Niwat Roykaew, the group’s chairman, said they have received a letter from their lawyers informing them about the court’s decision to drop their complaint about the hydro-electricity project. The group claimed that the authorities failed to perform proper consultations with villagers likely to be affected by the dam, which is only 90 kilometres from Chiang Khong. The group wants to see the agencies issue a regulation to guide their duties on this consultation process, regardless of the dam’s location outside the country. Niwat said the court’s dismissal reflected the fact that the real issue had not been addressed. In the case of Xayaburi, the first dam built on the Lower Mekong in Xayaburi province in Laos, it was clear to all concerned that the PNPCA was incomplete.

Source: The Nation Bangkok September 23, 2017 11:03 UTC