South Korea's Dong Ah Construction Industrial Group has been the main partner in this joint venture BOT project. Currently, the project is stalled whilst Dong Ah, also facing financial difficulties at home, waits for Thailand to give the green light for negotiation of a power purchase agreement. Meanwhile, resettlement of ethnic Nya Heun villagers from the watershed and inundation areas has commenced and is causing hardship similar to that faced by the oustees from Houay Ho. The process by which ALP gained the project concession appears to have violated established Lao government laws and procedures for the granting of concession agreements for large infrastructure projects. Whilst construction has not yet commenced and the consortium has no power purchase agreement with EGAT, logging of the reservoir area is planned to start in 1999, and resettlement of ethnic minority villagers in both the watershed and reservoir areas has already commenced.
Many observers fear that the project is a logging scheme in disguise.
The concluding chapter points to some similar and very fundamental problems with all of the projects examined in the report, including anticipatory resettlement under very poor conditions, uncontrolled logging, inadequate compensation for affected villagers, problems with regulation and the conduct of environmental impact assessments. A fundamental rethinking of Lao PDR's economic development strategy is recommended, as well as far-reaching reforms to ensure that any future hydropower development is in the best interests of the country as a whole. Visit the Mekong Campaign Page .