Scientists object to Xayaburi hydropower project
By Van Nam - The Saigon Times Daily Monday, January 17,2011,23:51 (GMT+7)
HCMC – Vietnam scientists last Friday expressed their objection to the project to build Xayaburi hydropower plant on the Mekong River in Laos, saying the plant would adversely affect the livelihood of millions of people downstream in Vietnam.
Scientists, who gathered at a meeting organized in Can Tho City, said that if Laos builds the 1,260-MW hydropower plant on the upper reach of the Mekong River, the livelihood of millions of people in Vietnam's Mekong Delta would be at stake. They explained that the water flow will dwindle and salt intrusion will increase, leading to the reduction of annual output of agriculture and aquatic products.
The power plant, which is some 1,930 kilometers from the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, if constructed, will hit some 14 million people downstream, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.
The ministry on its website quoted the scientists attending the meeting to strongly protest the construction of the Xayaburi hydropower plant after the host country put up the idea for feedback from other riparian countries.
Vietnam's Mekong River Committee is expected to organize two seminars for taking suggestions from local scientists regarding this huge hydropower plant.
According to the International Center for Environmental Management, if more hydropower plants are built in the upper reach of the Mekong River, the amount of alluvium flowing to Vietnam's Mekong Delta will tumble by 75%. In addition, the output of aquatic products in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam will fall by between 200,000 and 400,000 tons each year.
"The construction of hydropower plants in upper sections of the Mekong River will create serious corollaries on environmental impacts and agriculture production of local people, therefore, the construction of the hydropower plant needs being carefully studied," the website stated.
http://english.thesaigontimes.vn/Home/business/environment/14871/
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