HCM City (VNA) – The VietnamNational Mekong Committee (VNMC) held a national consultation in Ho Chi MinhCity on September 18 to look into Laos’ Pak Lay hydropower project.

The Pak Lay project is proposed to be located onthe Mekong mainstream in Pak Lay district of Xayaburi province. It will be thefourth of the 11 hydropower projects to be built on the Mekong mainstreamacross Laos and Cambodia. Its construction is scheduled to start in 2022 and tobe completed and put into use by 2029.

The VNMC said as a member of the Mekong RiverCommission (MRC), Vietnam plays an important role in consultations on previoushydropower projects and preparations for upcoming meetings on the Pak Layproject. 

The VNMC Standing Office has built a plan onconsultation activities that will help the VNMC, the Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment, and other relevant ministries and sectors assess theproject’s possible impact, including in other countries that the Mekongmainstream traverses.

The country’s constructive participation inregional consultations held by the MRC will also help relevant sides understandits viewpoints on the Pak Lay hydropower project and upstream hydroelectricdevelopments.

Vietnam will participate in a special session ofthe MRC in February 2019 to announce its official opinions on the project, theVNMC said.

Le Thi Huong from the VNMC Standing Office saidthat Vietnam has actively conducted independent studies and taken intoconsideration the cross-border impact of all mainstream hydropower projects tocompare their results with assessments made by the MRC Secretariat and Laos.

It has also increased communications regardingthe issue in the Mekong Delta region and kept close coordination with Laos inthe consultation process, she added.

Last June, the Lao National Mekong Committeesubmitted a detailed description of the planned project to the MRC Secretariatfor review and to inform member countries about the project. This is the firststep in the Procedures for Notification, Prior Consultation, andAgreement regarding the cooperation and use of the Mekong mainstream’swater.

At the workshop, Director of the Kien Giangprovincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Van Tam saidthe Pak Lay project could change the flow of the Mekong River and affectagricultural production in downstream areas. Therefore, localities in theMekong Delta should be prepared to adjust local agriculture to become resilientto the impact of the plant’s operations in the future.

Deputy Director of the An Giang provincialDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Cam Khuong said it isnecessary to gather opinions on how to minimise the project’s negative impactson the Mekong Delta. Local provinces and cities should also build suitablesocio-economic development plans in response to the project’s influence. –VNA