Mangla Dam

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Mangla Dam, embankment dam on the Jhelum River, Pakistan, completed in 1967.
Mangla Dam is one of the two main structures in the Indus Basin project (the other is
Tarbela Dam. The Mangla Dam rises 453 feet (138 m) above ground level, is about
10,300 feet (3,140 m) wide at its crest, and has a volume of 85,500,000 cubic yards
(65,400,000 cubic m). Along with its three small subsidiary dams, it has an installed
power capacity of at least 600 megawatts and impounds a reservoir with a gross capacity
of 5,900,000 acre-feet (7,250,000,000 cubic m.

Tarbela Dam, giant rock-fill dam on the Indus River, Pakistan. Built between 1968
and 1976, it has a volume of 138,600,000 cubic yards (106,000,000 cubic m). With a
reservoir capacity of 11,098,000 acre-feet (13,690,000,000 cubic m), the dam is 469 feet
(143 m) high and 8,997 feet (2,743 m) wide at its crest. Tarbela Dam is one of two main
structures (the other is Mangla Dam on the Jhelum River) in the Indus Basin project,
which resulted from the Indus Waters Agreement between India and Pakistan. Together
with their subsidiary dams, Tarbela and Mangla were built to control ... (100 of 106
words)

Large Hydro Power Projects in

Southeast Asia

Hydro Power Plants in China

China counts half of the world’s large dams within its borders, and is the biggest
producer of hydropower. Today there are more than 25,800 large dams in China. Yet, the
Chinese government has ambitious plans to expand hydropower power plants, more than
doubling capacity to 250,000 MW by the year 2020.
During the huge Ertan and Three Gorges projects of the 1990s, western companies
interested in the multi-billion dollar contracts had to manufacture half the turbines and
generators on China in cooperation with Chinese partners. In such way the leading
hydropower firms of the time (ABB, Alstom, General Electric and Siemens etc.)
transferred their technology in the process. In recent years, Chinese institutions have
taken a lead in building dams not also abroad. Chinese banks and companies are involved
in constructing some 216 large dams in 49 different countries, particularly in Africa and
Southeast Asia, including Kamchay Dam (Cambodia), Mphanda Nkuwa Dam
(Mozambique), Merowe Dam (Sudan), and Tasang Dam (Burma).

Huge hydropower cascades have been proposed and are being constructed in the
country's remote southwest, in the protected area of the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan -
it is where three of Asia' greatest rivers - the Nu (Salween), Lancang (Mekong) and
Jinsha (Yangtze) run almost parallel before two of them wind their way into Southeast
Asia. System of cascading eight hydropower works is being planned for the middle
reaches of the Yangtze river, with a total investment of 30 billion dollars. The Mekong is
destined to become China’s new water tower and electrical powerhouse. A total of eight
hydroelectric dams are planned on the Mekong, four projects have been already
completed. One of the largest in the cascade, Xiaowan dam in the remote southern
province of Yunnan, with a capacity of 1,750 MW have been completed in October 2008
and started power production in May 2009. Xiaowan dam is the world’s tallest, as high as
the Eiffel Tower and the reservoir is more than 170 kilometres long. By 2014, engineers
will have completed the Nuozhadu dam, which will be less high but will have an even
larger reservoir. If all planned hydro power stations in southwestern China will be built
over in the next 10 years, the amount of electricity generated would equal the output of
five Three Gorges Dams. The Three Gorges dam on the Yangtze River is by far the
world’s largest hydropower project. With 18,200 megawatts, its capacity is bigger than
the 500 hydropower plants and five nuclear reactors of Switzerland combined.

Chinese hydropower projects have already forced to move more than 10 million people
from their homes and land. Pollution is another problem - creation of a water reservoirs
impeded the river’s capacity to cleanse itself. Around 30% of China's rivers are severely
polluted, and some rivers don’t meet the sea anymore. In addition, heavily polluting
industries are allowed to settle in the area of hydro power plants. If government funded
the construction of sewage treatment plants in the area, lots of them are idle because of
their high operating costs.
Dozens of scientists and environmentalists have also appealed for the government to
suspend the approval of big dams in the quake-prone southwest and to review of plans to
build more dams in geologically unstable areas as Sichuan and Yunnan, which have seen
the most earthquakes in the country. A earthquake which struck the region on 12th May
2008 killed almost 80,000 people and wrecked or damaged more than 2,000 dams.
Hydro projects on Mekong River will drastically change natural
flood-drought cycle and block the transport of sediment, affecting ecosystems and the
livelihoods of millions living downstream in Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and
Vietnam. This cascade of dams will be able to store half the entire flow of the Mekong.
In the future, the annual flood will be released gradually as turbines are switched on and
off to supply year-round electricity. The new regime will largely eliminate the river’s
annual flood pulse and wreck the ecosystems that depend on it. Impacts to water levels
and fisheries have already been recorded along the Thai-Lao border. In 1995 Vietnam,
Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand — the four downstream nations on the
river — formed the Mekong River Commission, an intergovernmental body tasked with
overseeing sustainable development along the river. China never joined and is building
dams without any prior consultation with its neighbors.

Mekong River
The Mekong River, known as the Lancang in China, is the heart and soul of mainland
Southeast Asia. Over 60 million people depend on the river and its tributaries for food,
water, transport and many other aspects of their daily lives. Mekong supplies people with
about 80% of their protein needs. The Mekong is almost 5,000 kilometers long stretching
from the Tibetan plateau, through southern China, and then along the border of Myanmar,
Laos Thailand, through Cambodia to Vietnam.

