Perspectives Vol. 5 No. 1 Spring 2004

A Road to What End

A road is not an end in itself. It is a tool that facilitates the movement of people, atool that connects. The subject of this publication, the East-West Economic Corridor,or EWEC, is in large part just a series of roads. It is also a tool, designed for veryspecific purposes. However, what those purposes are has not been made clear. Itis not clear what sort of tool it is, nor is it clear if this is a tool that everyone will beable to benefit from.

One of the first times we heard about the East-West Corridor was in the house of anNGO who had dedicated himself to helping unite villages under the common purposeof opposing a potash mine. The mine threatened to disrupt the villagers’ way of life,but he told us later that the issue itself was arbitrary; potash mines, dam projects,ruined farmlands and other crises are always threatening the way of life of peoplesomewhere in the world.

Change is always looming on the horizon, and there are people just like this NGOworking to unite communities in Thailand and around the world, to give them thetools and education to accept or reject that change for themselves. This is wherethe true value of education lies: as a tool of empowerment.

For these NGOs, the focus is not just on the issue, but on the process of villagersuniting through the issue that threatens them. We are a group of students, Americanand Thai undergraduates. Through our own experiences together in Thailand wehave learned the importance of participation, and the necessity for transparencyand clear communication. We have struggled with them both and grown from thatstruggle. If nothing else, we believe people should have choice, and that theyshould be able to participate in decision-making processes that affect the course oftheir own lives. People cannot be empowered to use a tool like the East-WestEconomic Corridor if they do not know what it is; and ignorance, half-truths anddeceptions generate fear.

That being said, the purpose of this publication is not to question what willhappen, but rather how it will happen, at whose expense, with whoseparticipation. We do not wish to condemn the ADB or the other coordinators ofthe East-West Corridor, but rather to address the question of how a road canchange people’s lives.

Written by Nathaniel Coburn, Editor

ContentsOverview:The East-West CorridorInitiative

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A Road to What End?

Sowing Salt upon theLand

Diverting the Flow ofLife: The Role of Dams in theGMS

A Safe Road to Travel?

Trafficking in UrbanGrowth

The East-West CorridorWithin the GMS

A Road to What End 3

Overview:In 1992, six countries in Indochina, with the support ofthe ADB, began the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS)Initiative to promote economic cooperation andlinkages between member countries. The membercountries consist of Myanmar, Thailand, Lao PDR,Yunnan Province of the People’s Republic of China,Vietnam, and Cambodia. With 2 billion USD investedover the last ten years, impacting a total of 250 millionpeople stemming from 11 primary ethnic groups, theGMS Initiative is one of the largest and most ambitiousdevelopment programs in place today. According tothe Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) RegionalCooperation Strategy and Program, “The ADB’soverarching objective in the GMS region is povertyreduction.” The East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC)shares this objective. To reduce poverty, the EWECsets out to increase economic cooperation betweenits member countries, reduce transport costs, andsupport the development of rural and border areas.

On its surface the EWEC is a 1,500 km transport routelinking Mawlamyine port in Myanmar to Da Nang,Vietnam. Its projects are primarily bridges, highways,tunnels, and railways. However, the EWEC’s objectivesare not just to make it easier for travelers to go fromVietnam to Myanmar.

A road like the East-West Corridor facilitatesconnectivity. The ADB writes, “Investments inconnectivity have large impacts on poverty reductionby generating income and employment…regionalroads can help transform remote, food deficitsubsistence communities by improving access tomarkets.” Judging from the 13 billion USD that isexpected to be spent on transportation projects alone,it is clear that the GMS initiative shares this vision ofroads as a medium for poverty reduction.

A road by itself doesn’t reduce poverty. However, whatcomes from the road should. The Corridor is not just aroad; it is a comprehensive development plan.

Under the plans of the EWEC, the ADB and the EWEC member countrieshave initiated cooperation and promotion in the sectors of agroindustry,infrastructure, trade and investment, tourism, and industrial estates. TheCorridor scheme includes 74 projects, programs, policies, and institutionaldevelopment initiatives separate from transportation. These are part of theEast-West Corridor’s greater development objectives and are inseparablefrom the programs and objectives of the other 10 Flagship Programs (seepage 6) of the GMS. The road is the starting point. It creates the pathtoward all aspects of development.

