http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/science/in-fragmented-forests-rapid-mammal-extinctions.html
MATTER
In Fragmented Forests, Rapid Mammal Extinctions
By CARL ZIMMER
September 26, 2013
In 1987, the government of Thailand launched a huge, unplanned experiment. They built a dam across the Khlong Saeng river, creating a 60-square-mile reservoir. As the Chiew Larn reservoir rose, it drowned the river valley, transforming 150 forested hilltops into islands, each with its own isolated menagerie of wildlife.
Conservation biologists have long known that fragmenting wilderness can put species at risk of extinction. But it�s been hard to gauge how long it takes for those species to disappear. Chiew Larn has given biologists the opportunity to measure the speed of mammal extinctions. �It�s a rare thing to come by in ecological studies,� said Luke Gibson, a biologist at the National University of Singapore.
Over two decades, Dr. Gibson and his colleagues have tracked the diversity of mammals on the islands. In Friday�s issue of the journal Science, they report that the extinctions have turned out to be distressingly fast.
�Our results should be a warning,� said Dr. Gibson. �This is the trend that the world is going in.�
Tropical forests are regularly cleared for logging, farming and cities. In most cases, the only original tree cover is reduced to isolated patches. Many of the original species of plants and animals may still survive in those fragments, but they experience new stresses. The edges of the fragments are no longer dim and humid, for example.
The small size of the surviving populations also creates problems. Over the course of a few generations, a small population can accumulate harmful mutations that make them less fertile or more vulnerable to diseases.
Scientists have hypothesized that many species will gradually decline in forest fragments until they become extinct. Reducing a vast carpet of jungle to isolated patches thus creates a so-called �extinction debt� that nature will sooner or later collect.
After the Khlong Saeng river was dammed, David Woodruff of the University of California at San Diego recognized that the islands in the reservoir would be good places to study how quickly nature calls in that debt. The islands were all formed at the same time, they were all isolated by water and they were surrounded by a vast forest preserve that was still brimming with biological diversity.
Carl Zimmer
EARL WILSON / THE NEW YORK TIMES
Between 1992 and 1994, Woodruff�s team visited a dozen islands, setting a 150-yard line of traps on each one. Each day for a week they visited the traps, tagged any mammals they found and released the animals. The researchers also set the same traps in the forests surrounding the reservoir.
Just five years after the dam was built, they could see a difference. Several species were more rare on the islands than on the mainland.
Dr. Gibson returned to the same 12 islands in 2012 and repeated the survey. He started on a 25-acre island. The first survey had found seven species of mammals. Dr. Gibson spent a week checking traps on the island and found only a single species: the Malayan field rat.
This was a startling find for two reasons. One was the drastic crash in diversity. The other was that the Malayan field rat wasn�t on the islands when they first formed. Malayan field rats thrive around villages and farms and other disturbed habitats. The rats Dr. Gibson trapped must have come from the surrounding rain forests, where they still remain scarce. When they swam to the islands, they found fragmented forests that they could dominate.
�I thought, �Wow, what if this trend holds?'� said Dr. Gibson. �And it did.�
On most of the islands, all the native species were gone, replaced by the rats. Only on a few islands did some species still cling to existence. Dr. Gibson surveyed an additional four islands and found they also had just one or two species, suggesting that all the islands were suffering massive extinctions in about 20 years.
�No one expected to see such rapid extinctions,� said Dr. Gibson.
Dr. Gibson suspects that the small size of the island forests makes them particularly vulnerable to invasion by the rats. The diversity of mammals he trapped in the mainland forests was the same as in the first surveys in the 1990s.
�This study confirms for mammals what we�ve long known for birds,� said Stuart L. Pimm, the president of Saving Species and a professor at Duke. In 2003, Dr. Pimm and his colleagues studied records of birds from forest fragments in the Amazon and found species going extinct at a comparable rate.
Dr. Pimm and Dr. Gibson agreed that the fast pace of extinction in forest fragments gives an urgency to conserving the large swaths of tropical forest that still remain. �Our study shows we may need to do that very quickly,� said Dr. Gibson.
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Monday, September 30, 2013
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
SNC-Lavalin may have to abandon involvement in Inga 3 Dam over corruption
SNC-Lavalin may have to abandon involvement in DRC dam project
SNC-Lavalin may have to pull out from a consortium bidding on a contract
to construct a massive dam project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
By Brady Yauch for Probe International
September 24, 2013
http://journal.probeinternational.org/2013/09/23/snc-lavalin-may-have-to-abandon-involvement-in-drc-dam-project/
SNC-Lavalin's debarment from World Bank projects because of its corrupt
ways may force the company to withdraw from bidding on a contract to
construct a massive dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
At stake is a contract to build the Inga III Dam in the African country,
which is expected to cost anywhere from $12 billion to $20 billion and
produce 4,800 MW of electricity. The World Bank has already committed
$50 million to the project to complete environmental impact assessments
(EIAs) and technical studies. In May, the DRC government announced that
construction on the dam will begin by October 2015.
Financing for the project is expected to come from public sources: the
Africa Development Bank, the World Bank, the French Development Agency,
the European Investment Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa
have all been named as potential contributors.
The DRC government has reportedly opened a bidding process to select a
lead contractor for the Inga III Dam, with SNC-Lavalin part of a
consortium that includes two South Korean firms, Daewoo and Posco. But
because SNC-Lavalin and more than 100 of its affiliates are barred from
bidding on World Bank-sponsored projects, the engineering giant's
involvement with the Inga III project could well be in jeopardy. Even
more so as the African Development Bank, which has a "cross-debarment
agreement" with the World Bank, has also debarred SNC-Lavalin. The
African Development Bank has already thrown its support behind the project.
When asked for a comment, SNC-Lavalin explained: "An internal policy of
SNC-Lavalin stipulates that we cannot comment on the projects for which
SNC-Lavalin is a tender. Consequently, we are sorry for not being able
to answer your questions."
Inga III is just the first phase of a massive dam project. According to
International Rivers, Grand Inga, as the project is called, would be
constructed in six development phases with Inga III being the first.
Inga III will be constructed in two steps, initially a low head and then
a high head, extending the dam wall and making it higher. If completed,
Grand Inga is projected to cost a gargantuan $80 billion. And it's
expected to produce as much as 40,000 MW of electricity – about twice
the size of China's Three Gorges Dam, currently the largest
hydroelectric project in the world. Supporters of the project say that
would meet as much as 40% of all of Africa's electricity needs.
"A myth dreamed of for 40 years, Grand Inga is becoming a reality with
an action plan spread over several plants which will be added in
stages," is how the DRC government described the project after a recent
meeting in Paris with the World Bank and other financial institutions.
But projects of this size – and Three Gorges is a perfect example –
often produce problems of similar magnitude. Corruption and bribery are
often rampant throughout the construction of such mega projects. The DRC
is ranked one of the world's most corrupt – 160 out of 174 on
Transparency International's Corruption Index.
Past dams in the DRC have been costly and failed to meet forecasts for
electricity production. Inga I and Inga II, completed in 1972 and 1982,
respectively, have only operated at about 30% of their capacity.
According to Engineering News Record, analysts are dubious about Inga
III proceeding at all because of a lack of government commitment in the
past and insecurity caused by a civil conflict between the country's
president and rebel groups. South Africa analyst Andrew Kenny said that
investors would fear political and commercial risk "from an unstable
government in a country wracked with bloody conflict."
Meanwhile, says Engineering News Record, delays in the World Bank-funded
rehabilitation of Inga I and Inga II and a failure to compensate
millions of people who were displaced during construction of those two
dams decades ago indicate how risky investing in Inga III could be. The
delayed World Bank Inga I and Inga II rehabilitation projects, initially
slated for 2003 at a cost of US$200 million – involving turbine
replacement and refurbishment, construction of a second transmission
line to Kinshasa and rehabilitation of the Inga-Kolwezi grid – are now
estimated to cost US$883 million.
Yet being forced out of the consortium that wants to bid on Inga III –
which would be another blow to SNC-Lavalin's reputation as it reels from
ongoing corruption charges and trials – might actually be a blessing in
disguise if the project turns out to be the investment and security
debacle that all indicators suggest it is.
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: africa@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
SNC-Lavalin may have to pull out from a consortium bidding on a contract
to construct a massive dam project in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
By Brady Yauch for Probe International
September 24, 2013
http://journal.probeinternational.org/2013/09/23/snc-lavalin-may-have-to-abandon-involvement-in-drc-dam-project/
SNC-Lavalin's debarment from World Bank projects because of its corrupt
ways may force the company to withdraw from bidding on a contract to
construct a massive dam in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
At stake is a contract to build the Inga III Dam in the African country,
which is expected to cost anywhere from $12 billion to $20 billion and
produce 4,800 MW of electricity. The World Bank has already committed
$50 million to the project to complete environmental impact assessments
(EIAs) and technical studies. In May, the DRC government announced that
construction on the dam will begin by October 2015.
