A
section of grassland in Koh Kong’s Areng Valley in 2012 that will be
flooded if a proposed dam project is completed. RIVERS INTERNATIONAL
Areng Valley mining may unseat dam
A highly controversial, Chinese-backed hydropower project in
the Areng Valley could be delayed in favour of mining, should “research”
for the dam approved by Phnom Penh in February uncover precious metals
or gems.
Sinohydro Resources Ltd, a holding company for Sinohydro Group, was
granted approval on February 19 for six months of extensive drilling,
geological mapping and prospecting in the dam concession in a letter
signed by Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem Set and obtained by the Post last week.
“If they find minerals [in the dam concession] and know what kind of
minerals, they can ask permission from the government to invest in
mines,” Siyun said.
The former operator, China Guodian, scrapped the project after it found it could not make enough profit to warrant investment.
Leung Ping, a governor of Sinohydro United, a local “affiliate” of
Sinohydro Group, declined to comment, adding that he was meeting with
representatives of the Ministry of Mines and Energy yesterday about the
project.
The letter from Sem Set, which was sent to Siyun, authorises
Sinohydro to “conduct research and collect further data at the site of
the Chaey Areng dam”.
Alex Gonzalez-Davidson of NGO Mother Nature Cambodia said the situation was “something that we’ve feared”.
“They are allowed to go ahead with this project, as they are doing
already, conduct ‘research’ on dams, logging, but also mining,” he said.
China Guodian, the previous lease-holder of the Areng concession,
said in an annual report in February that it had backed out of the
project because its own research had shown building and running the dam
“was not economically viable”.
Ame Trandem, Southeast Asia program director at International Rivers,
said yesterday that “news that China Guodian has pulled out of the
Cheay Areng Dam should trigger new warnings that this is a project that
clearly should not be built”.
“It’s ethically dubious that Sinohydro would even consider investing
in the project, which has been earmarked by previous dam developers as
being environmentally and economically unsound,” she added.
“With the dam still being considered, one can only wonder whether the
project is simply a front for illegal logging and the future demise of
the Central Cardamons Protected Forest.”
The letter obtained by the Post also said that, despite official denials, some level of construction of the dam had been approved.
“The Ministry of Mines and Energy has authorized Sinohydro Resources
Ltd. to invest in the construction of Chaey Areng dam in Koh Kong
province,” it reads.
“It’s certainly not research,” Marcus Hardtke of conservation group
ARA said yesterday. “They’ll probably have to research something about
the rock formations, some drilling you can expect, but not that much. I
have to assume they [China Guodian] did all the research before. They
just have to tick the box and pay something to the Ministry of
Environment.”
The government approved 60 Sinohydro employees to do the prospecting
and construction. “This work, importantly, includes the use of
explosives,” the letter continued.
Siyun, however, denied that explosives would be used.
“Explosions will never be used in the process of studying at Areng,”
he said, adding that the company planned only to drill into the ground
to study both the layers of earth and mining prospects.
Sinohydro Resources’ website states that it “is endeavored to promote
the development and investment of power and mineral resources projects
in countries such as [the] Kingdom of Cambodia”.
When asked about Siyun’s comments and the letter from Sem Set
yesterday, Ith Praing, secretary of state at the Ministry of Mines and
Energy, said “I do not know anything about that.”
Affected villagers have rallied to put a stop to the project,
peacefully manning the access road and blocking Sinohydro from
transporting machinery into the concession area since last week.
“With more than 60 workers and heavy machinery coming into the area,
the villagers are rightly concerned that this may be the start of the
dam’s construction,” Trandem added.
“Given the area’s biodiversity significance, it’s also rather
questionable that the use of explosives has been permitted during the
research. By using explosives in their research, its clear Sinohydro has
thrown caution to the wind and has little respect for the biodiversity
and environmental importance of the Areng Valley.”
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