Energy
Bangkok admits inability to regulate new Lao dam
The Water Resources Department has admitted it is beyond the Thai government’s power to challenge the Pak Beng Dam project in Laos and the only way to review the project is through the Mekong River Commission. The National Human Rights Commission’s subcommittee on communal rights ...
Myitsone and the failure of China’s ‘anti-ethno-politics’ approach
Northern Myanmar’s Myitsone mega-project failed because its Chinese proponents systematically dismissed Kachin and Burmese nationalism. The Chinese hydropower developers’ strategy was what I call “anti-ethno-politics”: when the state, NGOs, businesses, or other actors try to depoliticise sensitive questions about how their own activities clash with ...
Flood of doubts: sceptical public questions Three Gorges Dam’s capacity to stop disasters
Project was touted as a tool to prevent floods but those claims have been watered down and new threats are eroding confidence – and riverbanks. The floods have wreaked havoc in the east, leaving 237 people dead and another 93 missing. That is on top of ...
The business of achieving the sustainable development goals
By 2030, poverty and hunger should be history, every human being should have access to clean energy, and the impacts of climate change should be reduced. These are just three of the 17 promises the global community made last September when it adopted the Sustainable Development ...
Concerns raised over a new super state agency
Instead of speeding up the equitisation process, Vietnam’s Ministry of Planning and Investment has stirred up controversy with proposal to set up another unit to supervise and manage state capital and assets in state-owned corporations. This super unit will directly manage the capital at 30 state-owned corporations ...
More IPOs in oil and gas industry planned this year
There would be more auctions of shares from oil and gas companies in the second half of 2016 under the directives of the government on equitisation of state-owned firms. On July 15, Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung told the first half meeting of the PetroVietnam ...
Thailand considers buying more power from Laos
Thailand may buy 9,000 megawatts of electricity from Laos this year to ensure sufficient supply to meet rising demand, says a senior official at the Energy Ministry. That is nearly 30% higher than thethe 7,000MW Thailand currently buys annually from Laos, according to the most ...
China woos Myanmar, tries to massage its public image
According to the State Council Information Office of the Chinese foreign ministry, Beijing has invited more than 100 journalists, government officials and members of parliament to visit the country, as well as 100 students to study in China. In what seems likely to be a concerted and ...
ASEAN energy officials set sights on regional power grid
Energy officials will seek to better connect ASEAN members’ electricity grids into a regional energy network over the next five years to better utilise the countries’ respective strengths and weaknesses in power generation, it was announced at a meeting of the bloc in Myanmar’s capital ...
Prayut calls for unity to ease region's woes
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is urging European and Asian countries to jointly combat economic and environmental problems. Thailand currently chairs the Group of 77, an intergovernmental organisation consisting of 134 developing nations which aim to jointly develop their economies. Though the G-77 members have increased ...