Financing for the project is expected to come from public sources: the
Africa Development Bank, the World Bank, the French Development Agency,
the European Investment Bank and the Development Bank of Southern Africa
have all been named as potential contributors.
The DRC government has reportedly opened a bidding process to select a
lead contractor for the Inga III Dam, with SNC-Lavalin part of a
consortium that includes two South Korean firms, Daewoo and Posco. But
because SNC-Lavalin and more than 100 of its affiliates are barred from
bidding on World Bank-sponsored projects, the engineering giant's
involvement with the Inga III project could well be in jeopardy. Even
more so as the African Development Bank, which has a "cross-debarment
agreement" with the World Bank, has also debarred SNC-Lavalin. The
African Development Bank has already thrown its support behind the project.
When asked for a comment, SNC-Lavalin explained: "An internal policy of
SNC-Lavalin stipulates that we cannot comment on the projects for which
SNC-Lavalin is a tender. Consequently, we are sorry for not being able
to answer your questions."
Inga III is just the first phase of a massive dam project. According to
International Rivers, Grand Inga, as the project is called, would be
constructed in six development phases with Inga III being the first.
Inga III will be constructed in two steps, initially a low head and then
a high head, extending the dam wall and making it higher. If completed,
Grand Inga is projected to cost a gargantuan $80 billion. And it's
expected to produce as much as 40,000 MW of electricity – about twice
the size of China's Three Gorges Dam, currently the largest
hydroelectric project in the world. Supporters of the project say that
would meet as much as 40% of all of Africa's electricity needs.
"A myth dreamed of for 40 years, Grand Inga is becoming a reality with
an action plan spread over several plants which will be added in
stages," is how the DRC government described the project after a recent
meeting in Paris with the World Bank and other financial institutions.
But projects of this size – and Three Gorges is a perfect example –
often produce problems of similar magnitude. Corruption and bribery are
often rampant throughout the construction of such mega projects. The DRC
is ranked one of the world's most corrupt – 160 out of 174 on
Transparency International's Corruption Index.
Past dams in the DRC have been costly and failed to meet forecasts for
electricity production. Inga I and Inga II, completed in 1972 and 1982,
respectively, have only operated at about 30% of their capacity.
According to Engineering News Record, analysts are dubious about Inga
III proceeding at all because of a lack of government commitment in the
past and insecurity caused by a civil conflict between the country's
president and rebel groups. South Africa analyst Andrew Kenny said that
investors would fear political and commercial risk "from an unstable
government in a country wracked with bloody conflict."
Meanwhile, says Engineering News Record, delays in the World Bank-funded
rehabilitation of Inga I and Inga II and a failure to compensate
millions of people who were displaced during construction of those two
dams decades ago indicate how risky investing in Inga III could be. The
delayed World Bank Inga I and Inga II rehabilitation projects, initially
slated for 2003 at a cost of US$200 million – involving turbine
replacement and refurbishment, construction of a second transmission
line to Kinshasa and rehabilitation of the Inga-Kolwezi grid – are now
estimated to cost US$883 million.
Yet being forced out of the consortium that wants to bid on Inga III –
which would be another blow to SNC-Lavalin's reputation as it reels from
ongoing corruption charges and trials – might actually be a blessing in
disguise if the project turns out to be the investment and security
debacle that all indicators suggest it is.
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: africa@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
Chinese government sees its own reflection in water crisis
Chinese government sees its own reflection in water crisis
By David Stanway, Reuters
BEIJING | Mon Sep 23, 2013 6:11am EDT
www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/23/us-climate-ipcc-china-idUSBRE98M0BP20130923
(Reuters) - For China, global warming has become something of a
convenient truth.
Beijing blames climate change for wreaking havoc on scarce water
resources, but critics say the country's headlong drive to build its
industrial prowess and huge hydro projects are just as responsible.
On the eve of a global climate change conference in Stockholm, a U.N.
climate body says shrinking glaciers in central Asia and the Himalayas
would affect water resources in downstream river catchments, which
include China.
"Some regions are already near the critical temperature threshold," the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in a draft summary
report obtained by Reuters.
"In parts of Asia, increases in flood and drought will exacerbate rural
poverty, due to negative impacts on rice crops and increases in food
prices and costs of living."
Rising temperatures are likely to speed icecap melting in the Himalayas,
which could bring first floods and then severe drought, with diminished
seasonal melts unable to replenish China's rivers, including the mighty
Yangtze.
This year, China published a national "water census" showing that as
many as 28,000 rivers logged in a government database had vanished since
the 1990s, leaving just under 23,000.
The census gave no reason for the disappearance, but China's weather
bureau said several major rivers, including the Yellow River, a massive
northern waterway linking nine provinces, had been dwindling since 1970
and the trend was likely to continue.
"We have witnessed major fluctuations in precipitation in different
parts of China," said Ma Jun, a water expert and director of the
Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), which monitors
China's rivers.
"One thing in the mind of policymakers and researchers is that climate
change will add to uncertainties -- in some areas, the water supply
situation is already quite tense."
But rising temperatures are only part of China's problems, many of which
have resulted from overpopulation, aggressive industrialization and a
huge reliance on elaborate engineering schemes to irrigate crops and
harness scarce supplies.
"China's water shortages stem more from problematic urbanization and
water resource management, rather than the scapegoat of climate change,"
said Zhou Lei, a fellow at Nanjing University who studies how industry
affects the environment.
"In my home town in Jiangxi, the water system consisted of underground
springs, ponds, wetlands, brooks, streams, and seasonal rivulets, but
all these have been totally ruined in the last 20 years due to a
catastrophic urbanization plan, a construction mania and transport
megaprojects," he said.
WRINGING CHINA DRY
China has vowed to spend trillions of yuan to boost supplies, clean
rivers and protect water tables.
But even if supplies remain steady, water resources per person, now at
2,100 cubic meters or 28 percent of the global average, are expected to
decline further as the population grows.
At the same time, Beijing still needs to feed its growing food, energy
and industrial demand.
Hundreds of rivers have already vanished in northwestern Gansu, one of
the country's driest regions.
In the town of Minqin, residents said the problem was not new, with the
nearby Shiyang river disappearing not because of temperature rises, but
because a vast upstream reservoir built two decades ago to irrigate a
large farm cut off their supply.
China has long sought to wring as much water as it can from its parched
earth, but is approaching the limits of what it can retrieve.
Projections expect total annual demand to reach 700 billion to 800
billion cubic meters by 2030, only slightly lower than total available
supplies.
"In the last 50 years we have mainly focused on expanding water
supplies, but at this moment I think we have in many areas reached our
limit and we need to shift our focus to conservation," said Ma.
The reliance on megaprojects to solve shortages has created a vicious
circle, channeling water to state-owned farms, giant industrial plants
or hydropower stations, diverting natural flows and leaving surrounding
areas more parched than before.
Some regions desperate for growth have been forced to choose between
water and energy. Gansu plans to build several giant hydro plants in the
upper reaches of the Yellow River, defying warnings that this could
restrict downstream water supplies.
Elsewhere, green groups say scarce water resources are being diverted
from agriculture to profitable coal-fired power plants, with China
building thirsty "coal production bases" in dry areas such as Inner
Mongolia, Ningxia and Shaanxi.
But even flood-prone southwestern provinces have suffered from droughts
once regarded as unthinkable.
In Yunnan, dozens of rivers have been dammed to generate power, and
complex canal systems built to improve irrigation.
Water diversion has made shortages more likely. Several rivers in the
province have dried up over the last decade, and drought has been
common. In April, hundreds of wells and streams dried up, creating a
crisis for thousands of farmers.
"China is looking always at megaprojects rather than addressing the root
causes," said Zhou.
"They experiment with technologies to treat the problem, like the water
transfer projects being done right now, but they are draining resources
in a very wrong way."
China has put its faith in elaborate engineering and technological
solutions such as giant dams and diversion channels, besides cloud
seeding and desalination.
Its biggest megaproject of all is a vast system of canals known as the
South-North Water Diversion project.
Opponents say the project, designed to connect the flood-prone Yangtze
with the drought-hit Yellow river through three cross-country canals,
including one in the far west, where the two rivers originate, could
worsen shortages.
"The negative impact of these big engineering projects could be quite
serious and some of the problems could be transferred to other areas,
especially in the west," said Ma.
"We spent our resources mainly on engineering and on technologies to
drill deeper, build dams and work on water diversion projects, but we
need to work on conservation."
(Additional reporting by Alister Doyle in OSLO and Carlos Barria in
MINQIN, China; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: china@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
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By David Stanway, Reuters
BEIJING | Mon Sep 23, 2013 6:11am EDT
www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/23/us-climate-ipcc-china-idUSBRE98M0BP20130923
(Reuters) - For China, global warming has become something of a
convenient truth.
Beijing blames climate change for wreaking havoc on scarce water
resources, but critics say the country's headlong drive to build its
industrial prowess and huge hydro projects are just as responsible.
