Chinese-backed hydroelectric dam robs Cambodian villagers of homes and livelihoods

[geovalin]

By Thomas Cristofoletti

 

Neang’s family has been torn apart by the controversial Lower Sesan 2 Dam, a massive hydroelectric project on the Sesan River, a major tributary of the Mekong, in northeastern Cambodia. Following years of encouragement, pressure and outright intimidation by authorities, her aunties and uncles – even her husband – all belonging to the Phnong indigenous ethnic group, accepted compensation and moved from their village to a government-designated resettlement site some 20km away.

 

As the US$816 million project neared completion, the school and pagoda at Kbal Romeas village, in Stung Treng province, were closed and the road providing access was no longer maintained. Thirty-five-year-old Neang refused to budge, however, and she, three of her four children (one child having moved away with her estranged spouse) and her mother remained.

 

More than 200 members of 58 other Phnong families did the same.

 

read more http://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2150791/chinese-backed-hydroelectric-dam-robs-cambodian