In an article for IPS dated 1 January and posted on the LaoFAB listserv, “”CAMBODIA: Opting For The Big Dam”, Andrew Nette writes that
several informed sources in Phnom Penh claim the Cambodia government has already made an in-principle decision to press ahead with the larger configuration
of the two that have been developed by China Southern Power Grid Company for the hydropower project on the Mekong mainstream at Sambor in Kratie Province.
This option
envisages a 2,600 Mw run-of- river dam barraging the entire width of
the Mekong [and] is a variation on the original scheme proposed by the then
Mekong Secretariat in 1994 for a 3,300Mw structure blocking the entire
river.
Nette writes that large mainstream dams have become more popular options for the Cambodian, Lao and Thai governments because of higher fossil fuel prices.