On the eve of a global climate change conference in Stockholm, a U.N.
climate body says shrinking glaciers in central Asia and the Himalayas
would affect water resources in downstream river catchments, which
include China.
"Some regions are already near the critical temperature threshold," the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said in a draft summary
report obtained by Reuters.
"In parts of Asia, increases in flood and drought will exacerbate rural
poverty, due to negative impacts on rice crops and increases in food
prices and costs of living."
Rising temperatures are likely to speed icecap melting in the Himalayas,
which could bring first floods and then severe drought, with diminished
seasonal melts unable to replenish China's rivers, including the mighty
Yangtze.
This year, China published a national "water census" showing that as
many as 28,000 rivers logged in a government database had vanished since
the 1990s, leaving just under 23,000.
The census gave no reason for the disappearance, but China's weather
bureau said several major rivers, including the Yellow River, a massive
northern waterway linking nine provinces, had been dwindling since 1970
and the trend was likely to continue.
"We have witnessed major fluctuations in precipitation in different
parts of China," said Ma Jun, a water expert and director of the
Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs (IPE), which monitors
China's rivers.
"One thing in the mind of policymakers and researchers is that climate
change will add to uncertainties -- in some areas, the water supply
situation is already quite tense."
But rising temperatures are only part of China's problems, many of which
have resulted from overpopulation, aggressive industrialization and a
huge reliance on elaborate engineering schemes to irrigate crops and
harness scarce supplies.
"China's water shortages stem more from problematic urbanization and
water resource management, rather than the scapegoat of climate change,"
said Zhou Lei, a fellow at Nanjing University who studies how industry
affects the environment.
"In my home town in Jiangxi, the water system consisted of underground
springs, ponds, wetlands, brooks, streams, and seasonal rivulets, but
all these have been totally ruined in the last 20 years due to a
catastrophic urbanization plan, a construction mania and transport
megaprojects," he said.
WRINGING CHINA DRY
China has vowed to spend trillions of yuan to boost supplies, clean
rivers and protect water tables.
But even if supplies remain steady, water resources per person, now at
2,100 cubic meters or 28 percent of the global average, are expected to
decline further as the population grows.
At the same time, Beijing still needs to feed its growing food, energy
and industrial demand.
Hundreds of rivers have already vanished in northwestern Gansu, one of
the country's driest regions.
In the town of Minqin, residents said the problem was not new, with the
nearby Shiyang river disappearing not because of temperature rises, but
because a vast upstream reservoir built two decades ago to irrigate a
large farm cut off their supply.
China has long sought to wring as much water as it can from its parched
earth, but is approaching the limits of what it can retrieve.
Projections expect total annual demand to reach 700 billion to 800
billion cubic meters by 2030, only slightly lower than total available
supplies.
"In the last 50 years we have mainly focused on expanding water
supplies, but at this moment I think we have in many areas reached our
limit and we need to shift our focus to conservation," said Ma.
The reliance on megaprojects to solve shortages has created a vicious
circle, channeling water to state-owned farms, giant industrial plants
or hydropower stations, diverting natural flows and leaving surrounding
areas more parched than before.
Some regions desperate for growth have been forced to choose between
water and energy. Gansu plans to build several giant hydro plants in the
upper reaches of the Yellow River, defying warnings that this could
restrict downstream water supplies.
Elsewhere, green groups say scarce water resources are being diverted
from agriculture to profitable coal-fired power plants, with China
building thirsty "coal production bases" in dry areas such as Inner
Mongolia, Ningxia and Shaanxi.
But even flood-prone southwestern provinces have suffered from droughts
once regarded as unthinkable.
In Yunnan, dozens of rivers have been dammed to generate power, and
complex canal systems built to improve irrigation.
Water diversion has made shortages more likely. Several rivers in the
province have dried up over the last decade, and drought has been
common. In April, hundreds of wells and streams dried up, creating a
crisis for thousands of farmers.
"China is looking always at megaprojects rather than addressing the root
causes," said Zhou.
"They experiment with technologies to treat the problem, like the water
transfer projects being done right now, but they are draining resources
in a very wrong way."
China has put its faith in elaborate engineering and technological
solutions such as giant dams and diversion channels, besides cloud
seeding and desalination.
Its biggest megaproject of all is a vast system of canals known as the
South-North Water Diversion project.
Opponents say the project, designed to connect the flood-prone Yangtze
with the drought-hit Yellow river through three cross-country canals,
including one in the far west, where the two rivers originate, could
worsen shortages.
"The negative impact of these big engineering projects could be quite
serious and some of the problems could be transferred to other areas,
especially in the west," said Ma.
"We spent our resources mainly on engineering and on technologies to
drill deeper, build dams and work on water diversion projects, but we
need to work on conservation."
(Additional reporting by Alister Doyle in OSLO and Carlos Barria in
MINQIN, China; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
________________________________________________
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Thursday, September 19, 2013
The politics of dam-building: opening the floodgates
The politics of dam-building
Opening the floodgates
The great rivers of China are being dammed, regardless of the consequences
The Economist, Sep 21st 2013 | DAZHONG VILLAGE, CHONGQING
www.economist.com/news/china/21586538-great-rivers-china-are-being-dammed-regardless-consequences-opening-floodgates
CHINA has many good reasons not to build the $5.2 billion Xiaonanhai dam
on the Yangzi river in Chongqing. The site, on a gentle slope that moves
water along only slowly, is not ideal for generating hydropower. The
fertile soil makes it one of China's most productive regions, so it is
densely populated with farmers reaping good harvests. And the dam (see
map), which would produce only 10% of the electricity of the Three
Gorges project downstream, could destroy a rare fish preserve,
threatening several endangered species including the Yangzi sturgeon.
In this section
Yet it does not matter how strong the case may be against Xiaonanhai,
because the battle against a hydropower scheme in China is usually lost
before it is fought. The political economy of dam-building is rigged.
Though the Chinese authorities have made much progress in evaluating the
social and environmental impact of dams, the emphasis is still on
building them, even when mitigating the damage would be hard. Critics
have called it the "hydro-industrial complex": China has armies of water
engineers (including Hu Jintao, the former president) and at least 300
gigawatts of untapped hydroelectric potential. China's total generating
capacity in 2012 was 1,145GW, of which 758GW came from coal-burning plants.
An important motive for China to pursue hydropower is, ironically, the
environment. China desperately needs to expand its energy supply while
reducing its dependence on carbon-based fuels, especially coal. The
government wants 15% of power consumption to come from clean or
renewable sources by 2020, up from 9% now. Hydropower is essential for
achieving that goal, as is nuclear power. "Hydro, including large hydro
in China, is seen as green," says Darrin Magee, an expert on Chinese
dams at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York state.
There is also a political reason why large hydro schemes continue to go
ahead. Dambuilders and local governments have almost unlimited power to
plan and approve projects, whereas environmental officials have almost
no power to stop them.
Heavy on the levees
The problems begin with the planning for China's rivers, which are
divided into fiefs by the state-owned power companies that build dams in
much the same way as the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of
Reclamation divided up American rivers in the early 20th century. Though
the staff of the water-resources ministry in Beijing know a lot about
the environment, they have no say. "Big hydro projects are designed and
approved by everybody but the ministry of water resources," says Mr Magee.
Local governments, meanwhile, view dams as enticing economic development
projects. The dambuilders, which have special privileges to borrow, put
up the financing. The extra electricity supports industrial expansion
and brings in revenues. Local officials are promoted for meeting
economic performance targets and some collude for personal gain with the
dambuilders. Because of the decentralised nature of the industry, local
officials try to include dams in their plans. Once they have done so,
they can expect the environmental impact assessments that follow to be a
formality—if only because the consultants who undertake them are paid by
the hydropower companies.
Environmental officials who have not been financially captured by the
dambuilding economy find themselves as scarce as some of the fish they
are charged to protect. Environmental activists, meanwhile, can request
access to public records and demand public hearings, both required by
law. But they say that these avenues are barred when they are most
needed—on controversial projects that face vocal opposition. For
example, the authorities have rejected requests for public records on
Xiaonanhai and they have not granted a public hearing.
If environmental regulators and activists want any hope of halting a
project, they must go outside normal bureaucratic channels to lobby
powerful Politburo members or the national media. Although that may not
always work, it did in 2004, when Wen Jiabao, then prime minister,
halted construction of a cascade of 13 dams on the Nu River in
south-west China in order to protect the environment. Even then some
work on the projects still proceeded. Meanwhile, smaller schemes race
ahead unchecked. Promoted by dambuilders and local governments, nearly
100 smaller hydroelectric projects in the Nu river region went forward
without needing permission from higher up. Some began before they had
even received the final approval.
China's new leaders in recent months have signalled that they want yet
more dams, approving several ambitious new projects, including what
would be the highest dam in the world, on the Dadu river. After Mr Wen
stepped down from his posts in the party and the government, the dams on
the Nu river that he blocked received the go-ahead again.