The East-West Economic Corridor and the other 10 flagship programs allinvolve creating links between rural people and markets. The ADB claimsthat with access to the market, isolated communities can reach“sustainable livelihoods and reduce poverty.” The rural people innortheastern Thailand are most likely one of the groups the ADB is referringto. The majority of people in the Northeast are farmers, so the discussionof poverty reduction and connections with the market is invariably tied tothe affects it has on them.

The Working Group on Agriculture is an agricultural organization createdby the GMS. Its mission is “to help poverty reduction…through partnershipswith rural communities, to promote agricultural trade, food security and

The East-West Corridor Initiative

The EWEC is not just a road, buta combination of infrastructuresystems, including power grids,telecommunications, and watermanagement programs.

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sustainable livelihoods”. To accomplish this, the GMS is promoting andexpanding the Thai agriculture model to surrounding countries and forThailand itself, as well as promoting biotechnology and cash cropproduction. The ADB sets Thailand as an example because it has “well-developed agroprocessing capacity and Thai agribusinesses [which are]significant international players.” The agriculture flagship programpromotes biotechnology and the production of cash crops such as maize,potato, and fruit However, these iniatives resemble those of the GreenRevolution in terms of export-led growth and free trade. If these agriculturemethods are in fact what the ADB is promoting, then poverty won’tnecessarily be reduced. Instead, debt, environmental degradation, andfamily separation may expand.

Under the ADB’s trade and investment flagship program, which is alsounderlined in the EWEC, the ADB seeks to reduce agriculture barriers totrade . This will give farmers more access to sell their goods, but it will alsogive companies more access to undercut farmers in the villages they livein, and the markets they already sell to. This has been taking place inThailand for many decades, and is a primary reason that 68% of Thaifarmers in the Northeast are in debt, averaging three times their averageannual income. Cheaper goods benefit consumers, but in rural villagesthe consumers are often the same as the producers.

The ADB’s infrastructure plans include international telecommunicationsand power networks to link rural communities and countries. The 10th

flagship plan for tourism then seeks to increase the flow of tourists intothese communities and countries. Their industrial estates and investmentplans seek to bring private investors of all types into these regions. The

projects of the GMS, and the projects of all are forconnecting rural people to the Market. The outcomesof these projects are sure to change the nature ofpeople’s livelihoods throughout the region.

These warnings are not to suggest that the ADB is lyingabout its objective to decrease poverty and improvepeople’s lives. The language of the ADB’s programsand publications is one of caution. Furthermore, onApril 19th 2004, the ADB published “An Atlas of theEnvironment,” which outlines the many environmentalissues related to the GMS projects and developmentprograms of the GMS countries. The ADB isacknowledging the externalities to projects andattempting to integrate all stakeholders in its policydecisions. In an interview with Foreign Policy Magazine,ADB President Tadao Chino asserted, “NGOs [are]essential development partners in any and all efforts tostrengthen regional cooperation in the GMS.” Since the aim of the GMS initiative is to alleviate povertyand create regional economic cooperation, all of theirprograms therefore try to address the question of howthey will affect people.

Nevertheless, the questions are not fully answered, andthe effects of a road on rural communities must beweighed by assessing similar effects in the past, aswell as the concerns of the people.

Written by Michael Insel

“New Mekong Working Group to Promote Cooperation inAgriculture.” Working Group on Agriculture and AsianDevelopment Bank. January 22, 2003. Philippines.http://www.adb.org/Documents/News/2003/nr2003012.asp

“Regional Cooperation Strategy and Program 2004-2008 TheGMS-Beyond Borders.” Volume 1. Asian Development Bank.March 2004.h t tp : / /www.adb .o rg /Documen ts /CSPs /GMS/2004 /rcsp_gms_main.pdf

“Economic Cooperation and Opportunities in the GreaterMekong Subregion.” Foreign Policy Magazine and AsianDevelopment Bank. July August 2003. http://64.41.127.108/issue_julaug_2003/mekong.pdf p 1-8

Opposite Page:“Greater Mekong Subregion Principal Programs and ProjectsAppendix 5.” Asian Development Bank. March 2004.http://www.adb.org/Documents/CSPs/GMS/2004/App5.pdf

projects of the East-West Corridor are connected to the

Creation: In 1992 the ADB and the member countries began the GreaterMekong Subregion Initiative to promote economic cooperation and linkages.The overarching goal of the program is poverty reduction.

