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SALWEEN WATCH HOTMAIL OUT
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE SALWEEN MEGADAM Salween Watch Date: 17th May 1999. Vol. 2 ------------------------------------- JICA Interview Relating to the Kok-Ing-Nan Water Diversion Project From Mekong Watch, Japan Dear friends, We had an informal meeting with a JICA staff in Tokyo who is responsible for the Kok-Ing-Nan water diversion feasibility study which will be completed in coming September. The following is a summary of his comments. Any feedback and additional information would be appreciated. Satoru Matsumoto,
Venue: JICA, Tokyo Participants: From NGO's--- Q. Present stage of a study project Based on an initial proposal for the Kok-Ing-Nan (KIN) project from the government of Thailand (GOT) in 1996, JICA sent a study team in December of that year. JICA and GOT discussed the Scope of Work for a feasibility study which was divided into two phases. The current study belongs to Phase 2, which may finalise September 1999. In principle, an implementing agency is GOT while the Government of Japan (GOJ) is not in the position to promote any projects. Q. Process after this study project It is expected that JICA write up a draft final report in August this year and finalise it by September. Then, they organise a technical transfer workshop among the relevant government agencies. The final report includes a feasibility study for engineering design but it covers only a part of EIA as a feasibility level. The rest of EIA will be complemented by GOT. Although the project area is very large, the study duration was short. Probably JICA's part of EIA will give some recommendations for a further EIA. The process until a final approval of the KIN project may have two ways. For engineering design> For EIA It is recognised by the National Committee that in the case of KIN, GOT should assure its financial sources from outside the country, but JICA could not be involved in National Committee. Therefore, JICA will not be able to influence the final decision. It seems very difficult to begin construction by 2000 because of a difficulty of donors. Q. Information disclosure and public participation This study project implies a difficulty of PR or information disclosure. If they disclose any information at the early stage, it brings about a confusion. It happened in this case. Even though a plan was uncertain, GOT publicised the information. Since such information would lead to an issue of compensation or speculation, I wonder if we should disclose information at such a stage. This is the first large scale study project for JICA to take in public participation. But even a consultant in charge of it does not understand it well. They organised public workshops six times at three places by each. GOT was responsible for them, but they also did not know how they should manage them well. It is important to share information among central, provincial and district
governments before disclosing for the public. Unless the governments at
the different levels have same information, the public will be confused.
In order to avoid such misunderstanding among the governmental agencies,
JICA support to organise technical seminar to share the outcomes of this
study They plan to publish the final report in English, and the summary both in Thai and Japanese. Q. Study on current water use The Operation and Maintenance division of RID has conducted a study on current water use, especially upstream and downstream of the Sirikit Dam. Data they use is not newly collected one. The study is not a field-based research but rather a desk analysis of present data concerning water use. Q Impacts of economic crisis The project considers an impact of economic downturn. Since a current financial crisis push GOT back to a vision towards an agriculture country, this economic turmoil seems to be following for RID. Q Water crisis in the northern Thailand I realise that since the KIN divert water from 'the poor' to 'the rich', it is indispensable to obtain an agreement from the people along Kok and Ing rivers. Because those areas have faced flood during the rainy season and drought in the dry season, it is designed so that water will be diverted only during the rainy season, August - October. However, an actual operation will be decided through a discussion with the affected people. It is important to estimate how much water demands are expected to be. They consider some different cases of water demands for this study. Q. Unregistered ethnic groups which might be affected by the KIN project It is not the stage for the project team to specify affected people. But the study team understands an issue relating to ethnic groups in mountainous areas who have no legal status for land registration. I would like to ask GO's about the potential problems of this project when they promote tunnel type cannel to mitigate environmental negative impacts. Q. Impacts on the mainstream of Mekong River The study identified that 1-3% would be reduced based on an estimation using the volume of diverted water. Q Information disclosure of JICA documents The official document marked 'JR' can be disclosed at any JICA offices including Bangkok. Mekong Watch, Japan Minutes of Meeting with JICA on Kok-Ing-Nan From: Mihoko Uramoto, Mekong Watch, Japan Minutes of Meeting with JICA on Kok-Ing-Nan Time: 1:30-3:00pm, Feb. 23,1999 NGO: Decharut (Kasetsart University), Tomoyo Saito (JACSES), Mihoko Uramoto (Mekong Watch, Japan) JICA: =JICA's remarks, 1. Process of the project JICA: Mekong River Commission (MRC) has already approved the plan. NGO: Why you can judge that the water in the Kok is surplus? NGO: But the watershed of Kok and Ing and that of Nan have close relationship. So when the Kok and Ing cause flood the Nan also have enough water, and the Kok and Ing have a little water the Nan suffer from water shortage. Do you know about it? JICA: That kind of study will be done in the Phase II. 3. EIA and participation 4. Others For example, there is a large-scale diversion system in Colorado, and I have heard that it has many problems.ends Mekong Watch, Japan
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