A 'slow boat' sails the Mekong River near the Pak Beng dam site, down-river from Chiang Kong. According to the 1995 Mekong Agreement, the Prior Consultation process is explicitly aimed at trying to achieve agreement between the regional governments around proposals for dams or other projects on the Mekong River. That the Prior Consultation process was initiated on the basis of this limited information is in itself questionable. The timeline for the Prior Consultation must be extended to evaluate updated assessments and the findings of the MRC's council study. The stakes for the Mekong and the people of the region are too high to get it wrong on Mekong dams.

Source: Bangkok Post April 30, 2017 21:56 UTC