The Mekong River

Ame Trandem for International Rivers A long-brewing regional debate over whether or not to build the proposed Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River has hit boiling point. If there were any delusional fantasies remaining that mainstream dam building could be sustainable, the Mekong River Commission’s new independent technical review of the proposed Xayaburi Dam has [...]

by Milton Osborne for The Lowy Interpreter For the past six months, the Mekong River Commission (MRC) has been seeking submissions about the proposal by Laos to build a dam on the Mekong at Xayaburi, a location some 150 kilometres downstream from Luang Prabang. Projected to be over 800 metres wide and with a height [...]

SGGP Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand have agreed to convene a special session on the prior consultation process for Laos’ controversial proposed Xayaburi hydropower dam on the Mekong River before determining how they should proceed with the proposal, the Mekong River Commission announced Friday. The four Lower Mekong Basin countries reached this decision at the [...]

Thomas Miller for The Phnom Penh Post Representatives from Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam are in Sihanoukville today to discuss Laos’ Xayaburi hydropower dam proposal, the first of 12 proposed for the lower Mekong river, with a decision slated for April 22. The four countries signed an agreement in 1995 to cooperate on managing the [...]

International Rivers | World Water Day 2011 263 non-governmental organizations from 51 countries submitted a letter yesterday urging the Prime Ministers of Lao PDR and Thailand to immediately cancel the proposed Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River’s mainstream in Northern Laos. The letter urges the Government of Lao PDR to cancel its plans to build [...]

VOA Vietnamese officials are criticizing the Lao government’s controversial plan to build a dam on the Mekong River. Analysts say opposition from Vietnam and other lower Mekong countries could force Laos to scale back its hydropower ambitions. Vietnamese officials are publicly opposing a plan by neighboring Laos to build a hydropower dam on the Mekong [...]

VietNamNet Bridge - Provinces in the Mekong Delta face the risk of forest fire due to a continuing drought, with many places putting up fire alarm level 5, the highest. The drought has abraded the sides of That Son mountain in An Giang Province and withered most of the trees on it. Le Thanh Cong, [...]

Nirmal Ghosh for The Straits Times and by way of Eco-Business.com Bangkok, March 13 - The plan by Laos to build a large dam across the Mekong River at Xayaburi is not just raising serious concerns about its potential environmental impact, but also creating some tension between Laos and Vietnam. And for the first time, [...]

Piyaporn Wongruang for The Bangkok Post Villagers fear the worst as the Xayaburi Dam project in Laos takes shape The Mekong River looks a pale imitation of the mighty waterway it once was. The water flows sluggishly in a channel which has shrunken to only a few metres wide in some parts of Loei province. [...]

Piyaporn Wongruang for The Bangkok Post As construction of the Xayaburi Dam project is set to begin, concerns over its potential environmental, human toll and whether the energy it provides is even needed, remain unsettled. Construction on the US$3.5 billion (107 billion baht) Xayaburi Dam along the Lower Mekong is set to begin, pitting Southeast [...]