Chinese leaders have for millennia sought to tame the country's great
rivers, which have sustained and destroyed countless lives with cycles
of abundance, famine and floods. Indeed their legitimacy as rulers has
long been linked to their ability to do so. The Communist Party has
built thousands of large dams since 1949. China is also the world's
leading builder of big dams abroad; International Rivers, a pressure
group, says that Chinese companies and financiers are involved in about
300 dam projects in 66 countries.
The most controversial emblem of Chinese hydropower is the Three Gorges
dam, the largest in the world with a capacity of 22.5GW. In contrast,
America's Hoover Dam has less than one-tenth of that capacity. Many
critics within China felt that the Three Gorges was too big and too
dangerous to build. They predicted that silt would collect in its
reservoir, threatening the stability of the dam and lessening its
capacity to produce power. They warned that the dam's vast reservoir,
which would submerge the homes of more than 1m people, would become
polluted and alter the flow and ecology of the Yangzi river. They also
feared that the dam could cause earthquakes, as it sits on two major
fault-lines.
Damn the consequences
In the end, though, political power trumped scientific argument. Nearly
one-third of China's legislature either abstained or voted against the
Three Gorges dam in 1992, in what remains the most vocal opposition the
rubber-stamp body has ever registered against a proposal from China's
leaders. But Li Peng, then prime minister, had trained as a
hydroelectric engineer and was determined to build the dam. (His
daughter, Li Xiaolin, is head of a publicly listed arm of one of the
five big state-owned power companies.)
Today authorities acknowledge that many of the predictions about the
Three Gorges dam have come true. This has led to them proposing
mitigation strategies, including building more dams upstream, such as
Xiaonanhai, to slow the accumulation of silt. The state has also passed
numerous laws and regulations in an attempt to balance dam construction
with the protection of China's rivers.
The Xiaonanhai dam, though, suggests that they are treading the same old
path. First put forward in 1990, it was in recent years pushed hard by
Bo Xilai, a member of China's Politburo who was sacked as Chongqing's
party chief in March 2012 and tried last month. The dam, nevertheless,
had its official groundbreaking ceremony just days after his downfall.
China Three Gorges Corp, which is in charge of this section of the
Yangzi river, has begun minor preparatory work on the dam; residents
have been approached about resettlement; and last year Chongqing
officials listed Xiaonanhai as a ��major project" for 2013, making its
construction almost a certainty, regardless of the environmental impact
assessment when it comes.
Environmental activists are left to accept that hydropower will continue
to transform all the big rivers of China. They argue that Xiaonanhai is
not a "smart" dam even from the perspective of the power companies. For
a large dam, it will not produce much electricity. And it is not ideally
positioned to alleviate the silt build-up in the Three Gorges reservoir
downstream—in part because so many other planned dams farther upstream
will do the job, instead.
Guo Qiaoyu of The Nature Conservancy, an American environmental group,
argues that Chongqing would do better to increase the power-generating
capacity of existing dam projects in the region. A planned cascade of 12
dams along the lower Jinsha river nearby will produce almost 30 times as
much electricity as the Xiaonanhai dam. About 90 other significant dams
are planned in the region.
Fan Xiao, a Chinese environmental scholar and activist, argues that the
dam will also destroy prime farmland that Chongqing needs to feed its
32m people. In a letter in 2011 to national leaders he called the area
around Xiaonanhai "the most productive…concentration of arable land
along the banks of the Yangzi river".
Indeed, Liao Rengang, a farmer of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers beside
the Yangzi, says he earned more than 130,000 yuan ($21,000) last year.
But Mr Liao says he will not bother fighting the dam: "If they want to
take the land they can, because they are the state," he says. "It's not
up to us."
________________________________________________
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Opening the floodgates
The great rivers of China are being dammed, regardless of the consequences
The Economist, Sep 21st 2013 | DAZHONG VILLAGE, CHONGQING
www.economist.com/news/china/21586538-great-rivers-china-are-being-dammed-regardless-consequences-opening-floodgates
CHINA has many good reasons not to build the $5.2 billion Xiaonanhai dam
on the Yangzi river in Chongqing. The site, on a gentle slope that moves
water along only slowly, is not ideal for generating hydropower. The
fertile soil makes it one of China's most productive regions, so it is
densely populated with farmers reaping good harvests. And the dam (see
map), which would produce only 10% of the electricity of the Three
Gorges project downstream, could destroy a rare fish preserve,
threatening several endangered species including the Yangzi sturgeon.
In this section
Yet it does not matter how strong the case may be against Xiaonanhai,
because the battle against a hydropower scheme in China is usually lost
before it is fought. The political economy of dam-building is rigged.
Though the Chinese authorities have made much progress in evaluating the
social and environmental impact of dams, the emphasis is still on
building them, even when mitigating the damage would be hard. Critics
have called it the "hydro-industrial complex": China has armies of water
engineers (including Hu Jintao, the former president) and at least 300
gigawatts of untapped hydroelectric potential. China's total generating
capacity in 2012 was 1,145GW, of which 758GW came from coal-burning plants.
An important motive for China to pursue hydropower is, ironically, the
environment. China desperately needs to expand its energy supply while
reducing its dependence on carbon-based fuels, especially coal. The
government wants 15% of power consumption to come from clean or
renewable sources by 2020, up from 9% now. Hydropower is essential for
achieving that goal, as is nuclear power. "Hydro, including large hydro
in China, is seen as green," says Darrin Magee, an expert on Chinese
dams at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York state.
There is also a political reason why large hydro schemes continue to go
ahead. Dambuilders and local governments have almost unlimited power to
plan and approve projects, whereas environmental officials have almost
no power to stop them.
Heavy on the levees
The problems begin with the planning for China's rivers, which are
divided into fiefs by the state-owned power companies that build dams in
much the same way as the Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of
Reclamation divided up American rivers in the early 20th century. Though
the staff of the water-resources ministry in Beijing know a lot about
the environment, they have no say. "Big hydro projects are designed and
approved by everybody but the ministry of water resources," says Mr Magee.
Local governments, meanwhile, view dams as enticing economic development
projects. The dambuilders, which have special privileges to borrow, put
up the financing. The extra electricity supports industrial expansion
and brings in revenues. Local officials are promoted for meeting
economic performance targets and some collude for personal gain with the
dambuilders. Because of the decentralised nature of the industry, local
officials try to include dams in their plans. Once they have done so,
they can expect the environmental impact assessments that follow to be a
formality—if only because the consultants who undertake them are paid by
the hydropower companies.
Environmental officials who have not been financially captured by the
dambuilding economy find themselves as scarce as some of the fish they
are charged to protect. Environmental activists, meanwhile, can request
access to public records and demand public hearings, both required by
law. But they say that these avenues are barred when they are most
needed—on controversial projects that face vocal opposition. For
example, the authorities have rejected requests for public records on
Xiaonanhai and they have not granted a public hearing.
If environmental regulators and activists want any hope of halting a
project, they must go outside normal bureaucratic channels to lobby
powerful Politburo members or the national media. Although that may not
always work, it did in 2004, when Wen Jiabao, then prime minister,
halted construction of a cascade of 13 dams on the Nu River in
south-west China in order to protect the environment. Even then some
work on the projects still proceeded. Meanwhile, smaller schemes race
ahead unchecked. Promoted by dambuilders and local governments, nearly
100 smaller hydroelectric projects in the Nu river region went forward
without needing permission from higher up. Some began before they had
even received the final approval.
China's new leaders in recent months have signalled that they want yet
more dams, approving several ambitious new projects, including what
would be the highest dam in the world, on the Dadu river. After Mr Wen
stepped down from his posts in the party and the government, the dams on
the Nu river that he blocked received the go-ahead again.
Chinese leaders have for millennia sought to tame the country's great
rivers, which have sustained and destroyed countless lives with cycles
of abundance, famine and floods. Indeed their legitimacy as rulers has
long been linked to their ability to do so. The Communist Party has
built thousands of large dams since 1949. China is also the world's
leading builder of big dams abroad; International Rivers, a pressure
group, says that Chinese companies and financiers are involved in about
300 dam projects in 66 countries.
The most controversial emblem of Chinese hydropower is the Three Gorges
dam, the largest in the world with a capacity of 22.5GW. In contrast,
America's Hoover Dam has less than one-tenth of that capacity. Many
critics within China felt that the Three Gorges was too big and too
dangerous to build. They predicted that silt would collect in its
reservoir, threatening the stability of the dam and lessening its
capacity to produce power. They warned that the dam's vast reservoir,
which would submerge the homes of more than 1m people, would become
polluted and alter the flow and ecology of the Yangzi river. They also
feared that the dam could cause earthquakes, as it sits on two major
fault-lines.
