Sanakham Dam Sparks Fear and Anguish Along the Thai-Lao Border
A long-dreaded dam project on Laos’ side of the border is moving forward, despite opposition from locals.
In Chiang Khan, a picturesque Thai tourist town bordering the Mekong River, the new year brought dark forebodings of a hydropower project slated to be installed just 2 kilometers away in neighboring Laos.
Thanusilp Inda, the head of Ban Klang village in Chiang Khan, expressed his anxiety over the future. “The Sanakham dam will be a disaster for ecology and fish, it will cause worse flooding,” he told the Diplomat.
Just before Christmas, the Thai government’s Office of the National Water Resources (ONWR) under the Office of the Prime Minister announced that the Mekong River Commission consultation process would suddenly go ahead, despite warnings from The Thai Human Rights Commission (THRC) to exercise caution.
In a letter sent to Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra in November 2024, the THRC advised against any hasty action until a thorough assessment was completed of the transboundary impacts on Thai people and their livelihoods.
The report cited a wide range of impacts, including flooding and erosion of riverbanks, that will damage two important tourist sites in Thailand: Kaeng Khut Khu in Chiang Khan District and Phan Khot Saen in Nong Khai Province.
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Tom Fawthrop has covered the Mekong for 12 years as a researcher and a guest lecturer at universities in Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. His reports on the region have been widely in published, including in the Economist, The Diplomat, and the Guardian.