short briefing paper to cover.
SOME DAM INTEREST GROUP CRITERIA:
·
Water for industry, for flushing the polluted Chaophraya
River, for city use, and possibly for sale to those plantations and farmers who
can afford to pay for it (Note: Water from the hugely expensive Salween would
be too expensive for most farm use, especially if it is pumped up from the Salween....)
·
Relatively low cost electric power (Note:
Thai authorities evidently still think they need more electricity,
despite their current huge oversupply, their reneging on a purchase deal of
hydropower from Laos and their recently stated interest in selling their excess
power production to Vietnam and Burma)
·
Construction contracts for Thai companies, with the
associated signing bonuses and outright bribery and corruption
·
Preferably, for the dam to be in an area they can at
least partly control
·
For the environmental and social impacts to be in
another country
·
To use the dam issue as a means of placating the Burmese
military and as a way to persuade them to cooperate more
·
To avoid and as much as possible break the Thai anti-dam
movement
The
Burmese SPDC's Needs
·
To control and dominate the ethnic and opposition groups
·
To urgently supply electricity for
·
To get money, as much and as quickly as possible
·
To control the power supply to
·
To spend as little money as possible
·
To be able to securely protect the power lines, roads
and other infrastructure
·
To have some amount of instability in the
Other
Interest Groups, Especially Financiers, Consultants, Construction Companies,
the ADB, UN, and other Governments
·
To show some progress in the so-called drug war /
reduction of drugs
·
To provide energy for foreign industry
·
To show that dams are still a viable form of energy
·
To get their money back - or to use the debt /
obligation to gain extra influence
·
To get big contracts for construction, for consultancy
work, and for the supply of equipment for dam making
·
To invest in projects that will keep them employed and
well paid, and for some companies, to be
reasonably profitable over the long term
·
For countries to spend their ODA on projects that
benefit their national industries
_____________________________________________________________________________
3. Email Note:
Source: An anonymous Shan source:
Date:
"I have just talked to a guy who just came back
from the
to
him:
"Different contractors are drilling the rocks on
both banks of the river.
One of them is the GMT company
which was engaged by the GMS Power Public Co.Ltd.
that
won the contract from the MDX. The location is approximately 10 km
from Tasang, not 40 km. Going upstream takes time about 1 hour,
but of course coming
back
is faster. The company is being supplied by the Thai Sawat
Company, a logging company that is expecting a
concession to cut down the trees when the dam
is
built. There are about 23 Thais working there. The Japanese only went
once.
There were 3 of them and they did not stay long."
"Apparently, nobody there on site is sure whether
it's going to be built or not."
If you are interested, have someone call the GMS:
Tel. (02)
253-0428
(02)
253-0436
"Fax. (02) 267-9094 "
_____________________________________________________________________________
4. Update on the
Source: BurmaNet News,
Date: Early January 1999
Surveying for the dam on the
The first serious reports of the surveying on the main
body of the
Further reports received in December '98 and early
January '99 have confirmed that the dam is being
planned in the Ta Sang area. There is currently a major bridge being built
across the river at Ta Sang. According to Shan sources, forced labour is being
used to do some of the work, and there is a heavy Burmese military presence in
the area.
Surveying for the dam is being conducted at a site that
lies one and a half hours by boat upstream from the bridge site, in an area
south of the
The site where most of the observed survey activities
are being carried out is where the
According to the reports, a series of teams including
about 20 Japanese have been travelling together with Thai staff from MDX up
from Nong Ook in
The dam is ostensibly being planned to divert water from
the
Sources from inside
The studies of the dam projects are reported to have
received funding through the Electric Power Development Co. a large Japanese
quasi-governmental institution involved in previous surveys of the
The dam is being planned to divert water from the
One report from local sources mentioned that the water
diversion scheme will bring the water through Murng Paeng east of the
Grand but controversial plans are simultaneously being
drawn up by Thai government agencies and Japanese consultants for a three river
water diversion system for the Kok, Ing and
A dam high enough to raise the water level to the point
where 10 percent or more of the
Even the most modest version of such a scheme would
involve a very high dam wall, elaborate canals and tunnels, and may also
require pumping of the water. The cost would be very high.
