The Joint Committee of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) on April 19 hosted a meeting to comment on the Sayabouri power station dam, which is planned for construction in the Mekong River in Laos.
Attending the meeting were the delegations from the four members of MRC, Vietnam , Laos , Thailand and Cambodia .
The meeting discussed the results of consultation process concerning the dam project and heard member countries’ viewpoints on the issue.
After the one-day meeting, the meeting agreed to submit to higher authorities to consider and make a decision on the project.
Speaking at the meeting, Le Duc Trung, Office Chief of Vietnam National Mekong Committee, a member of the Joint Committee, supported development in the Mekong basin.
He recommended that related parties carefully consider the issue to avoid risks and unfavourable impacts on the regional environment, especially at the lower section of Mekong River , where 20 million people are living.
He said that the riverside countries need to have more time and accurate information to comprehensively evaluate the Mekong subregion and the Cuu Long River Delta in particular./.