Countries: Myanmar, Thailand, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Vietnam,Cambodia, Yunan Province of the People’s Republic of China

Population: 250 million people from 11 primary ethnic groups

Poverty: Average Yearly Income in Vietnam, Lao, and Cambodia is less than350 USD

Funding: Governments, Private Investors, and the ADBIn the past ten years 2 Billion USD have already been provided with 1 Billioncoming from the ADB. In transportation projects alone 13 Billion is expected tobe spent. In 2002 the Greater Mekong Subregion Summit of Leaders Initiatedits 11 sector Flagship Program.

Greater Mekong SubregionFact Sheet

A Road to What End 5

GMSElevenFlagshipPrograms

North-SouthEconomicCorridorDevelopment

East-WestEconomicCorridorDevelopment

Southern EconomicCorridorDevelopment(i) To promote regional cooperation, fostereconomic and social integration, supportincreased trade and investment, and facilitateexchange and development along the East-West axis between and among Cambodia,Thailand, and Vietnam(ii)To facilitate the development of economiccorridors encompassing major cities inCambodia, Thailand and Vietnam through theprovision of road and rail infrastructure linkages

TelecommunicationsBackboneDevelopment(i) To expand the telecommunications network(ii) To reduce the incidence of the “digital divide”(iii) To improve the backbone telecommunications infrastructure(iv) To allow the interconnection of the national telecommunications networks of the six GMS countries

Regional PowerInterconnection andTradingArrangements(i) To promote the development of regional power trade(ii) To facilitate the construction of transmission lines that would interconnect the various GMS power systems(iii) To encourage mobilization of private sector investments in the power sector

Facilitating Cross-Border Trade andInvestment(i) To promote the competitiveness of the subregion by facilitating cross-border trade andiinvestment(ii) To address information inadequacies in trade and investment(iii) To implement trade facilitation measures(iv) To support small- and medium–sized enterprises (SMEs)

Enhancing PrivateSectorParticipation(i) To increase competitiveness in the GMS by supporting SMEs(ii) To strengthen the indigenous private sectors in the GMS countries, especially in the transition economies(iii) To develop a network of private institutions in the GMS to promote business, trade and investment in the region(iv) To strengthen and expand mechanisms for increased private sector participation in the GMS(v) To encourage private sector participation in financing subregional projects

Developing HumanResources and SkillsCompetencies(i) To support systems for harmonizing training standards and skills certification systems(ii) To set up a system for accrediting training institutions(iii) To build capacities of technical and vocational training institutions and other centers of excellence(iv) To identify issues related to cross-border migration, including health and social issues, and undertake studies to address them(v) To implement cooperative arrangements for addressing health and social issues related to cross-border migration

StrategicEnvironmentFramework(i) To implement the strategic environment framework(ii) To strengthen the subregional environmental information and monitoring system(iii) To support GMS countries in building effective institutions to improve management of natural resources(iv) To foster broad, community-based stakeholder participation in decisions concerning the sustainable use and development of natural resources(v) To implement consistent policies, strategies and projects to address the severe degradation of watersheds and wetlands

Flood Control andWater ResourceManagement(i) To strengthen land use planning to reduce risk to people living in hazardous floodplain areas(ii) To strengthen structural measures to reduce flood damage in urban/settlement areas(iii) To strengthen institutional capacities for flood preparedness and emergency management(iv) To finance the construction of flood embankments, flood detention basins, and other structures that minimize damage caused by regional floods

GMS TourismDevelopment(i) To promote and strengthen subregional cooperation and tourism development (ii) To promote tourism in the GMS to augment hard currency earnings, reduce poverty, mitigate environmental degradation from unplanned and unsustainable development, and develop human resources

