Doing a Dam Better : The Lao
People's Democratic Republic and the Story of Nam Theun
2 (NT2)

Preparation of the $1.45 billion Nam
Theun 2 (NT2) project in the Lao People's Democratic
Republic (Lao PDR) represented an important milestone for
the government, the developers, international partners, and
other stakeholders. The story of its preparation and
implementation is an important one, because it provides
valuable insights and lessons that can be applied in future
projects of similar size, scope, and complexity. Projects
this size are always complex. NT2 was particularly
complicated, however, because it was prepared during the
challenging times that included the dam debate of the 1990s,
which culminated in the world commission on dams, the Asian
financial crisis of 1997, the strengthening of environmental
and social safeguard policies and practices at the World
Bank and other financial institutions, and the greater
scrutiny of governance arrangements for the transparent use
of natural resource rents by countries. This book covers
those times and focuses on the widely differing perspectives
of NT2's diverse stakeholders, the unique political
economy of Lao PDR, the heated international debate on dams,
the rapidly changing state of the art regarding poverty and
safeguard interventions, the shifting signals within the
World Bank, and the collective efforts of many different
partners and stakeholders to ensure that NT2 met the high
and appropriate standards.