Unexpected heavy rains caused the Xepian Xe-Namnoy hydropower dam to collapse. (Source: Attapeu Today) Seoul (VNA) - The Republic of Korea (RoK)’s SK Engineering and Construction (SKE&C), one of the builders of the XepianXe-Namnoy hydropower dam of Laos, said on July 24 that it has formed acrisis management team to respond to the dam collapse.
SK E&Csaid its President Ahn Jae-hyun and senior company officials have left for Laosto figure out the scope of the damage caused by the flood, and to supportrescue operations there.
The buildersaid huge amounts of water flooded over the Xepian-Xe Namnoy hydropower plantdam in Sanamxay district of Attapeuprovince in the southeast of the country.
An officialfrom the company said the area had been hit by heavy rainfall three timesgreater than normal.
The companyis supporting the Lao government's rescue operations by bringing in helicoptersfrom Thailand to help rescue stranded people. Villagers in nearby areas havebeen evacuated, the company said, adding that the affected area is surroundedby dense forest where communication isn't easy, complicating rescue efforts.
Also on July 24,Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl of Thailand issued a pressrelease announcing that unexpected heavy rains caused the dam to collapse.
High volumes of rainwater fractured the dam and caused a deluge in thedownstream area of Xe-Pian River, it said.
The Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower dam collapsed at 20:00 on July 23,releasing 5 billion cu.m of water which caused flash flooding in 10 villages inlower areas and completely isolated Sanamxay district. Five out of Sanamxaydistrict’s villages, namely May, Hinlath, Nhaythe Sanong Tay, Thasengchan andThahin, have been absolutely submerged.
The plant, which has a capacity of 410 MW, is beingconstructed by the Xe Pien-Xe Namnoy Power Company (PNPC).
The PNPC is a joint venture between SKE&C, Korea Western Power, RatchaburiElectricity Generating Holding and Lao Holding Sate Enterprise.
The project, which is estimated to cost 1.02 billionUSD, is the first Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) project to be undertaken by theKorean companies in Laos.
When the projectis put into operation, 90 percent of the electricity generated will be sentto Thailand. The dam is 90 percent completed and operation is due to start in2019.-VNA
VNA
