By Tim Johnston in Bangkok
Financial Times
A decision on whether to allow a controversial $3.8bn hydroelectric dam across the Mekong river has been delayed, raising fresh doubts over a project that Laos hopes will establish it as the “battery of south-east Asia”.
The Mekong River Commission, which is made up of representatives of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, had been due to make its decision on Tuesday. But instead it has passed the final judgment on whether to give the green light to the Xayaburi dam in Laos, to regional ministers.
The delegates did not set a date for a final decision but the delay will be seen as a further example of how competing environmental, energy and food interests are becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile in one of the world’s fastest-growing regions.
Laos urged the meeting to support the plan, arguing that the transnational effects would be minimal, but Cambodia and Vietnam, both of which are downstream of the proposed project, said that there were too many gaps in environmental surveys to allow it to go ahead. Vietnam called for a 10-year moratorium on dams on the mainstream of the lower Mekong.
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