MULTIPLE
BENEFITS
The Nam
Theun 2 project is an outstanding example of how the Government of the
Lao PDR is working with the private sector and multilateral
organizations to develop a model of sustainable development with strong
economic, social, and environment fundamentals. The Project has long
been recognized by independent experts as being the one project amongst
all the potential hydroelectric power projects in Laos as having the
greatest potential to achieve the country's development objectives.
To optimize the use of these revenues,
the World Bank, other multilateral institutions and the Government are
working together to establish and ensure that the Project's revenues to
the Government will effectively serve the long-term development of the
country. The Project is recognized as an essential part of the country's
development framework and the Project's implementation is likely to be
the first real possibility for the Lao PDR to reduce gradually its
dependence on Official Development Assistance.
The Government has agreed with the World Bank to implement a Poverty
Reduction Fund that is being initially sourced from International
Development Agency (“IDA”) funds, and then from the Government's taxes,
royalties and dividend revenues once the Project commences operation.
Special administrative units are being established to deal with both the
implementation of the Project and the effective management and
allocation of the financial resources gained from the Project.
At the local levels, the Project will
allow both
the considerable
improvement of living standards
for the impacted population, and
the long-term protection of the watershed
and its 4,000 km2 world-class biodiversity and primary forest heritage.
In a statement issued by the World Bank
following a visit to Vientiane and the Project in May 2003, Shengman
Zhang, the World Bank's Managing Director declared: “ We see Nam Theun 2 not as a project per se, but as a vehicle
through which to make a considerable progress in the effort of
poverty reduction. ” |