A DAM FOR BURMA'S GENERALS
Headwaters of the Salween River
Source : Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance - TERRA
A Thai dam-building company is proposing the construction of a massive hydroelectric dam on the Salween River in northeastern Burma. Tens of thousands of local people have already been forcibly relocated from the site of the proposed TA Sarong dam and its reservoir, by order of Burma's military dictatorship.
"Recognising that there exist vast potential for joint utilization of energy resources, particularly hydropower and petroleum resources in the Union of Myanmar; for the mutual benefits of the peoples of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Union of Myanmar...
"The Government of the Kingdom of Thailand hereby agrees to cooperate with the Government of the Union of Myanmar in the implementation of the policy to sell power to Thailand, and would encourage the purchase of power by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) or other agencies designated by the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand to buy up to I,500 Megawatt [sic] of electricity power from projects in Myanmar by the year 2010. (Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government or the Union of Myanmar on the Power Purchase Program from the Union of Myanmar, 4 July 1997)
Two months after the Thai government and Burma's military dictatorship, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), signed this Memorandum of Understanding, GMS Power Public Co. Ltd. signed a contract with the SLORC's Myanmar Economic Corporation to study the feasibility of building the Ta Sarng hydroelectric dam on the Salween River.
With a proposed dam height of 188 meters, Ta Sarng would be the tallest dam in mainland Southeast Asia.* If built, it would be the first dam to be built on the 2,400 kilometre-long mainstream of the Salween River, the only remaining free-flowing major river in the region. The 320,000 square kilometre Salween River Basin is also the least dammed of the region's major river basins. However, since the late 1970s, Australian and Japanese consulting companies and Burmese and Thai state agencies have produced seven major studies examining the possibility of constructing large dams on the Salween.
GMS Power is a subsidiary of Thailand's MDX Group of companies. Through GMS, MDX is involved in dam projects in Cambodia, Lao PDR and China's Yunnan province. GMS contracted Lahmeyer International, a German consulting firm, to coordinate the prefeasibility study for the Ta Sarng project (completed April 1998) and the Electric Power Corporation of Japan to oversee the project's feasibility study (completed March 1999). The final stage of study has been described by a GMS spokesperson as the "definite plan", presumably the detailed engineering design of the project, which is scheduled to begin in December 1999.
Lahmeyer's prefeasibility study indicates that the concretefaced rockfill Ta Sarng dam, with an installed generation capacity of 3,300 megawatts, would be located on the Salween River in the southern area of central Shan State in northeastern Burma. GMS engineers claim that the project's reservoir would flood an area of at least 640 square kilometers, storing 36,100 million cubic meters of water -- approximately one-third of the Salween's average annual flow volume of 119,037 cubic metres.
The Thai-Burma Memorandum of Understanding attempts to justify the construction of large hydroelectric dams and other large-scale projects for electricity generation in Burma "for the mutual benefits of the peoples of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Union of Myanmar". If nothing else, this statement ignores the experience with large-scale energy sector-related infrastructure in both Thailand and Burma (e.g., the Thai-Burma Yadana gas pipeline project, which involved forced labour, extrajudicial murder and forced relocation extensively documented and criticised intentionally) and the destruction and human rights violations that go hand-in-hand with these "development" projects. And that the promise of large-scale projects to provide the State and its agents with the opportunity for enrichment occurs at the expense of the citizens of these countries. The constant repetition of the promises of "mutual benefit" derived from, for example, large dams, therefore requires detailed examination.
How to destroy a river
A natural river ecosystem and its watershed have evolved together over thousands of years, created by the natural flows of water, bio-mass and sediment through the watershed and river. The construction of Ta Sarng would destroy the delicate balance between the Salween, its tributaries and watersheds. The Ta Sarng dam would also result in a large, deep reservoir. The dam's blocking of the river and impoundment of water in the reservoir would radically alter the natural flow and the ecological, chemical and biological characteristics of the Salween River.
In the project area, the reservoir would transform the free flowing Salween River into a deep, slow moving or still water system, up to several hundred kilometers or more in length. Decaying organic matter can create eutrophic conditions in the reservoir leading to algae blooms, oxygen depletion and massive fish kills. Water from the reservoir and directly downstream of the reservoir is often unfit for human or animal consumption. The conditions of the reservoir produces changes in the physical and chemical characteristics of the water, including pH balance, turbidity, oxygen levels, and temperature both in the reservoir and downstream of the dam when water is released through the dam's turbines.
The fishes of the Salween River Basin have evolved in a riverine system. If the river were transformed into a reservoir, most of these fish species would be extirpated by the reservoir, as will many of the fish species living downstream of the dam due to the ecological impacts of altered water flow and the poor quality of water released from the reservoir.
