Vietnamese firm offers aid to Lao dam-collapse victims
Representatives from the branch of Indo Tran Logistics Corporation of Vietnam in Laos on October 17 handed over US$12,300 to Laos’s Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare to support Lao people affected by the July dam collapse in Attapeu.
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| Laos people were evacuated from the flooded area |
Lao Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Khampheng Xaysompheng thanked the Vietnamese firm, and the Vietnamese Party, State and people for their support for Lao people, adding that the assistance would help Lao people overcome difficulties to stabilise their life.
He pledged to deliver the aid to the victims as soon as possible.
Indo Tran, which has headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City, specialises in providing logistics services and solutions. It has four foreign offices in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar.
The Xe Pian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower dam burst on July 23, discharging 5 billion cubic metres of water, causing flash floods in 10 low-lying villages and completely isolating Sanamxay district. Five of Sanamxay district’s villages – namely May, Hinlath, Nhaythe Sanong Tay, Thasengchan, and Thahin – were entirely submerged.
The hydropower plant is being constructed by the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy Power Company (PNPC), a joint venture between the Republic of Korea’s SK E&C and Korea Western Power, Thailand’s Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding, and Lao Holding State Enterprise.
The project, estimated to cost US$1.02 billion, is the first build-operate-transfer (BOT) model to be undertaken by Korean companies in Laos. The dam is 90% completed and operation was due to start in 2019.
One day after the accident, Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding issued a press release announcing that unexpected heavy rains caused the dam to collapse. High volumes of rainwater fractured the dam and caused a deluge in the downstream area of Xe-Pian River, it said.