Figures quoted by local sources familiar with the
project for the cost of the planned dam range widely from 4 billion to 7
billion US dollars.
Under normal economic circumstances the cost of building
such a project would make it unthinkable. However it is thought that some of
the US$30 billion provided under the Miyazawa Fund initiative of the Japanese
government is the driving motivation for the potential dam builders.
The people in the region where the dam is being planned
are already paying a high cost for the dam project. The area has been the focus
of the Burmese military's forced relocation program that has driven over
300,000 Shan villagers from their homes during the last 3 years.
The area where the dam is being planned is in the heart
of the operating area of the Shan States Army-South, the main active Shan
resistance group. There are obviously considerable strategic benefits for the
SPDC in building the dam, similar to those gained by the activities of the Thai
and Chinese loggers and the builders of the Yadana
gas pipeline.
A senior MDX advisor, ex-Democrat MP and government
minister named Dr. Subin Pinkayan
has
approached
the Shan opposition and cautioned them not to obstruct the surveying of the
dam. The logging company Thai Sawat, who have held
concessions in the area since the late '80's, are
closely
cooperating with MDX to conduct the surveying.
_______________________________________________________________________________
5. 3D VISION: THE
Publication: The Nation
Section: Editorial & Opinion
Date:
By
James Fahn
Surrounded by war and shrouded in mystery, the
Considering its size, the
its
origins in
barely skimming
Most of the scanty scientific information we have about
the Burmese portion of the
dates
back more than 50 years to British colonial days. But now a group of engineers
and
consultants
have recently begun studying the mighty river with the eventual aim of damming
it.
There has long been talk of
exporting
the electricity to energy-hungry
five
years ago -- there were rumours a 4,500-MW dam would be built at Wei Gyi, on the
Thai-Burma border in Mae Hong Son
province. The resultant reservoir could have extended up
through
Karen, Karenni and Shan villagers.
Since then, the financial crisis had seemingly put the
project on a distant back burner. Even if
the
funds were available to finance a large dam on the
So it came as quite a surprise last November when
several NGOs based in the North learned
that a
team of Thai and Japanese consultants had entered
checkpoint
in Chiang Mai province to survey a possible dam site on the
that a
feasibility study is indeed being conducted at a site located on the
km
north of Ta Hsang, where a bridge is being built
across the river. The study is being carried
out
by consultants from Thailand-based MDX Power through its subsidiary GMS Power,
along
with
experts from a Japanese utility, the Electric Power Development Corporation
(EPDC).
The question most observers are asking is why look at building a dam now? There was some
speculation
that since
shortage,
the project would be used to divert water from the
River basin.
But according to a source at MDX, the project at Ta Hsang
would be solely for
hydro-electric
power.
''While anything is possible,'' added an Egat official, ''the cost of pumping the water into
Both sources explained that a
decade
to complete, if it goes ahead at all.
understanding
with
a dam at Ta Hsang would probably generate more than 3,000 MW.
Some NGOs suspect the project may be a Japanese
initiative, or is designed to get financing
from the so-called Miyazawa Plan, which aims to invest US$30
billion in
kick-start the regional economy. But the MDX source denies
seeking any money from the
Miyazawa Plan, claiming his company is funding the
feasibility study itself.
''Working with the EPDC might help bring in other
Japanese partners, including eventually the
Japanese government, but things have to improve in
explains.
''There is no special reason why this project should be in the news now. We
signed
the
agreement [to do the feasibility study] with the Burmese government about a
year ago.''
