Aspects of hydro development in South and South East Asia

This paper addresses the opportunities for hydroelectric power development in the region, and highlights some of the difficulties in the current development process based on the experience of projects in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Laos and Malaysia. In the developed West, significant and growing protests continue to arise in the implementation of water projects involving dams scheduled for construction in the developing world. However, a pragmatic examination of the options reveals that the sole opportunity for meaningful life enhancing advancements in most of the developing world rests on the ability to maximize access to regular and clean water supplies, enhancement of irrigation and the implementation of relatively cheap and stable power supplies. This being the case, hydro and storage dams will continue to be a key to development, and it is incumbent on engineers and implementers to perfect a strategy to institute these projects in a reasonable time period and with a reasonable certainty of financing.