02/01/15
How Laos’s major dam on the Mekong is taking shape
The Xayaburi Dam on the Mekong River dwarfs the construction vehicles building it. It is due to open in 2019 and cost around US$3.5 billion
Jim Holmes
Cranes tower over the gates that will eventually regulate the flow of the Mekong, the world’s 12th longest river, letting through almost 4,000 cubic metres of water each second. The dam is expected to generate up to 1,285 megawatts of power
Jim Holmes
Building the dam and spillway gates requires thousands of cubic metres of concrete
Jim Holmes
The project’s Thai and Lao management have built a small shrine downstream of the dam with a river dragon, or Naga, that is meant to protect the location. The dam is being built by a Thai construction firm and financed by Thai banks
Jim Holmes
A temporary ‘coffer dam’ keeps the wet season flood water away from the site
Jim Holmes
Thai and Lao workers insert reinforcing bars before concrete is poured to form the dam walls
Jim Holmes
A ferry crosses the Mekong to deliver construction traffic and workers. The river flows quickly even in the dry season and becomes dangerous when the rains start, almost halting construction
Jim Holmes
With deadlines to meet and the heavy rains of the wet season imminent, work continues throughout the night. Poor weather can halt construction for days at a time
Jim Holmes
Children play in the Mekong near the dam
Jim Holmes
More than 71 per cent of Laos’s rural population now have electricity, up from just 16 per cent in 1995. Although much of the electricity from Xayaburi and the other eight hydropower plants Laos proposes to build will be exported, some will go to further increase domestic electricity access
Jim Holmes
A worker photographing the ‘fish ladder’. This is being built to help migratory species swim around the dam. One fear is that the dam will block the paths of many migrating fish such as the Mekong giant catfish. Some experts predict that this will wipe out many species as the 32 metre dam walls are too high for the fish ladder to work
Jim Holmes
The Mekong is a highly productive inland fishery: millions of people get all their protein from fish caught in the river. But there are fears that damming the river will significantly reduce fish stocks
Jim Holmes
The Mekong in the early morning, upstream of the dam site near the popular tourist town of Luang Prabang. The dam is in a picturesque area and there are concerns that it will deter tourists
Jim Holmes
By: Jim Holmes
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The Xayaburi Dam now being built on the Mekong River is part of the Laos government’s strategy to become the ‘battery of South-East Asia’. A further eight dams are proposed along the river in Laos, with two more planned on this lower part of the river in other countries. When operational, the Xayaburi Dam will produce up to 1,285 megawatts of electricity, 95 per cent of which will be exported to Thailand, which is a project partner. This will provide much-needed export earnings for Laos, one of the poorest countries in South-East Asia.
Yet the project is highly controversial. Over 50 million people rely on the lower Mekong for fishing or crop irrigation. Cambodia and Vietnam, which lie downstream from the dam in the Mekong Basin, oppose it for environmental reasons. In March, several international NGOs including conservation organisation WWF signed a declaration opposing the dam’s construction.
There are fears that changes to river flow and sedimentation could have disastrous consequences for the Mekong and the people who depend on it for food and livelihoods. The NGO International Rivers calls the dam a “looming threat”. The dam owners counter that they have altered the dam’s initial design to mitigate any possible changes to river flow, but critics point out that these have never been tested before.