3 December 2019

More than 100 Lao families who were moved to a resettlement village four years ago to make way for construction of the Nam Tha 1 Dam hydropower project in Luang Namtha province have run out of water amid a worsening drought, local sources say.

Water sources near the Nam Tha 1 Resettlement Village...have now all dried up....

..[T]he chief, named Bounsy, said... “...The company building the dam has stopped helping us, because its contract to help has expired.”

“The village has no water now—no drinking water, no water for anything,” agreed a resident of the Tarang sub-village, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The small creek near our village has run dry, and even a large river nearby has run out of water for the last two to three months.”

The Sengphet company, a Lao subcontractor of the China South Power Grid Corporation, has ended its support for villagers moved from the site of the Nam Tha 1 Dam because its commitment ended last year, the villager added.

[...]

Residents of the Nam Tha 1 resettlement village also face hardships from a lack of jobs, schools, health care, and land suitable for farming, sources told RFA in earlier reports. Landslides also pose a threat to the village, which is built on a mountain slope that may collapse when rains return, sources said.

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