PHNOM PENH: Minister Attached to the Prime Minister, Sok Chenda Sophea, has confirmed that Cambodia will buy more electricity from Laos in response to the growing consumption needs in the country. He also clarified that Cambodia does not purchase anything that is harmful to the country, in response to concerns about how dam construction in Laos will impact Cambodia.
Speaking at a press conference on Prime Minister Hun Sen’s visit to Laos on Tuesday evening, 14 February 2023, Sok Chenda Sophea stated that the Prime Minister assured his counterpart in Laos that Cambodia is a market where Laos can sell electricity. He further affirmed that in 2023 and 2024, Cambodia will increase its electricity import from Laos in response to the growing Cambodian economy.
The Minister Attached to the Prime Minister also stated that the two Prime Ministers will study the possibility of transmitting electricity from Laos to Singapore via Cambodia.
"This is what our countries in the region have built in the spirit of ASEAN membership," said Sok Chenda Sophea. "One country may be rich when other countries have demand, so they can trade with each other."
To become a major source of energy in the ASEAN region, Laos plans to build nine out of 11 dams on the Mekong River, hoping to sell electricity to neighboring countries. This has raised concerns about the impact these dams will have on downstream countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam.
In this case, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister Sok Chenda Sophea, who is also the Secretary General of the Council for the Development of Cambodia, acknowledged that hydropower dams can have an impact, so an impact assessment of each hydropower project is already being studied. However, he said that the benefits should be considered more than the small side effects that can occur.
He added that the large-scale Nam Noeung dam project in Laos is not only being developed by the Lao government, but also with the help of the Asian and European Development Banks.
"If there was technological and scientific evidence that a hydropower plant built in any location has an impact on downstream [countries], do you believe that the Prime Minister would buy electricity from them?" he asked. "They would be killing us and we would go shopping? I'm sorry, he would not buy electricity if its production caused us harm."
Currently, Cambodia buys electricity from Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. Purchases from Vietnam include 18 channels, with a total capacity of 328 megawatts as of the end of 2020. Purchases from Thailand include a total of nine channels with a total capacity of 277 megawatts, and purchases from Laos come from three channels with a total capacity of 419 megawatts.
It should be noted that Cambodia first signed an energy cooperation agreement with Laos in October 1999, which has continued on until the present day.