Since the 1960s, several mega-schemes to dam the Lower Mekong River's mainstream to
generate electricity have been proposed. The most recent plan, prepared by the Mekong
Secretariat in 1994, was shelved in part due to public outcry over the predicted impacts
on the river's fisheries. In 1995 Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand — the four
downstream nations on the river — formed the Mekong River Commission, an
intergovernmental body tasked with overseeing sustainable development along the river.
China never joined and is building dams without any prior consultation with its
neighbors. Since mid-2006, Thai, Malaysian, Vietnamese, Russian and Chinese
companies have been preparing detailed studies for a cascade of eleven large hydropower
dams on the Mekong River’s mainstream. The projects are located at Pak Beng, Luang
Prabang, Sayabouri, Pak Lay, and Sanakham in northern Laos; Pak Chom and Ban Koum
on the Thai-Lao border; Lat Sua and Don Sahong in southern Laos; and Stung Treng and
Sambor in Cambodia. Most of the power generated would be sent to energy-hungry cities
in Thailand and Vietnam.

Laos
Landlocked Laos is one of the least developed countries in the region and Lao
government have been eager to use one of its few natural resources - an abundance of
mountains and surging rivers (Lao river network is contributing 35 percent of the
Mekong River's flow) and to transform the country into “the battery of Southeast Asia”
by exporting the power generated by numerous hydroelectric projects to their neighbor
countries, especially to Thailand and Vietnam. There are already seven hydroelectric
dams in Laos and development plan contains 55 building of new large dams, seven of
which are under construction and nearly fifteen more at advanced planning stages.

The massive Nam Theun 2 dam with a capacity of

1088MW is under construction. In March 2006, the the Lao government signed an
agreement with Mega First Corporation Malaysia, to do a feasibility study to build a Hou
Sahong dam, located in Laos less than 2 kilometers from the Laos-Cambodia border on
the Mekong River’s mainstream. The dam would be 32 meters high and generate up to
360 MW, mainly for export to Thailand or Cambodia. A Project Development Agreement
was signed in 2008, but as yet no final decision has been made by the Lao government.
Project would block the crucial passageway through the Hou Sahong channel, the only
major channel of fish migration between Cambodia and Laos, which would put at risk
70% of the fish catch in the Lower Mekong Basin. It will also severely reduce the flow to
the Khone Falls, Asia's largest waterfall.

Burma
Burma’s military junta is in the process of selling the country’s rich river resources to
hydropower developers from China, Thailand, and India. China is investing particularly
heavily. EarthRights International survey identifies that at least 45 Chinese companies
have been involved in approximately 63 hydropower projects in Burma, mainly on
Salween river, longest free-flowing river in mainland Southeast Asia. Electricity
produced from the proposed dams will be exported to neighboring countries instead of
supplying local populations. Since 2005, Burma’s military junta in partnership with the
China Power Investment Corporation and China Southern Power Grid Corporation have
been preparing plans to build the 3,600 megawatt Irrawaddy Myitsone dam on the
Irrawaddy river, which would be the largest dam in the country.

Vietnam
More than 30 projects are under development or at an advanced stage of planning to meet
Vietnam's growing demand for energy. Since 2003, Electricity of Vietnam company is
developing a series of dams in both the Sesan and Srepok basins. To make way for these
projects, around 190 000 people will be displaced. In addition to developing its domestic
hydropower resources, Vietnam with the support of the Asian Development Bank’s
Mekong Power Grid plan is signing contracts to import electricity from Laos and
Cambodia.

Cambodia
The Cambodian government is on the threshold of committing to an extensive
hydropower program, mostly with the backing of Chinese financiers and construction
companies. In 2005, the Cambodian Government started construction of Kamchay Dam,
cambodian first large domestic hydropower project. The 112 meter high dam will be built
by Sinohydro Corporation (China's leading dam builder, having built 70% of China's
hydropower capacity). In April 2006, China announced a US$600 million aid package to
Cambodia, almost half of which financed the Kamchay Dam. In October 2006, the
Cambodian government gave approval to the China Southern Power Grid Company to
prepare a feasibility study for the massive 3,300 MW Sambor Dam, located on the
Mekong mainstream in Kratie province. If approved, it would have a massive impact on
the Mekong River’s fisheries as well as on endangered species such as the Irrawaddy
dolphin. Further seven projects have started with feasibility studies, four of them are
located close to or within the Central Cardamom Protected Forest in Southwest
Cambodia.

End
The Mekong river sustains the world’s second-largest inland fishery (only the Amazon
has greater biodiversity) and is home to 1,200 fish species - approximately 50 of which
are caught commercially. According to the Mekong River Commission, approximately
2.6 million tons of wild fish and other aquatic resources are harvested each year, worth at
least US$2 billion at first-sale value. Taking into account secondary industries, such as
fish processing and marketing, the total economic value for the Mekong’s fisheries is
between $5.6 and $9.4 billion per year, contributing significantly to the region’s
economy. In Laos, a report for the World Fish Centre in 2007, Eric Baran and Blake
Ratner calculated the amount of wild fisheries to 64,600 tonnes — 78% of the country's
total fish production and the direct value to the Laos economy is between $66m and
$100m - 6% to 8% of GDP.

Around 70 percent of the Mekong River’s commercial fish catch migrate long distances,
which is essential for their life cycle. Building dams on the Mekong River’s mainstream
will block these migrations. Experience around the world indicates that these impacts
cannot be mitigated. Existing fish passage technologies cannot handle the massive
volume of fish migrations – which can reach up to 3 million fish per hour at peak
migration times. Building dams would block this migration routes and could cause severe
problems with supplying food for rural population of Laos and Cambodia, which depends
almost completely on river fisheries nowadays.

Resources
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/13/laos-hydroelectric-dam
http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/Don%20Sahong%20Fact%20sheet%20Sept
%202008%20ENGLISH.pdf
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/southeast-asia
http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/WRR%20Mekong%20Map.pdf
http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/2275