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i) To facilitate trade and development betweenand among Lao People’s Democratic Republic,Thailand, Vietnam, and Yunnan Province ofChina(ii) To reduce transport costs and increase theefficiency of the movement of goods andpassengers(iii) to reduce poverty, support development ofrural areas and border areas, increase theearning of low income groups, provideemployment for women and promote tourism

(i) To further strengthen economic cooperationand facilitate trade and development betweenand among Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, andVietnam(ii) To reduce transport costs and increase theefficiency of the movement of goods andpassengers(iii) to reduce poverty, support development ofrural areas and border areas, increase theearning of low income groups, provideemployment for women and promote tourism

A Road. The sun is rising, a large orange ball, intense in its vibrancy,searing the asphalt for yet another day as life along the corridorbegins to stir. Looking to the east and west the road stretches as faras the eye can see. There are trucks carrying food, timber, animalsand people. Fumes, billowing behind, rise upward above a brownand desolate land, creating a haze. Construction along the East-West Economic Corridor continues.

The Corridor. The East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC), a keysubcomponent of the Greater Mekong Subregion EconomicCooperation Initiative (GMS) encompasses the six countries that sharethe Mekong River: Cambodia, Yunnan Province of the People’s Republicof China (PRC), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar,Thailand, and Vietnam. The corridor promises to provide a land linkthat will, for the first time, connect four of the six GMS countries. It is aroad that is approximately 1,600 kilometers long and will be the onlyland link connecting the Indian Ocean with the Pacific Ocean.

But what does a road really do? According to the Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB), a central proponent of the GMS project, completion of theEWEC is key to regional economic growth and the reduction of poverty.Moreover it will act as an impetus to champion further cooperativedevelopment activities between the GMS countries as well as to createopportunities for new markets. The corridor starts with a road andintroduces dam construction, hydro-electricity, trade routes, and amovement of people. New economic sectors will be developed withinthe areas of agriculture, fisheries, mining, transport, and industrialization,along with promises of flood control, irrigation for all, and improvedwaterway navigation. Along with that, a grid, consisting of a road, water,and hydro-electricity, opens the floodgates of development.

This market-oriented vision for development, shared by the ThaiGovernment, the ADB, and the other GMS countries, paves the road forforeign investment that plans to generate economic growth and fosterindustrialization. But doesn’t a road cutting through NortheasternThailand also force a move away from traditional subsistence agriculture,the predominant Thai occupation? Will this industrialization be a pull

A Road to What End?to subsistence farmers, or will it be the type ofindustrialization that impoverishes small-scale farmers,fishermen, and many others who depend on localresources, effectively driving them off the land?

In the Northeastern city of Khon Kaen, Thailand PhoenixPaper & Pulp Company built a pulping mill. It took a

road, water, and a dam. Those three componentsdrove out local communities as land and resourceswere required to fuel industrial growth. The need forraw materials required the planting of eucalyptus treesto feed paper production at the cost of indigenousforest and farmland thus robbing local people of landsthat they used for food production. Will industrializationalong the Corridor be any different?

For centuries, local communities have maintaineddelicately balanced resources such as rivers and

A Road to What End 7

forests. Building dams increases the navigability ofthe Mekong and opens the door for intra-regional tradeand tourism. These activities also destroy fishpopulations and other sources of food along the banksthat people in the region rely on for protein, and onwhich their livelihood is dependent. Furthermore,because of the delicate nature of the soil in theNortheast, flooding from dam construction can createvirtually infertile soil conditions. The Northeast rests ontwo salt domes, the Khorat and Nakon Sakhon basins.

Dams such as the ones at Pak Mun and Rasi Salaihave shown to intensify soil salinity levels after theirconstruction, ruining valuable farmland in the areasnearby. Will lives be disrupted by building more dams?Will more farmland be lost because of soil and watersalinity?

The road, water, and hydro-electricity will also createan environment for tourists in one of the world’s mostdesirable locations. Places such as Hue n centralVietnam and Sukhothai in Thailand have been deemed

so significant that they have been designated as World Heritage Sitesby the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO). Opening the corridor in a region rich in culture, history, andnatural beauty will spawn a new economic sector. While tourism mayprovide additional income to villages, could it not also threaten traditionaland cultural norms?

