A Kinder, Gentler Dam

Newsweek, August, 2007 by Jonathan Kent

Dam projects in poor countries tend to wreak havoc on the communities they displace. But the $1.4 billion Nam Theun 2 dam in central Laos is a different story. Piu, a smallholder in her 30s, moved in May to a village built for some of the 1,200 families displaced by the project, scheduled for completion in 2009. "It's very beautiful," she says. Nearby, workmen finish neighboring units--wooden homes on stilts with a traditional feel.

The justification for NT2, like that for many big infrastructure projects, is to lift the locals out of poverty. Indeed, the dam's electricity will be a boon: over the next quarter century, developers expect to bring in $2 billion, paying for the dam and much-needed economic development. But unlike dams elsewhere, NT2 may represent a new...

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