Nam Theun 2 Trip Report and Project Update - BankTrack

Nam Theun 2 Trip Report and Project UpdateWaiting for new houses in Sop Hia resettlement village. Photo by Shannon Lawrence, IRN.EXECUTIVE SUMMARYAn International Rivers Network (IRN) staff member visited the Nam Theun 2 hydropower project(NT2) in early March 2007 to gather first-hand information regarding NT2’s implementation. Thisreport summarizes information gathered on that visit from interviews with villagers and representativesof the Government of Laos, (GoL), the Nam Theun 2 Power Company (NTPC), the Asian Development Bank(ADB) and the World Bank. Information from the field was verified and supplemented by a review of recentproject documents.Nam Theun 2 is anothertwo-speed large infrastructureproject, where constructionproceeds apacewhile social and environmentalprograms lagof past dam mistakes.behind. Livelihood restorationprograms for resettled villagers on the NakaiPlateau, villagers along the Xe Bang Fai, and villagesaffected by downstream channel construction are all atrisk. Many NT2-affected villagers with whom IRNspoke were increasingly open in expressing their frustrationsand concerns about the future.The World Bank’s and the ADB’s“model” hydropower project is dangerouslyclose to becoming a replicaThe NT2 Panel of Experts(PoE) warns in its February2007 report:… the overall emphasis inproject planning and implementationcontinues, as inother large dam projects, to be on the relatively simplefunctions of civil works, physical relocation and buildingsocial infrastructure. A better balance in timingand more emphasis on livelihood development areessential now (PoE 11th Report, p. 9).2