Vietnamese Company cuting trees in the Reservoir of Lower Sesan II Dam in Stung Treng Province

Anticipating construction of the Lower Sesan II dam, more than 50 Vietnamese company workers, protected by policemen from Sesan district police station, have begun marking and removing trees greater than 20cm in diameter in Srekor village and Kbal Romeas village, in Sesan district, Stung Treng Province.

Trees which has been marked for removal

Sine late of December 2011, the workers arrived in Srekor and Kbal Romeas villages to mark and cut off all trees along the border of the reservoir area of Lower Sesan II dam.  The name of the Vietnamese company could not be confirmed, but according to one of the workers and a Sesan District policeman, the company was been awarded a contract to remove timber from the reservoir area.

The Vietnamese company, who come to mark the trees in these two villages, is a company that bade to collect and buy the wood and clean up the dam’s reservoir, (According to the speech from Vietnamese guy and Sesan district policemen).

Kbal Romeas village;

Kbal Romeas village is another village located in the reservoir of the Lower Sesan II dam and villages here will also need to be resettled to make way for the proposed dam.   A village authority from Kbal Romeas expressed his concern regarding the approach that company workers arrived in his village without informing to local community or authority “they way they did this seems like the village chief and community do not have any right or a part of development process”.

Srekor village;

Srekor village is located in the reservoir of Lower Sesan II dam and villagers here will need to be resettlement if the dam goes ahead. Since late December 2011 villagers have observed the presence of a group of more than 30 Vietnamese workers.  These workers have been protected by 3 policemen from Sesan district police station and 1 from district Forestry Administration staff.  Field visits confirm that trees here have been marked and removed and appear to correspond to the boundary of dam’s reservoir. The workers started from behind the village (north-west of the village) to downstream of Lower Sesan II dam site in an area reserved for community forest. 

A community member from Srekor village showing the tree which has been marked for removal, and another tree which has already been cut.

Mr. Thun, community in Srekor village said that, a representative from Srekor village said that “If they cut the trees like this, I feel very sorry and regret for the community forestry which all of us protect for many years, now all these trees have been cut off”.

Another villager in Srekor, Mrs. Kann Kea, 58-year old said that reported “I am very frighten when I saw this situation happen in my area. I ran to rice fields when I saw Vietnamese people walked near my rice farm cottage, and at night, we have to go back to village. This situation seems like the Pol Pot region”.

The company arrived to work in Srekor village without informing to villagers or the commune or village authorities about their activity. Most villagers are scared and concerned when they see these unknown workers in their village. Furthermore, the Sesan district policemen warned that ‘if someone protests against this, they will be arrested immediately’.

Most villagers scare and very concern when they have seen Vietnamese worker come to their village. Some villagers who planned to build new house but they scare to stand it up because if they build new house they still need to move to new area.

Note: Officer Ministry of Industry, Mine and Energy said that, the Lower Sesan II is still under the consideration of national level and don't have any decisions approve for construction or clean up the reservoir, (news source; http://www.rfa.org/khmer/indepth/villagers_concern_about_hydro_dam and http://www.rfa.org/khmer/indepth/rattanakiri_report-01262012061356.html

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