Damn the consequences
In the end, though, political power trumped scientific argument. Nearly
one-third of China's legislature either abstained or voted against the
Three Gorges dam in 1992, in what remains the most vocal opposition the
rubber-stamp body has ever registered against a proposal from China's
leaders. But Li Peng, then prime minister, had trained as a
hydroelectric engineer and was determined to build the dam. (His
daughter, Li Xiaolin, is head of a publicly listed arm of one of the
five big state-owned power companies.)
Today authorities acknowledge that many of the predictions about the
Three Gorges dam have come true. This has led to them proposing
mitigation strategies, including building more dams upstream, such as
Xiaonanhai, to slow the accumulation of silt. The state has also passed
numerous laws and regulations in an attempt to balance dam construction
with the protection of China's rivers.
The Xiaonanhai dam, though, suggests that they are treading the same old
path. First put forward in 1990, it was in recent years pushed hard by
Bo Xilai, a member of China's Politburo who was sacked as Chongqing's
party chief in March 2012 and tried last month. The dam, nevertheless,
had its official groundbreaking ceremony just days after his downfall.
China Three Gorges Corp, which is in charge of this section of the
Yangzi river, has begun minor preparatory work on the dam; residents
have been approached about resettlement; and last year Chongqing
officials listed Xiaonanhai as a ��major project" for 2013, making its
construction almost a certainty, regardless of the environmental impact
assessment when it comes.
Environmental activists are left to accept that hydropower will continue
to transform all the big rivers of China. They argue that Xiaonanhai is
not a "smart" dam even from the perspective of the power companies. For
a large dam, it will not produce much electricity. And it is not ideally
positioned to alleviate the silt build-up in the Three Gorges reservoir
downstream—in part because so many other planned dams farther upstream
will do the job, instead.
Guo Qiaoyu of The Nature Conservancy, an American environmental group,
argues that Chongqing would do better to increase the power-generating
capacity of existing dam projects in the region. A planned cascade of 12
dams along the lower Jinsha river nearby will produce almost 30 times as
much electricity as the Xiaonanhai dam. About 90 other significant dams
are planned in the region.
Fan Xiao, a Chinese environmental scholar and activist, argues that the
dam will also destroy prime farmland that Chongqing needs to feed its
32m people. In a letter in 2011 to national leaders he called the area
around Xiaonanhai "the most productive…concentration of arable land
along the banks of the Yangzi river".
Indeed, Liao Rengang, a farmer of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers beside
the Yangzi, says he earned more than 130,000 yuan ($21,000) last year.
But Mr Liao says he will not bother fighting the dam: "If they want to
take the land they can, because they are the state," he says. "It's not
up to us."
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: china@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
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Thursday, September 12, 2013
Doing Dams Differently Can Mean Development For All
This article compares policies and practices on Kandajii Dam (Niger) to Ethiopia's controversial Gibe III Dam (a pariah even in the dam-building world!). It is not clear who wrote this, but seems to be someone working on Kandadji Dam in Niger. It's also not clear if all the promised policies on this project will in the end protect affected peoples' livelihoods, but at least they are addressing these issues head on.
http://www.bizday.co.zw/2013/09/05/doing-dams-differently-can-mean-development-for-all/
Published On: Thu, Sep 5th, 2013Special reports | By BizDay Zimbabwe
Doing Dams Differently Can Mean Development For All
LONDON � Development is a messy, often inequitable business. Investments and policies usually favour some people or sectors over others and the playing field of opportunity is rarely flat. Should development be just for the majority or is it possible to ensure development for all? Nowhere is this choice more visible than in the approaches governments take to resettlement and downstream impacts from large dams.
Inga-1 Hydroelectric DamInga-1 Hydroelectric Dam
Dams transform the waterways on which they are built. They reduce floods, store water for irrigation or hydropower and stabilise downstream flows. This creates downstream opportunities for some (often farmers who want year-round irrigation) � but can spell disaster for others (such as fishers and pastoralists whose livestock graze seasonal floodplains).
These divides reflect a recurring development fault-line, across which the �modern� can grind up against the traditional. For policymakers, these sides can represent stagnation versus progress. In many semi-arid countries this plays out as strategic choices, where more irrigation means less pastoralism, or more intensive, large-scale irrigated agribusiness ousts smallholder farms in a quest for higher yields, �modern� agriculture and national food security.
Is it not possible to have inclusive development, and not have to choose who should benefit but ensure that everyone does? This would take more time �and perhaps cost more� to achieve, but ultimately it would be less divisive and more equitable. Can you make an omelette without breaking eggs? Our work on dams in Niger suggests you can.
�Backward� to �Modern�
Mention dams and development in Africa and many people�s minds will turn not to Niger but to Ethiopia or perhaps the Congo basin. Both have hit the news recently, the first for the geo-political implications on Egypt of the downstream impacts of its huge Renaissance dam, and the second for the sheer size of the planned Inga hydropower plant. It will be nearly twice as large as China�s Three Gorges dam, with up to 42000 MW of installed capacity. Both reflect an Africa-wide push for secure energy supplies.
Ethiopia aims to become a major hydropower exporter. Another of its dams, the Gibe III under construction on the Omo River, shows that in some countries little has changed in the development paradigm. For centuries, nomadic pastoralists have grazed the semi-arid land through which the Omo flows south from the Ethiopian highlands towards Lake Turkana in Kenya. They depend on the river�s seasonal floods, which create lush grasslands. Now, with the dam due to be completed in 2014, change is on its way.
The Ethiopian government plans to turn 170,000-245,000 hectares of that land over to large-scale industrial irrigation projects that will attract foreign investors. It aims to modernise and transform the local economy to promote opportunities for farmers and businesses.
Both Survival International and Human Rights Watch are concerned that Ethiopia regards the traditional livelihoods of the pastoralists as backward and uncivilised, and will �develop� the herders, without taking their views into account or letting them participate in the decision-making process. Another 20,000 households of farmers, who grow crops on 11,000 hectares of flood recession land along the waterways, will also lose their resource base.
This government move to appropriate communal land on a large scale and its repackaging and development by particular interest groups is not unfamiliar. In Britain, the process of formally and legally enclosing the commons for the benefit of particular land owners and at the expense of �commoners� was regular practice 150-300 years ago. The argument advanced then was the same as now: only when land is clearly owned and managed will good stewardship, investment and productive exploitation result. And while Ethiopia follows that historical pathway and paradigm, which benefits certain actors over others, on the other side of Africa, Niger shows that another way is possible.
Recognising Rights
Unlike elsewhere in West Africa � where governments often legally own the land and local people have customary rights to use it � Niger has gone further over the last twenty years to enable rural people to register their traditional farmland as private property. This approach builds on community customs. It recognises their past and the way in which rural people historically settled and used land, rather than promoting a swift and sweeping transformation from �backward� to �modern�.
The government will compensate all 38,000 people that the Kandadji Dam will affect with a land for land swap. They will receive intensive plots on new irrigation schemes to replace traditional rice and millet fields lost to the dam reservoir. In this way, local people have a long term stake in the project.
The Howard G Buffett Foundation is supporting IIED and IUCN through the Global Water Initiative to work with the Niger Government and local communities to draft a new legal framework for these plots that will legally recognise farmers� rights to sell, rent, inherit or mortgage this land as part of their production or livelihood strategy through a 50 year (renewable) lease. At present farmers are not allowed to do these things on existing government schemes where they have few secure rights. But with these rights secured they will have long term flexibility in using this key asset to develop their family�s livelihoods.
This equitable development outcome arises from the confluence of two practices: first, the social cohesion of Niger and the historic national practice of seeking negotiated, rather than imposed, outcomes, and second, the application of World Bank safeguards which require �just and prior� compensation for flooded land. IIED and IUCN have worked in close consultation with local partners to identify what �just� means in the local context.
Niger�s process is undoubtedly slower and more expensive than that in Ethiopia but it significantly reduces the scope for long term social conflict and impoverishment by providing development opportunities and secure assets and rights for all. The fate of the rural communities in the southern Omo, and around downstream Lake Turkana into Northern Kenya appears much less certain.
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: africa@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
http://www.bizday.co.zw/2013/09/05/doing-dams-differently-can-mean-development-for-all/
Published On: Thu, Sep 5th, 2013Special reports | By BizDay Zimbabwe
Doing Dams Differently Can Mean Development For All
LONDON � Development is a messy, often inequitable business. Investments and policies usually favour some people or sectors over others and the playing field of opportunity is rarely flat. Should development be just for the majority or is it possible to ensure development for all? Nowhere is this choice more visible than in the approaches governments take to resettlement and downstream impacts from large dams.
Inga-1 Hydroelectric DamInga-1 Hydroelectric Dam
Dams transform the waterways on which they are built. They reduce floods, store water for irrigation or hydropower and stabilise downstream flows. This creates downstream opportunities for some (often farmers who want year-round irrigation) � but can spell disaster for others (such as fishers and pastoralists whose livestock graze seasonal floodplains).
