Laos’ Luang Prabang may lose Unesco status amid fears dam will cause ‘irreversible damage’

via South China Morning Post, 05 March 2023: Work on the controversial dam about 20km north of Luang Prabang is set to begin in June, with both concerns about the potential damage to the environment and culture.

Waves of tourists are expected to flood back this year to Laos’ ancient city of Luang Prabang as pandemic travel restrictions end, but the cheer of economic recovery has been clouded by plans for a major hydropower dam just 25km upstream from the Unesco World Heritage site.

Two years after the Laotian government approved the project, it is set to launch the 1,460-megawatt Luang Prabang dam with Thai developers in June, without first undertaking a rigorous seismological study.

Critics say the Thai investors and developers could not have picked a worse location, as the dam disrupts the serenity of the riverside and is close to an active fault line in an earthquake-prone region of northern Laos, just 8.6km away from the dam-site.

Source: Laos’ Luang Prabang may lose Unesco status amid fears dam will cause ‘irreversible damage’ | South China Morning Post