Nam Theun 2 Trip Report and Project Update - BankTrack

Nam Theun 2 Trip Report and Project UpdateENDNOTES1. For more information concerning the Nakai-Nam TheunNational Protected Area, illegal logging and mining, seethe Eleventh Report of the International Environmental andSocial Panel of Experts (PoE) for NT2, 23 February 2007,pp. 25-38, available at:http://go.worldbank.org/XO1YWANPH0.2. Nam Theun 2 Environmental Assessment and ManagementPlan (EAMP), March 2005, Chapter 3, p. 107.3. The PoE also raises concerns about the DownstreamProgram budget and notes that “over $1 million… will bedevoted to consultants” (PoE 11th Report, p. 23).4. Shoemaker, Baird and Baird, The People and their River: ASurvey of River-Based Livelihoods in the Xe Bang Fai RiverBasin in Central Lao PDR, November 2001, p. xi.5. NTPC says that the plans contain confidential informationregarding household assets. In March, the WorldBank and the ADB told IRN that NTPC was asked toremove the household asset information and disclose therest. The RAPs have not yet been disclosed.6. There will be downstream impacts in other areas, such ason the Nam Theun downstream of the dam site wherewater flows will sharply decrease. However, the IRN fieldvisit focused on the Xe Bang Fai area where there is thelargest number of affected people.7. These numbers are based on a survey conducted by independentexperts (Shoemaker, Baird and Baird, The Peopleand their River, 2001). NTPC asserts that only 75,000people in 221 downstream villages will be affected byNT2, which includes the Khamkeut district downstreamof the Nam Theun. NTPC’s downstream livelihoodrestoration program targets 75,000 villagers.8. NTPC responses to issues raised here were obtained in ameeting with Olivier Salignat, Social and EnvironmentalDeputy Director of NTPC, on March 8, 2007. DetailedXe Bang Fai village notes from IRN’s visit were sent toNTPC in mid-May 2007.9. According to World Bank and ADB definitions, involuntaryresettlement includes not only physical relocation, butalso loss of land, assets and/or access to natural resources.As such, the Downstream Livelihood and AssetRestoration Program is a resettlement action plan andshould be disclosed in accordance with ADB and WorldBank involuntary resettlement and information disclosurepolicies.10. It is not clear yet when the first transfers of water fromthe reservoir will be—during reservoir impoundment in2008 or 2009 or once power production commences at theend of 2009. NTPC is developing a reservoir impoundmentstrategy which should address this question.11. The PoE also raises concerns about the DownstreamProgram budget and notes that “over $1 million… willbe devoted to consultants” (PoE 11th Report, p. 23).12. Shoemaker, Baird and Baird, The People and their River:A Survey of River-Based Livelihoods in the Xe Bang FaiRiver Basin in Central Lao PDR, November 2001, p. xi.13. See Barney, K. (forthcoming). Power, Progress, andImpoverishment: Plantations, Hydropower, EcologicalChange and Community Transformation in HinbounDistrict, Lao PDR. Working Paper No 1, York Centrefor Asian Research (YCAR). York University, Torontoand draft chapters of Theun-Hinboun Expansion ProjectEIA submitted by consultant to THPC and available at:http://www.rmruk.com/eia_files/Chapters/Chapters.html.14. NT2 EAMP, 2005, Chapter 3; Lanza, “Review of theWater Quality Assessment (EAMP), Proposed NamTheun 2 Hydroelectric Project,” 2005, and Theiss,“Reservoir Fisheries Predictions for the Nam Theun 2Hydroelectric Project”, 2005, available at:http://www.irn.org/programs/mekong/namtheun.php?id=namtheuntech.html.15. NTPC says that the plans contain confidential informationregarding household assets. In March, the WorldBank and the ADB told IRN that NTPC was asked toremove the household asset information and disclose therest. The RAPs have not yet been disclosed.16. For more details regarding the transitional resettlementprocess, see the IRN NT2 Trip Report September 2006,available at:http://www.irn.org/programs/mekong/namtheun.html.17. NTPC responses to issues raised in this section wereobtained in a meeting with Michael Beauchamp, NTPCResettlement Manager, on March 5, 2007 and in subsequentemail correspondence.18. NTPC says that the GOL overestimated the quality andquantity of timber available for resettlement housing, andthat villagers have been too selective about the type ofwood they want to be used in housing construction.30