Thursday, 11 March 2010 14:59 Usa Pichai
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - China has refused to release water from dams on the upper Mekong River, saying that there is a drought in Yunnan region even as lower Mekong countries suffer water shortage.
Abhisit Khampilo, Director of Chiang Rai Province’s Marine Transportation and Commercial Navigation Office said on Thursday that Thailand’s Marine Department has requested the Chinese government to release water from four dams on Mekong River in southern China to allow commercial boats to ply on Mekong because the water is shallow now.
“Chinese authorities have said they cannot release the water because Yunnan province is facing drought and they need to reserve the water for their people. They said that they had to wait for the rainy season,” he said, according to a report in a Thai news website Komchadluek on Tuesday.
Thai officials submitted the request letter in keeping with the agreement of the Joint Committee on Coordination of Commercial Navigation on the Lancang-Mekong River between China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, (JCCCN) signed in 2000.
Trairong Suwannakiri, Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand on Sunday visited Mekong River bank in Chiang Saen district of Chiang Rai province on the border with Burma and Lao. He said that the water level, the lowest in 50 years, is creating problems for marine transportation and the livelihood of villagers along the Mekong River in Lao, Burma, and north and northeastern part of Thailand.
“We will expedite a meeting with concerned authorities and irrigation experts to figure out why the Mekong is dry. If it is because of water reserved by the Chinese authorities, we have to find a solution,” Trairong said.
The problem would affect construction of the costly second port planned in Chiang Saen district.
Droughts in summer and floods in monsoon are a long-term concern for environmentalists and people living along the Mekong River, which flows through China, Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. A major problem is a series of river dams built by China in the past decade, which leads to water level fluctuation.
The Mekong River reached its highest level in 30 years, in 2008, in the Golden Triangle area in northern Thailand, where the borders of Thailand, Burma and Laos converge. It caused large scale flooding of homes and farmlands.
Local residents said floods in the Mekong increase after dams in China open their water gates to lower the water level in the reservoirs, affecting countries downstream.
Northeastern Thailand experienced severe floods along the Mekong River in Nakorn Phanom Province, which borders Laos.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
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