Although the ADB approved funding for the commencement of the EWECin 1999, it wasn’t until 2002 that the ADB emphasized a rights-basedapproach, meaning that people should not be worse off as a result ofdevelopment projects, and that they have the right to be compensatedfor any adverse impact. Perhaps past civil opposition has caused theADB to exercise more caution when launching new large-scaleinfrastructure projects. On a regional level, has the ADB adequatelyaddressed the potential impacts of globalization, regionalism, anddevelopment on the lives of the some 30 million people? Has it takeninto account their social systems, cultures, and environments? Or, is theproject driven by an urban biased development model which seeks toexploit a ready labor market?

The ADB’s stated goal is the facilitation of sustainable growth and theoverall improvement in the standard of living for all people involved inthe project, either directly or indirectly. But will opening a region to theforces of market specialization and fluctuation meet this goal? Fordevelopment to be sustainable, natural resources, the environment,and the rights of the people must be given priority. According to theUnited Nations International Covenant of Economic, Social and CulturalRights, signed by Thailand in 1999, civil society’s right to self-determination is protected. Public participation in regards to presentand future conditions of families and livelihoods is not only a right, butnow even encouraged by the government. This covenant’s purpose isto empower local communities and involve

them in determining the type, direction and pace of development that canimpact their lives.

Ultimately, the question that all stakeholders within the East-West Corridormust face will be: a road to what end?

Written by Mary Byker and Alaric Cole8

Sowing Salt upon The proposed potash mine in Udon Thani province in Northeast Thailandis one of the greatest struggles going on in the country at this time. AsiaPacific Potash Corporation (APPC) has been pushing the mine for overten years against a growing opposition from civil society, and still does nothave government approval to build it. Why, then, do they keep pushing?

First, the deposit of potash in Udon Thani south is the third largest potashdeposit in the world, and it is the smaller of two in the region. Second, theinfrastructure of the area is already highly established, with the MitraphapHighway being only a few kilometers away. APPC is able to focus solely onthe mine because past developmental projects have established thesurrounding necessary infrastructures (APPC).

In the early 1950s, the United States funded the building of MitraphapHighway as a means of curbing the communist swell occurring inSoutheast Asia. The highway was a push towards US military presencein the region and a means of bringing in capital. Today, the AsianDevelopment Bank’s investment of upwards of 60 million USD in the East-West Corridor project is aimed at poverty reduction, increased

trade, and foreign investment. Not simply toaccommodate traffic, the purpose of a road is for thingsto exist alongside it.

Why do the people of Udon Thani so heavily opposethe building of the mine? After all, the mine will bringwith it a significant number of jobs and an estimated260 billion Baht (6.5 billion USD) benefit to the Thaieconomy over the 22 year life of the mine. What worriesvillagers, however, is literally what lies underneath itall: salt. Covered by sea several times over, Isaan (theNortheast) is a bed of salt deposits, tucked neatlybeneath the earth. Disturbances in this balance,however, bring salt to the surface, making the landincreasingly arid and water unusable.

Currently, over 2.9 million hectares or 17.5 percent ofNortheast Thailand is considered “salt-affected.” Thevillagers in Udon Thani worry that their land is next. Ifthe potash mine is built, villagers fear their land willsoon resemble Ban Doong, an area

A Road to What End 9

the LandAbove: Villagersfrom Non Samboonprotesting againstthe construction ofthe APPC PotashMineRIght: Man‘harvesting’ salt atBan Doong saltfieldBelow: Villagers inSurin ploughing ricefields before theharvest begins.

so brackish in places that residents can farm nothing but the salt itself.

Furthermore, the soil and geologic makeup of Isaan is such that theenvironmental degradation present in Ban Doong can potentially happenin almost any and every other part of the Northeast. Without proper planningand caution, farmers all across the region may suffer the same fate. Whatwill exist alongside the East-West Economic Corridor is bound to do exactlythat. Hydro-electricity and irrigation dams, major aspects of the GMS andKhong-Chi-Mun Project, lead to changes in river courses and grounderosion, increasing both land and water salinity. Deforestation, or asdevelopers refer to it, “timber production,” not only damages the ecosystemof the little remaining forest in Thailand, but disturbs the soil so much as tomake it arid.

