Theun - Hinboun / key documents

An assessment of the Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project’s compliance with Equator Principles and Lao law

Laos has declared it a national priority to catalyze the country's development through the rapid construction of large dams that export high-risk hydropower to neighboring Thailand and Vietnam.

An article by Aviva Imhof in Bankwatch, published by the NGO Forum on the ADB, examines Nam Theun 2's failings and draws parallels to other ADB-funded dams in Laos: Theun-Hinboun, Nam Song and Nam Leuk. The article also highlights the ADB's role in promoting a regional power grid and electricity trading system in the Mekong subregion.

In March 2004, the Theun-Hinboun Power Company conducted a Third-Party Review of its Mitigation and Compensation Program. The review team spent a month visiting villages affected by the project and analyzing the attempts by the company to compensate for project impacts. The review team found that while the company had made "good progress", there were serious concerns over the effectiveness and long-term sustainability of its program to restore affected people's livelihoods.

Hydropower projects developed over the past decade in Laos have left a legacy of destroyed livelihoods and damaged ecosystems. The five case studies in this paper point to the great difficulties in implementing large-scale infrastructure projects in Laos. These experiences raise fundamental questions regarding the Lao government's institutional capacity and political will to ensure that infrastructure projects are adequately monitored, that compensation is fairly and fully distributed and that environmental issues are properly addressed.