Deal #6598

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. 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]