In February 1999 SWECO submitted a Feasibility Study concerning the Se San 3 Hydropower Project, located some 20 km downstream of the Yali Dam, writes the Swedish consultancy firm SWECO in a comment to grave allegations on mismanagement made by a Canadian NGO in October.
The construction of the Se San 3 Project started in late 2002 and is expected to be commissioned in 2006. This is basically a run-of-river station, without reservoir storage capacity, which utilises the outflow from the Yali Dam and is dependent on the operation of Yali Power Station.
However, SWECO has never worked on the Yali Hydropower Project, neither before, nor during nor after construction, writes SWECO.
The first reports of fatalities and of damages to crops and property in the Cambodian part of Se San River came from NGO’s working in Cambodia, in early 2000. The reports claimed that these events were due to large spills from the Yali Dam on the Vietnamese part of Se San River in 1999 and 2000.
Although not involved in the Yali Hydropower Project, in mid 2000, SWECO submitted a recommendation to the Vietnamese authority to study the effects in Cambodia of sudden releases of water from Yali Dam. Such a study is now underway by other consultants.
The original article about SWECO in Scandasia was published 9 October.
