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SALWEEN WATCH HOTMAIL OUT
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE SALWEEN MEGADAM Salween Watch 24th February 1999 Vol.1 --------------------------------------- The Burmese government does not have a good social record. It has been waging brutal war against the Shan and other indigenous populations in the area for the past 37 years. It is widely accused of profiting from and controlling much of the drug trade from the region, which is among the worst in the world. Furthermore, its past history with development projects such as the Burma to Thailand Yadana gas pipeline is fraught with human rights abuses, the subject of a major law suit in the US courts. The Burmese government and its army would be key participants in the project. Burmese army engineers are reportedly involved in the surveying work. They are also in the process of building a bridge over the Salween at Ta Hsang, a piece of infrastructure that would be used in the servicing of the dam construction. Roads into the area have been upgraded with the help of the Thai Sawat logging company. There are allegations of forced labour on the road and bridge construction. Both the construction and surveying work is taking place under heavy Burmese Army protection. Aside from the surveying at Ta Hsang there is also mention of interest in another site lower on the Salween in the Karen State. This location, close to where the Salween empties out into its floodplain, is called Hat Gyi. It is evidently preferred by Burma's ruling State Peace and Development Council due to its being closest to three major centres in Burma that would use electricity generated by a dam, and is most within the military's tenuous sphere of control. Although improbable due to its relatively low elevation, Hat Gyi has also been mentioned in the context of water diversion. A Thai study made during another long drought in 1995 postulated the siphoning off of Salween water from where the Moei and Salween Rivers meet and pumping it into a dam on another Salween tributary, further up into yet another dam, and from there along a long tunnel from whence it would flow into the Bhumiphol Dam. Construction of a dam at Hat Gyi would mean the lower dam at Mae Lama Luang, next to the large Karen refugee camp called Mae Ramu Klo, would not need to be built as the area would be inundated by the larger dam. This idea has again been raised by the Thai Science, Technology and Environment Minister as one of two of the alternatives put forward for public display in the context of the Salween Water Diversion Project. Whilst nothing is certain in regard to the ultimate decision on whether to build the dam or not, when to build it, and where the very large amounts of capital would be found for the project, there is still reason for more than passing concern that a large multipurpose dam is to be built. The Thai Cabinet approval of the US $ 5.5 million feasibility study represents a large step towards its final approval. It is highly unlikely that the would-be dam builders will turn aside from the project on the grounds of later information about the environmental, social and economic costs of the proposed dam after having spent such an amount of money on it. It is all too evident that the successive governments of Thailand are intent on large scale, ecologically devastating, inequitable development projects that benefit construction companies, industrialists, loggers and officials that approve the projects. While acknowledging that the problem is due to the destruction of the watersheds, little effort is put into addressing the inequitable land tenure or prevention of the forest fires and illegal logging that are the primary causes of this destruction. It is doubtful that most farmers in Thailand would be able to afford water from the 4-7 billion dollar project. The users will almost certainly be limited to city dwellers, electricity producers, wealthy farmers and industries who can afford to pay for the water. On the part of the Burmese government, it is equally evident that making a huge dam in the land of the Shan people is an act of neo-colonial occupation, if not an act of war. Such natural resource exploitation as the dam, mining concessions, logging and fisheries concessions and the Yadana gas pipeline has been done in the interest of securing cooperation against its ethnic and political opponents in the border states, or to gain revenue for the military. The military government has repeatedly demonstrated its lack of concern for civilized norms - such as respecting the basic rights of their own nationals, the borders of other countries, or the environment. Such a dam would not serve as a "peace keeping dam" as was suggested during the period of dictatorship in Thailand - instead it would add to the burden of human suffering by strengthening the Burmese military dictatorship. All factors considered, the construction of dams and related infrastructure that would significantly alter the 3 major watersheds of South East Asia is an example of an unsound development that should be opposed. Since the Royal Thai Government has decided in favour of carrying out the study, it is time for action. It is necessary to ensure that the many social, economic, political and environmental concerns are adequately addressed, and not glossed over. There is a great need to ensure that the wrong-doings of those who would like to profit from the making of this dam at the expense of the people and their environment will be exposed.
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