Review of Resettlement Action Plan for Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project

By: 
Aviva Imhof
Date: 
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

The proposed Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project in central Laos will displace up to 4,800 people and negatively affect another 48,441 people living downstream, on project construction lands and in host villages. This review highlights key concerns about the August 2007 Draft Final Resettlement Action Plan for the Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project prepared by Norplan. It concludes that the resettlement plan is so poorly conceived and developed that it cannot and should not constitute a sound basis for decision-making. The plan obfuscates and downplays project impacts and fails to present a viable plan for mitigating and compensating the very serious impacts that will result from the project.