Nam Ngum 2 hydro project to relocate 6,000 people

The Nam Ngum 2 hydroelectric power project in Vientiane province will relocate more than 6,000 people who will be displaced to make way for the reservoir.
They will move from Xaysomboun district to new homes in Meuang Feuang district.
The resettlement project involves the construction of three villages and is currently 30 percent complete, according to an employee of the Nam Ngum 2 project.
She made a report to the Minister of Energy and Mines, Dr Bosaikham Vongdara, and ministry staff during their visit to the new villages on December 15.
“Everyone will be moved to new homes before water is released from the dam in 2009,” Dr Bosaikham said during his visit.
Vientiane Governor Khammeuang Phongphakdy told Vientiane Times on the same occasion that the project would affect 16 villages and more than 1,000 families in one district. Nearly all residents would move to the three new villages being prepared for them.
“People are ready to move as soon as all the new buildings have been finished. Forty of the 1,000 families have other places to go, as most of them are government officials and have other facilities provided for them, as well as compensation,” Mr Khammeuang said.
He said the three new villages would each have a primary school, a lower secondary school, a market, a dispensary, a bus station, electricity, farmland, a 7-km asphalt road, clean water supply and other facilities.
A project employee reported that the resettlement area had more than 1,000 hectares of farmland and about 74 hectares on which to build new homes.
She said the resettlement project had set up a social and environmental unit to monitor the situation of the more than 1,000 relocated families.

By Panyasith Thammavongsa (Latest Update December 25, 2007)