These divides reflect a recurring development fault-line, across which the �modern� can grind up against the traditional. For policymakers, these sides can represent stagnation versus progress. In many semi-arid countries this plays out as strategic choices, where more irrigation means less pastoralism, or more intensive, large-scale irrigated agribusiness ousts smallholder farms in a quest for higher yields, �modern� agriculture and national food security.
Is it not possible to have inclusive development, and not have to choose who should benefit but ensure that everyone does? This would take more time �and perhaps cost more� to achieve, but ultimately it would be less divisive and more equitable. Can you make an omelette without breaking eggs? Our work on dams in Niger suggests you can.
�Backward� to �Modern�
Mention dams and development in Africa and many people�s minds will turn not to Niger but to Ethiopia or perhaps the Congo basin. Both have hit the news recently, the first for the geo-political implications on Egypt of the downstream impacts of its huge Renaissance dam, and the second for the sheer size of the planned Inga hydropower plant. It will be nearly twice as large as China�s Three Gorges dam, with up to 42000 MW of installed capacity. Both reflect an Africa-wide push for secure energy supplies.
Ethiopia aims to become a major hydropower exporter. Another of its dams, the Gibe III under construction on the Omo River, shows that in some countries little has changed in the development paradigm. For centuries, nomadic pastoralists have grazed the semi-arid land through which the Omo flows south from the Ethiopian highlands towards Lake Turkana in Kenya. They depend on the river�s seasonal floods, which create lush grasslands. Now, with the dam due to be completed in 2014, change is on its way.
The Ethiopian government plans to turn 170,000-245,000 hectares of that land over to large-scale industrial irrigation projects that will attract foreign investors. It aims to modernise and transform the local economy to promote opportunities for farmers and businesses.
Both Survival International and Human Rights Watch are concerned that Ethiopia regards the traditional livelihoods of the pastoralists as backward and uncivilised, and will �develop� the herders, without taking their views into account or letting them participate in the decision-making process. Another 20,000 households of farmers, who grow crops on 11,000 hectares of flood recession land along the waterways, will also lose their resource base.
This government move to appropriate communal land on a large scale and its repackaging and development by particular interest groups is not unfamiliar. In Britain, the process of formally and legally enclosing the commons for the benefit of particular land owners and at the expense of �commoners� was regular practice 150-300 years ago. The argument advanced then was the same as now: only when land is clearly owned and managed will good stewardship, investment and productive exploitation result. And while Ethiopia follows that historical pathway and paradigm, which benefits certain actors over others, on the other side of Africa, Niger shows that another way is possible.
Recognising Rights
Unlike elsewhere in West Africa � where governments often legally own the land and local people have customary rights to use it � Niger has gone further over the last twenty years to enable rural people to register their traditional farmland as private property. This approach builds on community customs. It recognises their past and the way in which rural people historically settled and used land, rather than promoting a swift and sweeping transformation from �backward� to �modern�.
The government will compensate all 38,000 people that the Kandadji Dam will affect with a land for land swap. They will receive intensive plots on new irrigation schemes to replace traditional rice and millet fields lost to the dam reservoir. In this way, local people have a long term stake in the project.
The Howard G Buffett Foundation is supporting IIED and IUCN through the Global Water Initiative to work with the Niger Government and local communities to draft a new legal framework for these plots that will legally recognise farmers� rights to sell, rent, inherit or mortgage this land as part of their production or livelihood strategy through a 50 year (renewable) lease. At present farmers are not allowed to do these things on existing government schemes where they have few secure rights. But with these rights secured they will have long term flexibility in using this key asset to develop their family�s livelihoods.
This equitable development outcome arises from the confluence of two practices: first, the social cohesion of Niger and the historic national practice of seeking negotiated, rather than imposed, outcomes, and second, the application of World Bank safeguards which require �just and prior� compensation for flooded land. IIED and IUCN have worked in close consultation with local partners to identify what �just� means in the local context.
Niger�s process is undoubtedly slower and more expensive than that in Ethiopia but it significantly reduces the scope for long term social conflict and impoverishment by providing development opportunities and secure assets and rights for all. The fate of the rural communities in the southern Omo, and around downstream Lake Turkana into Northern Kenya appears much less certain.
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: africa@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
Thursday, September 5, 2013
60% of Investment Already Paid for Suspended Myitsone Dam: Chinese Developer
60% of Investment Already Paid for Suspended Myitsone Dam: Chinese Developer
By May Kha - The Irrawaddy, September 5, 2013
http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/43516
RANGOON. The Chinese backer of the Myitsone dam project says more than
half the funds to construct the multi-billion-dollar project have
already been paid to Burma, although the project was suspended last year.
Sixty percent of a total 3.6 billion in investment to build the
controversial hydropower dam project in Kachin State has been paid,
according to Wang Qiyue, director of China Power Investment Corporation
(CPI), who was speaking during an energy investment summit in Rangoon
earlier this week. It was the companys first transparent report about
its investment in the project.
The Myitsone hydropower dam is expected to supply up to 4,600 megawatts
of electricity when it is completed. CPI plans to build the dam in
collaboration with Burmas Ministry of Electric Power as well as Asia
World Co., which is owned by a Burmese business tycoon, Steven Law, who
is the son of recently deceased drug kingpin Lo Hsing Han.
The project was suspended last year by Burmas President Thein Sein, who
faced mounting public criticism over its potential environmental and
social impact. The president has confirmed that the project will not be
resumed during his term, which ends in 2015. However, in recent months
renewed activity has been reported, including trucks driving around the
proposed dam site, and China has expressed interest in restarting the
project in the future.
With more than half the 3.6 billion investment paid, questions have
arisen over how the funds were spent. When asked to explain who had
received the funds, the CPI director told The Irrawaddy that the Burma
government and the Burmese people were indivisible, that the government
had initiated the project for the public interest, and that he believed
the government had spent the money to build roads and bridges.
He said if the project was restarted, CPI would invest at least 1
billion more.
CPI signed a deal for the Myitsone dam project on the Irrawaddy River in
2006. The deal also called for five dams to be constructed on the May
Kha River, and another two dams on the May Li Kha River, according to
the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Wang Qiyue denied reports of activity at the Myitsone site, saying that
although CPI hoped to resume the project, it had not yet begun
negotiations with the Burma government to do so.
He said CPI did not plan to redraft its contract for the project, as the
Chinese backers of another project, the controversial Letpadaung copper
mine in Sagaing Division, did recently. That renegotiation gave a
greater percentage of profits to the Burma government.
Any country can inspect the division of profits for a project, Wang
Qiyue told The Irrawaddy. No country can invest in a project like
Myitsone that just has a small profit. [CPI] will not continue the
project if there are amendments to the previous pact or a change in the
division of profits.
We will just have to wait and see how the next government manages the
issue. They [the Burma government] may try their best. Whatever we do,
we will discuss with them.
He said CPI planned to share more information about the project with the
Burmese public.
The people object to the project just because they dont understand
hydropower well, he said. Well explain it to them. We must show the
public the pros and cons of the project so they can decide. Previously,
we couldnt do that. Now we can. So we will do our best.
________________________________________________
This is International Rivers' mailing list on China's global footprint, and particularly Chinese investment in international dam projects.
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: chinaglobal@list.internationalrivers.org
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By May Kha - The Irrawaddy, September 5, 2013
http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/43516
RANGOON. The Chinese backer of the Myitsone dam project says more than
half the funds to construct the multi-billion-dollar project have
already been paid to Burma, although the project was suspended last year.
Sixty percent of a total 3.6 billion in investment to build the
controversial hydropower dam project in Kachin State has been paid,
according to Wang Qiyue, director of China Power Investment Corporation
(CPI), who was speaking during an energy investment summit in Rangoon
earlier this week. It was the companys first transparent report about
its investment in the project.
The Myitsone hydropower dam is expected to supply up to 4,600 megawatts
of electricity when it is completed. CPI plans to build the dam in
collaboration with Burmas Ministry of Electric Power as well as Asia
World Co., which is owned by a Burmese business tycoon, Steven Law, who
is the son of recently deceased drug kingpin Lo Hsing Han.
The project was suspended last year by Burmas President Thein Sein, who
faced mounting public criticism over its potential environmental and
social impact. The president has confirmed that the project will not be
resumed during his term, which ends in 2015. However, in recent months
renewed activity has been reported, including trucks driving around the
proposed dam site, and China has expressed interest in restarting the
project in the future.
With more than half the 3.6 billion investment paid, questions have
arisen over how the funds were spent. When asked to explain who had
received the funds, the CPI director told The Irrawaddy that the Burma
government and the Burmese people were indivisible, that the government
had initiated the project for the public interest, and that he believed
the government had spent the money to build roads and bridges.
He said if the project was restarted, CPI would invest at least 1
billion more.
CPI signed a deal for the Myitsone dam project on the Irrawaddy River in
2006. The deal also called for five dams to be constructed on the May
Kha River, and another two dams on the May Li Kha River, according to
the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.
Wang Qiyue denied reports of activity at the Myitsone site, saying that
although CPI hoped to resume the project, it had not yet begun
negotiations with the Burma government to do so.
