The Nam Theun 1 Power Company is committed to a transparent and participatory approach towards managing and mitigating the socio-economic impacts of the project on local communities. Some of these communities will have to be relocated while others will only be partially affected – NT1PC nevertheless is fully committed towards working with these communities to reach a positive outcome for all.
As the socio-economic life in the affected communities are primarily centred around subsistence agriculture, resettlement sites are selected on the basis of available agricultural land and water supply, alongside various other important criteria, including access to infrastructures such as schools, health centres, and electricity supply, physical accessibility, as well as the presence of existing villages and communities near the resettlement site.
Potential resettlement sites are therefore carefully surveyed to assess their suitability and detailed consultation with the project affected people (PAP) have been conducted in order to identify the appropriate means of compensating PAP for their lost assets and to create and implement a Resettlement Action Plan (RAP). The fundamental guiding principles of the RAP are to:
- enhance the quality of life for PAP;
- prevent or minimize adverse social impacts;
- mitigating possible adverse social impacts.
NT1PC works closely with local, national, and international authorities to ensure that the project is in compliance with the Lao PDR’s National Policy on Resettlement and Compensation, the Decree on Resettlement and Compensation, the Decree on the Preservation of Cultural, Historical and Natural Heritage, as well as the World Bank’s Operational Policies.