Thailand, on the path to becoming the center of trade and transit inSoutheast Asia, is already facing rapid industrial growth, and it is highlylikely that the massive amount of salt lying below its surface will be animportant commodity in this process. Moreover, regardless of the salt,without proper disposal mechanisms, industry will leave behind it a trail ofpollutants.

But what is the final outcome? A strengthened Thai economy? A refurbishedrelationship between Southeast Asian countries? A new place for Thailandin the global economy? All very likely. But the construction of the EWECwill almost definitely leave a trail of damage in its wake as well, and damageto the earth leads to damage to the people. Agriculture becomes nearlyimpossible with saline land and water. Living off the land, as so manyIsaan people have traditionally done, cannot occur without a naturalenvironment to sustain it. The self-sufficient lifestyle Northeasterners aretrying to preserve will become extinct.

Is that to say they will not find a means of survival, even affluence? Notnecessarily. But if the developmental strategy of a country does not allowsuch a future to be a choice for its people, and does not take intoconsideration the potential consequences of its decisions, it leads itselfdown a destructive path; a path that could take shape in and through theform of the East-West Economic Corridor.

Written by Aubrey White

Wiszniewski, Iwona. “Risking Salinity in Thailand and Lao PDR.” Watershed. Vol. 9No. 1. July-October 2003, p. 12. Westcott, Chris. “Truths” Of Development: “Truth”, Power, and Resistance inThailand and South Africa. From Pasuk, Baker, 2002, p. 294.

Asia Pacific Potash Corporation. http://www.apq-potash.com. 2 May 2004.10

Diverting the FlowThe Role of Dams in the GMS

In the Thai language, the word for river directly translates to “motherwater.” Indeed, rivers are a mother for those whose lives are tied tothem. The Mekong River, like any good mother, provides virtually everybasic need for the survival of her children. From its source in theHimalayas, the Mekong meanders through the countries of China,Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and finally ends in Vietnam, where itmeets the Pacific Ocean. The Mekong and its vast network of tributariesare fundamental to the lives of many people, who depend on the yearlyfloods to bring relief to arid farmlands.

The Mekong River is as important today as it was centuries ago. In thepast, the Mekong’s importance was tied to a way of life that developedaround its own cycles. Today, the water that flows is no longer limited tothe riverbed alone, but may be utilized for irrigation across thousands ofkilometers. Moreover, its importance for development lies in its potentialfor generating electrical power.

The East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC), a key subcomponent of theGreater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Initiative (GMS),continues to pursue dam construction on a mass scale despite heavyinternational criticism and the near failure of Thailand’s Pak Mun damproject.

To date, the Khong-Chi-Mun Irrigation project (KCM)is the largest proposed water diversion and irrigationproject in the Lower Mekong River Basin. The goal ofthe project is to harness water resources in an effortto provide irrigation for millions of rai (1 acre= 2.5 rai)in Northeast Thailand, an agricultural region withextremely dry and sandy soil conditions. The projectwas approved for implementation in 1989 by theThai Government with feasibility studies completedin 1992. However, no feasibility study has beenshown to the public concerning KCM initiatives, andthe feasibility studies for existing dam projects areonly partially complete. The KCM project requires 3separate phases over a span of 42 years. Thoughnot entirely clear to the public in its aims, projectcosts are expected to exceed 100 billion Baht (2.56billion USD).

The KCM project includes the construction ofdams,weirs, water pumps and irrigation canals in Isaanalong the Mekong River and two of its primary tributar-ies, the Chi and the Mun. More specifically, it entails

A Road to What End 11

of Life:

the creation of large reservoirs, as well as pumpingwater beneath the Mekong from Lao PDR. If success-ful, the project is expected to provide adequate floodcontrol, enabling farmers to grow crops year-round.However, the land of the Northeast is comprised largelyof two salt basins, the Khorat and the Nakon Sakhon.Reservoirs that rest on those salt domes, such as theRasi Salai dam, cannot provide irrigation, becausethe water becomes salinated and therefore unusablefor crop irrigation. Increases in salinity levels can alsospread to surrounding lands downstream from thereservoir, or even to the reservoir water itself, potentiallydestroying fisheries, biodiversity, and fertile farmland.As a result, since the government temporarily openedthe Rasi Salai dam gates, villagers who relied on thewetlands to gather food before the dam existed havenow begun to boil salt as a secondary occupationinstead.

