PNPC signed a concession agreement for the project with the Lao government in October 2012.

PNPC signed a concession agreement for the project with the Lao government in October 2012. Xe Pian Xe Namnoy Power Company (PNPC) will transfer the operations and management of the project to the Government of Laos upon the completion of the 27-year concession period. [Source: Power Technology]

Project Development Agreement (PDA) signed on 14/11/2008, Concession Agreement (CA) signed on 19/10/2012

Project Development Agreement (PDA) signed on 14/11/2008, Concession Agreement (CA) signed on 19/10/2012 The feasibility study for the hydroelectric project was completed in November 2008.

2013: start of construction

The construction of the project began in February 2013 and the dam was 90% complete at the time of the collapse. Source: Power Technology

The hydroelectric project, which was estimated to cost $1.02bn, was the first build-operate-transfer (BOT) ever undertaken by the Korean companies in Laos. TThe Xe Pian Xe Namnoy project is the first major power investment in Laos by South Korean sponsors SKE&C and KOWEPO. The project achieved financial closure in February 2014 and is financed through 70% debt and 30% equity. Debt financing of approximately $737.5m is provided by a syndicate of Thai financial institutions, including the Bank of Ayudhya (BAY), the Export-Import Bank of Thailand (EXIMBANK), the Krung Thai Bank (KTB) and the Thanachart Bank (TBank).

The hydroelectric project, which was estimated to cost $1.02bn, was the first build-operate-transfer (BOT) ever undertaken by the Korean companies in Laos. TThe Xe Pian Xe Namnoy project is the first major power investment in Laos by South Korean sponsors SKE&C and KOWEPO. The project achieved financial closure in February 2014 and is financed through 70% debt and 30% equity. Debt financing of approximately $737.5m is provided by a syndicate of Thai financial institutions, including the Bank of Ayudhya (BAY), the Export-Import Bank of Thailand (EXIMBANK), the Krung Thai Bank (KTB) and the Thanachart Bank (TBank). Lao Holding State Enterprise owns 24% stake in this project [Source: XPXN Accountability] The Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydropower project is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project funded by the Korean Export-Import Bank’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF), which provided 95.5 billion won (81.1 million USD). [Source: International River]

street protests, visible mobilization

street protests, visible mobilization When Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy recommenced construction in 2013, villagers from these 10 communities, plus two more that had resisted the initial resettlement, faced a second traumatic relocation back to the original resettlement site. [Source: XPXN Accountability]

The project forced resettlement of 10 indigenous Nya Heun (or Heuny) communities out of the project catchment and reservoir area on the eastern side of the Bolaven Plateau in Paksong District, Champasak Province, to a resettlement area known as Ban Chat San. [Source: XPXN Accountability ]

reduced food security and increased poverty levels; the dam collapsed in July 2018 and by 25 July, 20 people had been killed by the water, with a further 100 or more missing and nearly 7,000 having lost their homes.

reduced food security and increased poverty levels; the dam collapsed in July 2018 and by 25 July, 20 people had been killed by the water, with a further 100 or more missing and nearly 7,000 having lost their homes. Due to a saddle dam collapsed on 23 July 2018, it confirmed that 49 people were dead and 22 were missing. The collapse displaced thousands of people, flooding homes and villages. Over 7,000 people in 19 villages in Attapeu province experienced losses and long-term damage to houses, property, and farmlands. Still, many survivors of the collapse are still living in shelters, with their cash and food allowances cut off or reduced since January 2021. The floodwaters extended far downstream and across the border into Cambodia, affecting an estimated 15,000 people, damaging farms and destroying livestock and property. The Attapeu provincial Department of Agriculture reported that more than 1,700 hectares of agricultural land had been devastated. In addition, four irrigation systems were destroyed, 190 fishponds were damaged, and over 1,200 buffalo, 4,000 cattle, and a large number of poultry and pigs were lost. [Source: Inclusion Development]

On April 10, 2020, PNPC announced that it had reached a deal with authorities in Southern Laos to compensate victims of the disaster. The total compensation and rehabilitation costs would amount to more than 828 billion kip (US$92 million), with 57% going toward compensation of the victims and 43% for public infrastructure. [Source: IDI website]

The construction of 700 houses for the flood victims began in July 2020 with compensation money from Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy Power Company Limited and SK Engineering and Construction. As of January 2021, 496 houses had been completed with another 56 homes expected to be finished within the year of 2021. However the survivors said that they were disappointed that the houses did not finished as promised. Local authorities of Attapeu province said that the houses did not finished as plan due to covid-19 pandemic and the slow process of material supply. The company expected to complete the houses construction by 2023 and infrastructure development by 2025. [Source: Power Technology & Source: RFA Laos]

United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty (who visited Laos in March 2019) highlighted the impacts to local people due to dam collapse. [Source: XPXN Accountability] Save the Mekong Coalition, International Rivers, Inclusive Development International, Laos Dam Investment Monitor, Focus on Global South, Mekong Watch, Manushya Foundation, civil society groups working in Korea such as Peace MOMO (Joint statement and investigation reports regarding the dam collapse) [Source: International River]

Community, IPs, Private-smallholders

Agricultural land, forest

Inclusive Development International (IDI) together with International Rivers, Mekong Watch, GongGam Human Rights Law Foundation, PeaceMomo, Korean Civil Society Task Force on Xe Pian, Project Sevana followed the money behind the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy project to determine who must be held accountable for the disaster and for ensuring that the victims receive redress. Our investigations revealed that the dam’s developers had taken out $50 million in liability insurance, which should be paid promptly to the victims. IDI also partnered with International Rivers to create a campaign website (http://www.xpxnaccountability.net/) to help mobilize members of the public from around the world to communicate directly with the entities responsible for the disaster and urge them to meet their human rights responsibilities to the victims. Now that the insurers have paid the Lao government $50 million in liability insurance, we are maintaining the pressure to make sure the funds fairly reach the impacted communities. Source: IDI website