PHNOM PENH • Electricity-starved Cambodia will not develop new hydropower dams on the Mekong River for the next 10 years, a senior energy official said yesterday, as the country reviews its policy to seek energy from coal, natural gas and solar.

 

The decision means that neighbouring Laos, which has opened two new dams on the mainstream Mekong in the past six months, is the only country in the Lower Mekong Basin planning hydropower on the river that sustains some 60 million people.

 

Mr Victor Jona, director-general of energy at Cambodia's Ministry of Mines and Energy, told Reuters that the government was following a study done by a Japanese consultant that recommended Cambodia seeks energy elsewhere.

 

read more https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/cambodia-halts-mekong-river-dam-plans-for-10-years

Good news. Time to think. Time to consider sensible alternatives. Time not to make the same ol' mistakes made so many times before.