The Egat official added that
the Japanese firm Marubeni is keen on developing hydropower
facilities
in
dams
in
for a
dam on the Burmese portion of the
Meanwhile, the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC),
reportedly
eager to see a dam built on the
province. The
site is relatively close to
there
could also be diverted into
But why build a dam at Ta Hsang,
way up in
is
''technically promising'' -- a large volume of water flows through a narrow
gorge -- and that it
is a
good location in terms of hooking up with the Thai electricity grid. ''The
transmission lines
wouldn't
have to go through a national park,'' he says.
''There is also the issue of security,'' he adds. ''One
advantage of this site is that it appears to
be slightly more, um, sedate.''
But ''sedate'' is a relative concept in strife-torn
by
heavily-armed Burmese government troops, who are currently carrying out their
annual
dry-season
offensive against Shan and other ethnic minorities fighting for autonomy. The
fighting,
combined with SPDC relocation programmes, have reportedly displaced hundreds of
thousands
of people in
The SPDC also probably sees a dam on the
opposition
by cutting off support from
who
were forced to sign a ceasefire agreement when the Yadana
pipeline was built through
their
territory, government troops moved in to defend it, and Thai authorities -- who
had hitherto
allowed
the Mon to move back and forth across the border -- warned them against
sabotaging
the
project.
According to one report, MDX advisor Dr Subin Pinkayan, a former Democrat
MP and
government
minister, has already contacted the Shan opposition through intermediaries and
asked
that they not interfere with the project. The Shan States Army has allowed the
survey to
go
ahead but warned that actual construction might be opposed.
Tainted by their association with the narcotics trade,
the Shan have often found it difficult to
gain
allies, but they might be able to team up with environmentalists in opposing a
dam on the
social
and environmental impacts, but he also admits that he doesn't know how many
people it
would
dislocate, or how much forest it would destroy.
''That's what we aim to find out with the study,'' he
says.
We do know that in
incredibly
abundant, home to several unique indigenous groups, along with tigers, leopards,
bears,
deer, giant hawks and rare pheasants. The Nu Jiang River Project claims that 314
different
medicinal plants have been discovered there, along with hundreds of different
orchids.
Who knows what wonders will be revealed along the
Burmese portion of the river. The irony is
that
we may find out just in time to see it destroyed.
------------------------
James Fahn is a journalist
currently working on the TV show Rayngan Si-khiow, which can be seen every Sunday at
_______________________________________________________________________________
6. FREE
IN PROTEST OF
From: Free Burma Coalition
<[email protected]>
Date:
To:
Multiple recipients of List
Dear All,
The FBC is planning an international campaign in protest
of the resumption of
1) a generic press release which local groups can tailor and
send them
to
various media;
2) a sample
letter which can be emailed or faxed to Japanese consulates/embassies in your
country, foreign ministry in Japan, and some Japanese Members of the
Parliament;
3) talking points for those who wish to just call the Japanese
embassies and consulates (or foreign ministry in
4) various email and contact addresses of these targeted
officials and politicians;
5) suggested actions for those who live in urban areas where
Japanese consulates and embassies are located (for instance, leafleting in
front of the embassies, staging demonstrations, etc.); and
6) background information and rationale for the campaign.
Since during the anti-colonial,
nationalist movement in the late 1930's,
We really believe this campaign to stop resumption of
ODA is a very important action. And we urge you all to join in sending a strong
message to Japanese government that the international Free Burma community
finds it morally unacceptable that Japanese government would provide
much-needed foreign aid and hence legitimacy to the military junta in
For further information about the ODA, please visit the
following
websites:
For
http://www2.nttca.com:8010/infomofa/ja/myanmar.html
http://www2.nttca.com:8010/infomofa/oda/official.html
If you want to help us out with this campaign, please
email us at
<[email protected]> or
<[email protected]>
Thank you.
peace,
love, and hope, FBC
****************************
``We've discussed this matter with the government of
``The
Foley addressed the issue in response to a question from
a reporter who said
A
The
President Bill Clinton in April 1997 imposed new
sanctions on the country and
_____________________________________________________________________________________
For
further information, or to be taken off the mailing list, please contact:
______________________________________________________________________________