China Keeping Details Of Mega-Dam Secret

by Antoaneta Bezlova

(IPS) BEIJING -- Chinese environmentalist are protesting what they see as secretive state plans to harness the Nu River, a pristine waterway also running through Burma and Thailand.

The China Rivers Network, a coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) concerned about plans to build the world's largest hydroelectric dam project on the Nu River, boycotted a government-organized conference last weekend to discuss the dams.

Network members said they feared the conference was being used to get around public disclosure of plans for the Nu River Hydropower Development Project, organized by the National Reform and Development Commission.

"The organizers said they would share with U.S. parts of the environment impact assessment (EIA). But we don't want private access to the documents. Why not make them accessible to everyone?" said Zheng Yisheng, researcher with the Center for Environment and Development under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

A cascade of 13 hydropower stations is being planned on the Nu river in an area that is rich in biodiversity and has been designated a World Heritage site by the United Nations.

After a public outcry and opposition from countries downstream, Beijing suspended the plans last year. In a victory for China's nascent green movement, Premier Wen Jiabao ordered a full study of the environmental impact of the proposed dams in southern Yunnan province.

But in violation of China's much-touted new green laws, the environmental impact assessment was completed by the developers in secrecy and sent for approval to the State Council, China's cabinet, without any prior public hearings or disclosure of its content.

Fearing that the project is tacitly moving up the government chain, conservationists had circulated an open letter in August, urging the government to make the EIA public and allow discussion of the project.

The petition, signed by 61 organizations and 99 individuals, was sent simultaneously to Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, the State Environmental Protection Agency and the National Reform and Development Commission, which is in charge of economic policy.

Two months later, no reply has come but representatives of China Rivers Network were invited to attend the weekend dam conference, possibly because the EIA law passed in 2003 stipulates that environmental effects of large projects should be assessed and included in their feasibility studies.

The law also required public hearings to be held to take into account the opinions of people most affected by construction, but network activists suspected that this was being avoided by calling them in.

"We don't want to have another clash of philosophies, we don't need another argument about the pros and cons of large dams," said Ma Jun, an environmental consultant who supports public disclosure of the Nu River environmental study. "We need to talk about the details of the project and these can't be addressed without publicizing the EIA."

Limited reports on the dam conference attended by senior government officials, power industry executives and Yunnan Communist party leaders reveal a renewed zeal to push the project through.

He Zuoxiu, an elderly scientist and prominent public figure with well-known pro-development and pro-scientific views, told the forum the primary goal of the Nu River Hydropower Development plan was to alleviate poverty.

"Developing hydropower is the only viable way to eradicate enternched local poverty and this is the primary goal of the Nu River project. Generating power comes second," he was quoted as saying by the Beijing Times.

Backers of the project insist the dams would also supply power to a nation that is increasingly struggling to meet its energy needs.

But provincial leaders in Yunnan have made no secret of their intention to export power to neighboring countries. Projected capacity from the dam cascade is 20,000 megawatts -- greater than the power supplied by the Three Gorges Dam, now the world's largest hydroelectric project.

By law, a project on such scale should be approved by the National People's Congress, the Chinese parliament. But the central government was embarrassed when the vote on the Three Gorges Dam in 1992 was one-third of the parliament's delegates rejected or abstained on the vote.

Perhaps fearful of a similar campaign, the developers of the Nu River dams are pressing for a decision directly from the top levels of the Chinese government. But this has also increased the stakes of the project in the eyes of the public.

"The Nu River project is not only about environmental preservation. It is also about observing the rule of law in China and ensuring public participation in the decision-making process," argues Xue Ye, secretary of China Rivers Network.

If the project goes ahead, at least 50,000 people, mainly members of Yunnan's many ethnic minorities, would have to be relocated. These people, Xue says, have very little say and shouldn't be locked out of the debate.

The plan has already drawn angry protests from the ethnic communities downstream, in Thailand and Burma. The Nu River is the last free-flowing international river in the region, and also Southeast Asia's second-longest river. It begins in the Tibetan mountains, crosses Yunnan province and flows into Burma and Thailand, where it is known as the Salween River.

Chinese civil groups say the propaganda department of the Communist Party has banned negative media reports about hydropower development plans. Nevertheless, news has filtered through that the Yunnan government is seeking approval from Beijing for four dams for the first phase of the Nu River project.

The renewed controversy over the project comes amid pledges by Beijing to strive for a more environmentally sensitive model of economic growth. The dam conference was held just a week after Beijing unveiled the draft of its new five-year economic blueprint, which promises to pay heed to depletion of natural resources.

Last February, the government said that 10 regions, including Beijing, would carry out a pilot project in green GDP assessment. The proposed green index for growth would measure the success of provinces not only in terms of short-term economic figures, but the longer-term costs of pollution, health and resource depletion.

Yunnan province, however, is not among the regions selected to take part in the pilot project. Local leaders anticipate tax returns from the completed full-scale cascade to reach 2.7 billion yuan ($333 million) a year.

"The Nu River has become a test of the central government's resolve to give up growth-at-all-costs policy and pursue more balanced and environment-friendly development," said Xue Ye.