中国出資のカンボジア巨大ダム、数万人の生活破壊　人権団体報告

【プノンペンＡＦＰ＝時事】中国が出資するカンボジアの巨大ダムについて、エネルギー生産量が当初の計画を下回っている上、数万人の村人の「生活を流し去った」とする報告書を１０日、国際人権団体ヒューマン・ライツ・ウオッチが発表した。（写真はカンボジア北東部にある「セサン下流２水力発電所ダム」）
　カンボジア北東部にある発電量４００メガワットの「セサン下流２水力発電所ダム」は、２０１８年１２月の開業以前から長らく論争を巻き起こしていた。
　水産専門家は、資源豊かなメコン川の主要な支流であるセサン川とスレポック川の合流点をダムにすると、メコン川の氾濫原沿いに住む数百万人にとって重要な水産資源が脅かされると警告していた。
　報告書でＨＲＷは、ダムの上流と下流に住む数万の村人の収入に大きな損失が出ていると指摘。執筆したＨＲＷのジョン・シフトン氏は、「カンボジア当局は、このプロジェクトをめぐる補償、再定住、生計回復の方法について早急に見直す必要がある」と述べた。
　カンボジア政府は、建設を担った中国電力大手・中国華能集団が約束した通り、カンボジアの年間電力需要の約６分の１が賄われることを期待して、約５０００人の再定住を伴うダム事業を推進した。だが、実際の生産量は当初計画の３分の１程度にとどまっているという。
　ダムはアジアからアフリカ、欧州にまたがる中国の巨大経済圏構想「一帯一路」の一環で、建設費は７億８０００万ドル（約８６０億円）とされている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/08/12-09:48）

A massive Chinese-financed dam in Cambodia has washed away the livelihoods of tens of thousands of villagers while falling short of promised energy production, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.
The 400-megawatt Lower Sesan 2 dam in the kingdom's northeast has sparked controversy since long before its December 2018 launch.
Fisheries experts had warned that damming the confluence of the Sesan and Srepok rivers -- two major tributaries of the resource-rich Mekong river -- would threaten fish stocks crucial to millions living along the Mekong's flood plains.
Tens of thousands of villagers living upstream and downstream have suffered steep losses to their incomes, HRW said in Tuesday's report, citing interviews conducted over two years with some 60 people from various communities.
The Lower Sesan 2 dam washed away the livelihoods of Indigenous and ethnic minority communities who previously lived communally and mostly self-sufficiently from fishing, forest-gathering, and agriculture, John Sifton, Human Rights Watch's Asia advocacy director and the report's author, said Tuesday.
Cambodian authorities need to urgently revisit this project's compensation, resettlement, and livelihood-restoration methods.
There's no doubt at all that (the dam) contributed significantly to the larger problems the Mekong is facing right now, said Mekong energy and water expert Brian Eyler, while adding that more research was needed on the exact losses.
The government had pushed ahead with the project -- which involved resettling about 5,000 people -- in hopes of producing about one-sixth of Cambodia's annual electricity needs as promised by China Huaneng Group, the builder.
But production levels are likely far lower, amounting to only a third of those levels, the report said.
Government spokesman Phay Siphan defended the dam, saying it provided the most positive impacts and that the resettled villagers have new homes, farmland and electric power.
The allegations are not reasonable, they don't look at Cambodian experiences... and the new location is better than the old place, Phay Siphan said, adding that the government would continue to monitor the impacts on surrounding villages.
The dam, which cost a reported $780 million to build, is part of China's Belt and Road initiative, a mammoth $1 trillion-dollar infrastructure vision for maritime, rail and road projects across Asia, Africa and Europe.
The scheme, a symbol of Beijing's efforts to extend economic influence around the world, has been widely criticised for saddling small countries with unmanageable debt.