DON PATHAN
The Associated Press
BANGKOK, Thailand
Laos is determined to become the battery of Southeast Asia through its $1.2 billion Nam Theun II hydroelectric dam, the country's largest development project.
Hoping for an annual income of $250 million to help alleviate poverty, Laos is pushing ahead with the dam, which critics say will destroy the environment and displace about 800 families.
A coalition of 14 environmental groups recently called on Thailand to forgo agreement to purchase power from the dam, citing economic viability, as well as environmental and humanitarian reasons.
The group said Thailand needed to reassess its power demand in light of the current economic crisis, which has slowed industrial growth.
The NT2 Consortium, which is building the dam, dismissed the allegations, saying Laos affected people will be adequately compensated and the Thai economy will be back on track in about two years.
The consortium is looking to the World Bank to unlock loans from commercial lenders by providing the controversial project a ``political risk guarantee.''
``We expect to receive a final appraisal from the World Bank by next June and begin construction by the end of next year,'' said Khamleuang Sayarath, the Lao government's project director for the dam. ``The bank has been with us every step of the way and we are positive it will come through for us.''
The bank, however, has been tight-lipped, having been severely criticized in the past for backing dams that have wrought environmental destruction.
Other dams are being planned or built in Laos, which has few other income-producing resources. But the question of who will buy the electricity weighs heavily in Asia's economically depressed times.
``We are talking about a project that will begin generating electricity at the earliest in 2004. The situation should have improved by then,'' said NTZ Consortium Director Jean-Christophe Devallet. Besides Thailand, Laos hopes that one day Vietnam and Cambodia will also be buying its electricity.
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