The newly-built Xayaburi dam has raised some key concerns about Lao PDR’s hydropower strategy.While hydropower is one of the country’s main exports, Lao PDR still has to import electricity.
Major dam construction projects have become a favourite pastime of some autocratic governments, with China leading the way. But, far from protecting against water shortages, as supporters promise, large dams are contributing to river depletion and severely exacerbating parched conditions.
Water levels at Southeast Asia’s largest river may be at its lowest levels in a century.Low rainfall, high temperatures and poor dam regulations are contributing to a historic low at the Mekong, affecting the region’s agriculture and fishing industries and leading to rapidly drying taps.Chinese dams control the flow of the 4,350-kilometre (km) river which originates in the Tibetan highlands before travelling across Myanmar, Lao, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
The Thai government must suspend plans to buy electricity from a dam in Lao, conservationists said Friday, as water levels along the kingdom's section of Mekong river plummet to near-record lows.The Thai-built Xayaburi dam, a few hours from the northern Lao town of Luang Prabang, is set to be completed in October, the latest in a welter of barriers across the waterway.It has been cloaked in controversy since construction began in 2012, with environmentalists raising alarm about its likel
You’ve been to the bustling city of Hanoi, you’ve also cruised through the crowded waters of Ha Long Bay. All the excitement makes you think that it’s time to wind down and get back in touch with nature. So where do you go?
Along with most Southeast Asian countries, Cambodia’s electricity consumption over the past decade has skyrocketed. In a report by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), electricity consumption in Cambodia has been growing rapidly, averaging 20 percent growth per annum since 2010. This rate continues to accelerate as average incomes in the nation rise on the whole.Despite the growing consumption of electricity, Cambodia is one of the few countries in the region that has low access to electricity.