Seasonal fish migrations in the area of the Salween River Basin affected by the project would be prevented by the dam and the non-river habitat of the reservoir, while there would be severe impact on fish migrations and populations downstream of the dam, potentially along a stretch of the river hundreds of kilometres downstream of the dam.
Forests and fertile lowlands along the Salween River and in the tributary valleys would be permanently submerged by the reservoir. Many of these areas are used for seasonal cultivation of crops which serve the needs of local families and communities. The reservoir will destroy the aquatic and terrestrial animal habitat of the river and its valley, and radically alter habitats downstream of the dam.
In the reservoir, species of the riverine ecosystem are likely to be replaced by other aquatic and water-dependent species able to survive, and even thrive, in the degraded habitats of the reservoir area. Along the edges of the Ta Samg dam's reservoir, stagnant pools of water in a large expanse of bare, moist land will be exposed in the area where the reservoir water levels rise and fall on a periodic basis. Known as the "draw-down" area, this new habitat is an ideal breeding ground for malarial mosquitoes. Several forms of the world's most virulent, treatment-resistant malaria are already endemic in areas of the Salween River Basin, including the proposed site of the Ta Sarng project.
All of these impacts would severely affect the means of livelihood security of communities living along the Salween River. Evidence from large dams built in Thailand indicates that the impacts of large dams on the means of livelihood security of communities living upstream and downstream of large dams is in many ways negative, reducing food supplies and opportunities to generate income from farming and fishing and resulting in serious impacts on the health of local people, particularly women, children and the elderly. Inevitably, these same impacts will occur if the proposed Ta Sarng hydroelectric dam is built on the Salween River.
How to violate human rights
A forced porter's body floats in the Salween River, hands bound. The regime's military uses forced porters during campaigns against ethnic fighters.
In the Shan culture, the Salween is called the "Nam Khong". The importance of the river for the Shan people is illustrated by a popular Shan song by writer Sai Khorn Fah which includes the phrase, "As long as the Nam Khong flows, we will have Shan State."**
The site of the proposed Ta Sarng dam and the lower area of the reservoir are located within an 18,000 square kilometre area of central Shan State in which more than 300,000 people have been forcibly relocated by SLORC's [recently renamed the State Peace and Development Council] army. While the forced removal of local communities from their homelands in a proposed reservoir area is required by the construction of large dam, only the proposal, and project studies for Ta Sarng have provided the SLORC/SPDC with the incentive to forcibly relocate tens of thousands of families living along the Salween River where the dam and reservoir may be located.
A recent interview with an ethnic Shan village person forcibly relocated from the proposed reservoir area illustrates the close relations between local people and their natural environment in the Salween basin and the connection between forced relocation and the Ta Sarng project.
Question: Did many people in the area of your village catch fish in the river?
Answer: Everyone fishes in the river! At least one person from every house goes out to catch fish to eat and to sell in Kali [a nearby market town)...There are so many fish in the Nam Pang! [tributary of the Salween There are lots of "ba moong". These are big fish which people like to eat. It is so easy to catch fish. In one day you can easily fill your canoe with fish.
Q. Have you heard that the Burmese government is planning to build a dam on the Salween River at Ta Sarng?
A. Yes, I have heard of this. People in Kunhing [relocation site] are saying it will definitely happen. The authorities have said so. Everyone from Kengkham [township] is so worried.
Q. How would you feel about your village being underwater?
A. I can't express what I feel. It would be worse than the death of my mother and father.
As the project proponent, GMS Power apparently hopes that the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) would purchase most or all of the predicted 23,000 gigawatt hours (GWh, 23,000 billion kilowatt hours) that the Ta Sarng project could generate. However, EGAT is not in a position to justify the signing of a power purchase agreement (PPA) for Ta Sarng as more than 30 per cent of its generating capacity (hydroelectric dams, natural gas-fuelled plants, ete.) is presently unused due to major reductions in the country's demand for electricity. In the absence of a PPA, it is unlikely that GMS will convince international commercial banks to provide the financing for the US$3.5 billion dam in the near future.
Nevertheless, with feasibility studies completed and detailed design planning soon to begin, a delay in the commencement of constructing Ta Sarng as a result of reduced electricity demand in Thailand promises only to be temporary. Successive Thai governments and State agencies have consistently proven their willingness to do business with private-sector companies investing in Burma and to attempt to appease the SLORC/SPDC with the profits of large-scale infrastructure. Only time will tell if Thai society will refuse to allow Thai governments, State agencies and private companies to do business with the brutal military dictatorship of the SLORC/SPDC and to condone the human rights violations and environmental destruction caused by "development" projects like the proposed Ta Sarng hydroelectric dam in Burma.
Endnotes
*For comparison, Thailand's tallest dam is the 154 meter Bhumibol dam, while Vietnam's Hoa Binh dam is 128 metres in height.
** SWAN, Shan Women's Action Network Newsletter, No.1, September 1999.