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 IRN’s Nam Leuk Campaign

"Since the dam was built, some fish species have disappeared entirely. Consultants promised fish ponds and other compensation, but these have not appeared."

leader from Ban Nyang Kheua village, October 2002

The Nam Leuk Hydropower Project was promoted by the Asian Development Bank, Japanese and Lao governments as a way to lift Laotians out of poverty and to conserve the fragile Phou Khao Khouay National Protected Area. So far, evidence suggests that it has accomplished neither.

Thousands of Laotians have suffered from impacts to their livelihoods and health because of Nam Leuk. The $130 million project, which diverts water from the Nam Leuk to the Nam Xan river, has caused declines in fish populations, submerged riverbank vegetable gardens and disrupted access to water supply. Promises of compensation have not materialized. This is in violation of the ADB policy of ensuring that affected people are no worse off as a result of Bank–funded projects.

The 60–MW Nam Leuk project is located in the Phou Khao Khouay National Protected Area in Vientiane Province and the Saysomboon Special Zone. Although it was approved, in part, to protect Phou Khao Khouay, management of the protected area is inadequate and revenues are not being properly allocated towards the protected area.

Implementation of Nam Leuk has also been plagued by sub–standard environmental impact assessments, badly–regulated logging operations, and poor standards for road and dam construction, which forced the ADB to halt the project for several months in 1997. The project also suffered from a $20 million cost overrun.

IRN is monitoring the project and pressuring the Asian Development Bank to provide compensation to ensure that the livelihoods of affected people are restored.

 
  latest additions  
   
ADB Urged to Resolve Outstanding Issues with Lao Dams (PDF)
Read a letter from IRN and Environmental Defense to the Asian Development Bank urging the Bank to take long–delayed action to compensate communities affected by three ADB–supported dam projects in Laos: Nam Leuk, Nam Song and Theun–Hinboun. Read the response from the ADB to this letter (PDF).
 
01–05–2007
The Forgotten Victims of the Nam Leuk Dam in Laos: Summary of Fact–Finding Trip to Affected Villages
By Phetsavanh Sayboualaven, 2004. Villagers living downstream of Nam Leuk Dam continue to suffer loss of fisheries and water quality problems as a result of the Asian Development Bank–funded Nam Leuk Dam in Laos.
 
07–08–05
World Bank, ADB appeal for blind faith while turning back on problems with Lao dams
An internal ADB report on the Nam Leuk Dam reveals outstanding mitigation problems four years after project completion. This raises further doubts about claims that the Nam Theun 2 Dam is one of the country’s best hopes for development. Published in The Nation (Thailand) on November 5, 2004.  
12–07–04
Dams in Laos:  On the Record (PDF)
Contains selected quotes from official ADB documents and consultants’ reports pointing to some of the ongoing problem with hydropower development in Laos.  
08–01–04
The Legacy of Hydro in Laos (PDF)
Hydropower projects developed over the past decade in Laos have left a legacy of destroyed livelihoods and damaged ecosystems. This paper documents the unresolved social and environmental impacts of five different dam projects in Laos.
 
03–16–04