He said CPI did not plan to redraft its contract for the project, as the
Chinese backers of another project, the controversial Letpadaung copper
mine in Sagaing Division, did recently. That renegotiation gave a
greater percentage of profits to the Burma government.
Any country can inspect the division of profits for a project, Wang
Qiyue told The Irrawaddy. No country can invest in a project like
Myitsone that just has a small profit. [CPI] will not continue the
project if there are amendments to the previous pact or a change in the
division of profits.
We will just have to wait and see how the next government manages the
issue. They [the Burma government] may try their best. Whatever we do,
we will discuss with them.
He said CPI planned to share more information about the project with the
Burmese public.
The people object to the project just because they dont understand
hydropower well, he said. Well explain it to them. We must show the
public the pros and cons of the project so they can decide. Previously,
we couldnt do that. Now we can. So we will do our best.
________________________________________________
This is International Rivers' mailing list on China's global footprint, and particularly Chinese investment in international dam projects.
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: chinaglobal@list.internationalrivers.org
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Monday, September 2, 2013
Nepal: completion date of Three Gorges' West Seti Dam pushed back further
West Seti completion date pushed back further
http://ekantipur.com/2013/09/01/business/west-seti-completion-date-pushed-back-further/377337.html
Developer's fresh demands mean the project will now only be completed in
2021: IBN
KATHMANDU, SEP 01, 2013
Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) has said the much talked aboutWest Seti
Hydropower Project will be delayed by two more years, with CWE
Investment, a subsidiary of power developer China Three Gorges
Corporation (CTGC), demanding change in rehabilitation and resettlement
modality of the project.
IBN CEO Radhes Pant on Saturday said the CWE has now asked the
government to take over tasks of land acquisition and resettlement of
the project affected area although it had earlier agreed to carry out
those tasks itself.
A high-level official at the IBN said the CWE has been demanding more
time—one and a half years—to complete the project.
Energy Secretary Bishwo Prakash Pandit said the government is ready to
take up works related to land acquisition and resettlement but the
Chinese investor will have to bear the cost. As per the memorandum
signed between the IBN and CWE Investment, the project is scheduled to
be completed in 2019. The government will have to change the law to
address the request of the Chinese investors and it will take time, said
Pant. Speaking at a programme organised by GP Koirala Foundation, Pant
said it would be tough to act as per the request of the Chinese company
as the Nepali laws do not allow doing so. "The existing law should be
changed if the government takes over the responsibility of acquiring
land and managing resettlement," he said.
The existing Land Acquisition Act 1894 states that the government shall
provide the land if it is under its ownership, while the private
developer has to acquire the land on its own for any project development.
Energy Minister Umakant Jha said as the West Seti project was the only
remedy to end the ongoing power crisis, the government will make every
effort, including the revision in law for the project implementation.
The first memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Ministry
of Energy (MoE) and the Chinese company on March 1, 2012 had envisioned
to initiate the project works from July 2014 and to complete by 2019.
The revised MoU signed between the IBN and CWE on August 27, 2012
retained the same time frame with an understanding that the Chinese
company will be given additional six months' as compensation to make up
for the time lost because of the interference into the project by then
Natural Resources and Means Committee (NRMC).
Pant said the IBN will soon hold a meeting with the CWE so as to discuss
on a number of issues, including land acquisition and resettlement,
optimitization of the project by making it a multipurpose one and to
hold studies on seismic condition of the project site. "The earlier
studies conducted by Australia's Snowy Mountains Energy Corporation
(SMEC) are not matured enough and separate seismological studies need to
be done so as to ensure every safety of the project area," he said,
adding, "Once power development agreement (PDA) with the project is
signed, both of us will have contractual obligations. So, all ground
works should be cleared before signing PDA."
Pant also added that the CWE writing an official email to the IBN has
asked the Board to come to China to discuss on those issues. "We will
soon fix a date to hold a meeting with CWE officials in China," he added.
The IBN, however, insist that the preparations to develop the 750 MW
storage-type project were under control with the possibility to
implement the project successfully. "It is our mistake to realise the
project overnight which has already been delayed by around two decades,"
Pant said.
The CWE has completed technical evaluation of the project on March 8 and
financial evaluation on July 30, 2013. Speaking at the programme,
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai said that the West Seti project
as a milestone for Nepal-China relationship and that his government and
the CWE were fully committed to realise it. He, however, stressed the
need to take into account multi-dimensional aspects with regard to the
field investigation, technical and financial evaluation and co-operation
from local people. He also requested the Government of Nepal and all
stakeholders to cooperate in the project implementation. "As the CWE has
already asked the IBN officials to hold talks, the unsettled issues will
be solved gradually," he said.
China has agreed to provide a loan worth $1.6 billion for the project
development. The agreement between the IBN and CWE has ensured 10
percent equity to the local population in the Far West, allocation of
150 MW of electricity from the project to the region and multipurpose
benefits from the project to the maximum extent economically possible.
The agreement has also explored new possibilities of developing an
industrial hub in the Far West with assistance from CTGC.
The Kathmandu Post, Posted on: 2013-09-01 09:13
http://ekantipur.com/2013/09/01/business/west-seti-completion-date-pushed-back-further/377337.html
________________________________________________
This is International Rivers' mailing list on China's global footprint, and particularly Chinese investment in international dam projects.
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: chinaglobal@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
http://ekantipur.com/2013/09/01/business/west-seti-completion-date-pushed-back-further/377337.html
Developer's fresh demands mean the project will now only be completed in
2021: IBN
KATHMANDU, SEP 01, 2013
Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) has said the much talked aboutWest Seti
Hydropower Project will be delayed by two more years, with CWE
Investment, a subsidiary of power developer China Three Gorges
Corporation (CTGC), demanding change in rehabilitation and resettlement
modality of the project.
IBN CEO Radhes Pant on Saturday said the CWE has now asked the
government to take over tasks of land acquisition and resettlement of
the project affected area although it had earlier agreed to carry out
those tasks itself.
A high-level official at the IBN said the CWE has been demanding more
time—one and a half years—to complete the project.
Energy Secretary Bishwo Prakash Pandit said the government is ready to
take up works related to land acquisition and resettlement but the
Chinese investor will have to bear the cost. As per the memorandum
signed between the IBN and CWE Investment, the project is scheduled to
be completed in 2019. The government will have to change the law to
address the request of the Chinese investors and it will take time, said
Pant. Speaking at a programme organised by GP Koirala Foundation, Pant
said it would be tough to act as per the request of the Chinese company
as the Nepali laws do not allow doing so. "The existing law should be
changed if the government takes over the responsibility of acquiring
land and managing resettlement," he said.
The existing Land Acquisition Act 1894 states that the government shall
provide the land if it is under its ownership, while the private
developer has to acquire the land on its own for any project development.
Energy Minister Umakant Jha said as the West Seti project was the only
remedy to end the ongoing power crisis, the government will make every
effort, including the revision in law for the project implementation.
The first memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Ministry
of Energy (MoE) and the Chinese company on March 1, 2012 had envisioned
to initiate the project works from July 2014 and to complete by 2019.
The revised MoU signed between the IBN and CWE on August 27, 2012
retained the same time frame with an understanding that the Chinese
company will be given additional six months' as compensation to make up
for the time lost because of the interference into the project by then
Natural Resources and Means Committee (NRMC).
Pant said the IBN will soon hold a meeting with the CWE so as to discuss
on a number of issues, including land acquisition and resettlement,
optimitization of the project by making it a multipurpose one and to
hold studies on seismic condition of the project site. "The earlier
studies conducted by Australia's Snowy Mountains Energy Corporation
(SMEC) are not matured enough and separate seismological studies need to
be done so as to ensure every safety of the project area," he said,
adding, "Once power development agreement (PDA) with the project is
signed, both of us will have contractual obligations. So, all ground
works should be cleared before signing PDA."
Pant also added that the CWE writing an official email to the IBN has
asked the Board to come to China to discuss on those issues. "We will
soon fix a date to hold a meeting with CWE officials in China," he added.
The IBN, however, insist that the preparations to develop the 750 MW
storage-type project were under control with the possibility to
implement the project successfully. "It is our mistake to realise the
project overnight which has already been delayed by around two decades,"
Pant said.
The CWE has completed technical evaluation of the project on March 8 and
financial evaluation on July 30, 2013. Speaking at the programme,
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai said that the West Seti project
as a milestone for Nepal-China relationship and that his government and
the CWE were fully committed to realise it. He, however, stressed the
need to take into account multi-dimensional aspects with regard to the
field investigation, technical and financial evaluation and co-operation
from local people. He also requested the Government of Nepal and all
stakeholders to cooperate in the project implementation. "As the CWE has
already asked the IBN officials to hold talks, the unsettled issues will
be solved gradually," he said.
