Deal #10696

There are about 20 families are affected by this project.

According to the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report , it mentioned that the consultation in different levels were held with affected communities and concern parties. However, there were no photos or proves of how the consultation was conducted. It was also said in the report that if there are negative impacts, company will based on national laws especially Law on Livelihoods and Vocation 2018 as a legal reference to solve the problems or conflicts. On September 10, 2024, MONRE posted on its Facebook to call for the public opinions or comments to the EIA report (attached with link of reports) through phone numbers and email. They announced that the call opens from 5 to 25 September 2024. The link of the post can be found at https://shorturl.at/U3NTA

From interview the local people in Xaichamphone district, many people aware that there is the construction of wind energy project mostly in the forest area and they concern for the loss of forest.

According to the EIA report, the forest area where turbines towers will be installed may affect. The installation of towers and turbines could also disturb the wildlife habitats. Some agriculture land will be affected as well.

It is reported that affected people about 20 families already received the compensation. But villagers claimed that the compensation was quite low compared to what they lost.

According to the EIA report, the cost for compensation, support and resettlement is 3,316,327 USD.

In the meeting between government of Laos and company, government called for the company to allocate the fund for community development such as road improvement, building new village office, agir-business promotion and support for the education. There is also a request from government and communities to ask company to provide community fund mostly for agricultural and livestock activities. In the EMMP report, company ,drafted the budget plan specifically for community development and environmental protection for 208,000 USD during the project lifetime.

In the Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Plan (EMMP) report of a 350 MW project, the company explained for the grievance mechanism and conflict resolution committee in the local and project levels. Mostly, the representatives in the conflict resolution committee are from government and company sector, not independent organizations.