Development projects of Mekong River

The Mekong Committee has considered some 230 possible development projects on the lower Mekong River and its tributaries. Twelve large projects have been implemented, and 149 projects are currently considered as feasible. Feasibility or pre-feasibility studies have been carried out for 17 of these projects, including two in Kampuchea, and desk studies have been made for the remainder, including 35 in Kampuchea. One of the largest of the possible mainstream water storage projects is the Stung Treng Dam project. This was also considered to be one of the most viable projects. The project involves the construction of a dam 77m in height across the Mekong below its confluence with the Tonle San and Tonle Kong rivers, some 40 km south of the Lao border. The dam would create a reservoir of 797,000 ha it would generate 3,600 MW of elecricity, irrigate an area of about 1,287,000 ha (in both Kampuchea and Vietnam), and lower flood peaks at Kompong Cham by 1-2 metres. Some site investigations were carried out prior to 1975, but no full reconnaissance study was made, and the project has been shelved, at least temporarily. The construction of a second mainstream hydro-electric dam, capable of producing 875 MW of electricity, was proposed at Sambor, about 100 km downstream from Stung Treng. A feasibility report was completed in 1969, but this project has also been shelved (Mekong Committee, 1976b).