China has agreed to provide a loan worth $1.6 billion for the project
development. The agreement between the IBN and CWE has ensured 10
percent equity to the local population in the Far West, allocation of
150 MW of electricity from the project to the region and multipurpose
benefits from the project to the maximum extent economically possible.
The agreement has also explored new possibilities of developing an
industrial hub in the Far West with assistance from CTGC.
The Kathmandu Post, Posted on: 2013-09-01 09:13
http://ekantipur.com/2013/09/01/business/west-seti-completion-date-pushed-back-further/377337.html
________________________________________________
This is International Rivers' mailing list on China's global footprint, and particularly Chinese investment in international dam projects.
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: chinaglobal@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
West Seti completion date pushed back further
West Seti completion date pushed back further
http://ekantipur.com/2013/09/01/business/west-seti-completion-date-pushed-back-further/377337.html
Developer's fresh demands mean the project will now only be completed in
2021: IBN
KATHMANDU, SEP 01, 2013
Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) has said the much talked aboutWest Seti
Hydropower Project will be delayed by two more years, with CWE
Investment, a subsidiary of power developer China Three Gorges
Corporation (CTGC), demanding change in rehabilitation and resettlement
modality of the project.
IBN CEO Radhes Pant on Saturday said the CWE has now asked the
government to take over tasks of land acquisition and resettlement of
the project affected area although it had earlier agreed to carry out
those tasks itself.
A high-level official at the IBN said the CWE has been demanding more
time—one and a half years—to complete the project.
Energy Secretary Bishwo Prakash Pandit said the government is ready to
take up works related to land acquisition and resettlement but the
Chinese investor will have to bear the cost. As per the memorandum
signed between the IBN and CWE Investment, the project is scheduled to
be completed in 2019. The government will have to change the law to
address the request of the Chinese investors and it will take time, said
Pant. Speaking at a programme organised by GP Koirala Foundation, Pant
said it would be tough to act as per the request of the Chinese company
as the Nepali laws do not allow doing so. "The existing law should be
changed if the government takes over the responsibility of acquiring
land and managing resettlement," he said.
The existing Land Acquisition Act 1894 states that the government shall
provide the land if it is under its ownership, while the private
developer has to acquire the land on its own for any project development.
Energy Minister Umakant Jha said as the West Seti project was the only
remedy to end the ongoing power crisis, the government will make every
effort, including the revision in law for the project implementation.
The first memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Ministry
of Energy (MoE) and the Chinese company on March 1, 2012 had envisioned
to initiate the project works from July 2014 and to complete by 2019.
The revised MoU signed between the IBN and CWE on August 27, 2012
retained the same time frame with an understanding that the Chinese
company will be given additional six months' as compensation to make up
for the time lost because of the interference into the project by then
Natural Resources and Means Committee (NRMC).
Pant said the IBN will soon hold a meeting with the CWE so as to discuss
on a number of issues, including land acquisition and resettlement,
optimitization of the project by making it a multipurpose one and to
hold studies on seismic condition of the project site. "The earlier
studies conducted by Australia's Snowy Mountains Energy Corporation
(SMEC) are not matured enough and separate seismological studies need to
be done so as to ensure every safety of the project area," he said,
adding, "Once power development agreement (PDA) with the project is
signed, both of us will have contractual obligations. So, all ground
works should be cleared before signing PDA."
Pant also added that the CWE writing an official email to the IBN has
asked the Board to come to China to discuss on those issues. "We will
soon fix a date to hold a meeting with CWE officials in China," he added.
The IBN, however, insist that the preparations to develop the 750 MW
storage-type project were under control with the possibility to
implement the project successfully. "It is our mistake to realise the
project overnight which has already been delayed by around two decades,"
Pant said.
The CWE has completed technical evaluation of the project on March 8 and
financial evaluation on July 30, 2013. Speaking at the programme,
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai said that the West Seti project
as a milestone for Nepal-China relationship and that his government and
the CWE were fully committed to realise it. He, however, stressed the
need to take into account multi-dimensional aspects with regard to the
field investigation, technical and financial evaluation and co-operation
from local people. He also requested the Government of Nepal and all
stakeholders to cooperate in the project implementation. "As the CWE has
already asked the IBN officials to hold talks, the unsettled issues will
be solved gradually," he said.
China has agreed to provide a loan worth $1.6 billion for the project
development. The agreement between the IBN and CWE has ensured 10
percent equity to the local population in the Far West, allocation of
150 MW of electricity from the project to the region and multipurpose
benefits from the project to the maximum extent economically possible.
The agreement has also explored new possibilities of developing an
industrial hub in the Far West with assistance from CTGC.
The Kathmandu Post, Posted on: 2013-09-01 09:13
http://ekantipur.com/2013/09/01/business/west-seti-completion-date-pushed-back-further/377337.html
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: sasia@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
http://ekantipur.com/2013/09/01/business/west-seti-completion-date-pushed-back-further/377337.html
Developer's fresh demands mean the project will now only be completed in
2021: IBN
KATHMANDU, SEP 01, 2013
Investment Board of Nepal (IBN) has said the much talked aboutWest Seti
Hydropower Project will be delayed by two more years, with CWE
Investment, a subsidiary of power developer China Three Gorges
Corporation (CTGC), demanding change in rehabilitation and resettlement
modality of the project.
IBN CEO Radhes Pant on Saturday said the CWE has now asked the
government to take over tasks of land acquisition and resettlement of
the project affected area although it had earlier agreed to carry out
those tasks itself.
A high-level official at the IBN said the CWE has been demanding more
time—one and a half years—to complete the project.
Energy Secretary Bishwo Prakash Pandit said the government is ready to
take up works related to land acquisition and resettlement but the
Chinese investor will have to bear the cost. As per the memorandum
signed between the IBN and CWE Investment, the project is scheduled to
be completed in 2019. The government will have to change the law to
address the request of the Chinese investors and it will take time, said
Pant. Speaking at a programme organised by GP Koirala Foundation, Pant
said it would be tough to act as per the request of the Chinese company
as the Nepali laws do not allow doing so. "The existing law should be
changed if the government takes over the responsibility of acquiring
land and managing resettlement," he said.
The existing Land Acquisition Act 1894 states that the government shall
provide the land if it is under its ownership, while the private
developer has to acquire the land on its own for any project development.
Energy Minister Umakant Jha said as the West Seti project was the only
remedy to end the ongoing power crisis, the government will make every
effort, including the revision in law for the project implementation.
The first memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Ministry
of Energy (MoE) and the Chinese company on March 1, 2012 had envisioned
to initiate the project works from July 2014 and to complete by 2019.
The revised MoU signed between the IBN and CWE on August 27, 2012
retained the same time frame with an understanding that the Chinese
company will be given additional six months' as compensation to make up
for the time lost because of the interference into the project by then
Natural Resources and Means Committee (NRMC).
Pant said the IBN will soon hold a meeting with the CWE so as to discuss
on a number of issues, including land acquisition and resettlement,
optimitization of the project by making it a multipurpose one and to
hold studies on seismic condition of the project site. "The earlier
studies conducted by Australia's Snowy Mountains Energy Corporation
(SMEC) are not matured enough and separate seismological studies need to
be done so as to ensure every safety of the project area," he said,
adding, "Once power development agreement (PDA) with the project is
signed, both of us will have contractual obligations. So, all ground
works should be cleared before signing PDA."
Pant also added that the CWE writing an official email to the IBN has
asked the Board to come to China to discuss on those issues. "We will
soon fix a date to hold a meeting with CWE officials in China," he added.
The IBN, however, insist that the preparations to develop the 750 MW
storage-type project were under control with the possibility to
implement the project successfully. "It is our mistake to realise the
project overnight which has already been delayed by around two decades,"
Pant said.
The CWE has completed technical evaluation of the project on March 8 and
financial evaluation on July 30, 2013. Speaking at the programme,
Chinese Ambassador to Nepal Wu Chuntai said that the West Seti project
as a milestone for Nepal-China relationship and that his government and
the CWE were fully committed to realise it. He, however, stressed the
need to take into account multi-dimensional aspects with regard to the
field investigation, technical and financial evaluation and co-operation
from local people. He also requested the Government of Nepal and all
stakeholders to cooperate in the project implementation. "As the CWE has
already asked the IBN officials to hold talks, the unsettled issues will
be solved gradually," he said.
China has agreed to provide a loan worth $1.6 billion for the project
development. The agreement between the IBN and CWE has ensured 10
percent equity to the local population in the Far West, allocation of
150 MW of electricity from the project to the region and multipurpose
benefits from the project to the maximum extent economically possible.
The agreement has also explored new possibilities of developing an
industrial hub in the Far West with assistance from CTGC.
The Kathmandu Post, Posted on: 2013-09-01 09:13
http://ekantipur.com/2013/09/01/business/west-seti-completion-date-pushed-back-further/377337.html
________________________________________________
You received this message as a subscriber on the list: sasia@list.internationalrivers.org
To be removed from the list, please visit:
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2486/unsubscribe.jsp
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