Ubon Dam Protest

[jay-uk]

just read the following:

3,000 villagers protest against opening of Pak Mool Dam's gate opening

Ubon Ratchathani — More than 3,000 people Thursday rallied in front of the Ubon Ratchathani Provincial Hall demanding that the water level in Pak Mool River will not drop, something that will happen when the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) opens the dam's sluice gate next month.

In response to growing pressure from the Assembly of the Poor, the previous administration led by Thaksin Shinawatra passed a Cabinet resolution requiring Egat to open the sluice between May 1 and August 31.

The opening is intended to restore fishing livelihood for a group of villagers.

However, the demonstrators yesterday complained that when the sluice gate was opened, their livelihood was destroyed.

The Nation

http://nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/r...newsid=30031197

[naka]

How uninformative ! Who ? What ?

that the water level in Pak Mool River will not drop, something that will happen when the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) opens the dam's sluice gate next month.

Something lost in translation methinks.

Naka.

[plachon]

How uninformative ! Who ? What ?

that the water level in Pak Mool River will not drop, something that will happen when the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) opens the dam's sluice gate next month.

Something lost in translation methinks.

Naka.

Yes, it's not very clear or informative is it?

I'd guess that the group protesting yesterday, are under the pay or directions of EGAT, who would like to see the dam shut full-time (even when it's not generating power), thus reneging on an old agreement to operate it on an 8 months shut and 4 months open basis (May to August), to give a chance for migrating fish out the Mekong to move upstream and spawn.

This was a compromise worked out by the previous govt., after ten plus years of protest by local villagers who said the dam had destroyed fish migrations and their livelihoods. This was always disputed by EGAT who said the opposite - the dam was good for fish and fisheries. However, a World Commission on Dams investigation in 2000 showed that the villagers were correct and EGAT wrong. Worse than that, the dam only produced a fraction of the electricity it was forecast to, and for long periods produced no electricity at all. Hence, it was generally viewed by most as a pretty useless dam which had cost a lot to build, operate and in social and environmental terms.

EGAT however, are well known for their power and influence locally, and whipping up 3,000 villagers into protesting for the dam being closed permanently, thus going back on the earlier official agreement to allow fish to pass freely for 4 months each year, would not be beyond them. They've done far worse in the past.

There may well be a counter-protest by impacted villagers under the Assembly of the Poor now.

[Mid]

Assembly of the Poor cries foul over CNS interference

Prachatai

19 June 2007

On June 17, Assembly of the Poor (AOP) gathered at the Oct 14 Memorial to condemn the Council for National Security for its meddling in the government's decision to close the Pak Mun dam's sluice gates.

They said June 17 was supposed to be the first day of opening the dam's gates according to the Cabinet resolution on May 29, but the CNS intervened, resulting in the Cabinet resolution on June 12 to permanently close the gates.

The resolution instructed the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) to maintain the reservoir water level at 106-108 meters above mean sea level. The 108-meter level is the normal retention level of Pak Mun dam. And after the dam releases the water for electricity generation, the level will come down to the 106-meter level. In effect, the dam's sluice gates will never be opened to allow migration of fish from the Mekong into the Mun river. Fishing communities along the river will inevitably suffer, they said.

On April 23, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanond promised them to open the gates following the previous Cabinet resolution. And on May 29, the Cabinet still confirmed the decision to start opening the gates on June 7, until all 8 gates are fully open on June 17. After only 2 weeks, the Cabinet changed its mind. On June 15, the premier said to them that the government made the best decision.

The Assembly of the Poor said that the change of mind resulted from the pressure by the CNS, which had assigned an Internal Security Operation Command (ISOC) officer Gen Surin Pikuntong to collect villagers' signatures to claim the majority opinion, despite the dam's failures in economic, social, and environmental aspects, as concluded in an academic study.

They said the CNS employed the same tactic used by former premier Thaksin Shinnawatra who instructed the National Statistics Office to conduct a poll, and turned the result against them. At least, Thaksin agreed to open the gates for four months in a year, but the CNS gave them no choice.

They vowed to fight till the end.

Translated by Ponglert Pongwanan

Original in Thai

[Mid]

Pak Mool protesters storm into Government House

July 11, 2007 : Last updated 09:38 am

About 70 protesters against the Pak Mool Dam stormed into the compound of Government House at 10 pm Tuesday.

But they were eventually evicted by about 50 police commandoes in a brief tussle.

The protesters broke into the compound through the fourth gate of Government House.

Following the eviction, police officers from the Metropolitan Police Bureau were deployed to keep security at all gates of Government House.

Pol Maj Gen Manit Wongsomboon, commander of Metropolitan Police Division 1, said most of the protesters were aged people so police declined to press charges against them.

The Nation