The negative environmental impacts that dams createthroughout the world are often severe, and dam projectsin Thailand are no exception. According to Patrick

McCully, reservoirs change upstream river valleys, alter sediment loads,and affect levels of nutrients, gases, heavy metals and minerals . Reser-voirs directly threaten delicate ecosystems and animal species along theriver. One example of this is the Pak Mun dam at the mouth of the Mekongand Mun Rivers. The World Commision on Dams found in the year 2000that more then 150 fish species have disappeared since the dam’s imple-mentation in 1994.

Broader problems also arise when major projects alter the nature of ariver, especially an international river like the Mekong. One country maypropose a project that can have catastrophic effects on people from othernations downstream. Building dams along the Mekong not only posesserious threats to water-based ecosystems, but the effects of one country’sactions do not necessarily stay within that country’s borders. Therefore,international cooperation, transparency, and proper compensation initia-tives have to be outlined for successful implementation of majorhydro-projects.

The Mekong is beginning to play a very different role as a river than itonce did. The Mekong was once the only way to traverse this large area,and the medium through which people and resources were connected.Now projects like the EWEC are changing the river’s role in uniting theregion. The Mekong’s role as mother is rapidly fading; her children havegrown up and left. Now, for better or for worse, they are spending theirinheritance quickly.

Written by Graham IngalsbeEamwiwatkit, Walakkamon: “Here comes the flood of floods” The Nation, April 26,1995.Wiszniewski, Iwona, “Risking salinity in Thailand and Lao PDR”, Watershed, Vol. 9No. 1, July-October 2003.McCully, Patrick. Silenced Rivers, The Ecology and Politics of Large Dams. ZedBooks Ltd., London, 1996.

Far Left: Pak Mun DamLeft: Map of Mun RiverBottom: Villager fishing in Mun RiverRIght: The gates of the Pak Mun Dam

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A Safe Road to Travel?“Passport please,” the border guard says as you stop at the checkpointbetween Laos and Thailand on the Friendship Bridge. This is just oneborder crossing that occurs along the East-West Corridor, an extensiveproject that extends beyond national borders, consisting of a series ofroads connecting the Indian Ocean to the west and the Pacific Ocean tothe east. Thailand falls in the center of the road’s path, a hub within a newcluster of tourist destinations.

Tourism is one of the 11 Flagship Programs in the Asian DevelopmentBank’s (ADB) plan for the Greater Mekong Subregion. The plan is aninitiative to help alleviate poverty and increase economic development.Projections released in 2004 by the ADB predict an increase of 12.7 milliontourists in the region by 2010, with a goal of 61.3 million visitors by 2020.This will involve a drastic increase in the number of hotels, restaurants,recreation centers and other facilities in order to accommodate the massiveinflux of guests into the region. An investment of $14.5 billion is needed tocreate the necessary infrastructure, as well as the estimated 194,000 newjobs needed to support that infrastructure.

Though the promotion of tourism may create thesenew jobs and boost the economy, it may in turn fail toaddress the needs of local populations, because itonly focuses on providing the amenities that tourismdemands. Local people may have to leave theirtraditional line of work, predominately farming, in orderto survive in a tourist economy. Despite the fact thatthe tourist industry provides an increase in jobopportunities, the local people are often only able tohold the low paying, unskilled positions such ashousekeeping, custodial work, kitchen aid, and theubiquitous massage and commercial sex workerindustries. Though these jobs are in many casesnecessary to support the increasing tourist sector, theydo not necessarily provide sufficient and sustainableincome. Additionally, prices are often raised in touristareas, because consumers can afford to pay them.However, this can also disable indigenous peoplesfrom buying the basic things that they need to live.

A Road to What End 13

Tourism can essentially disrupt the original way of lifeof local people in order to cater to the needs anddesires of wealthy foreign consumers.

Some attractions that are introduced for tourism areclearly designed for the outsiders and not for theenjoyment of local people. For example, in 1982,dinosaur fossils were found in Thailand’s Khon Kaenprovince. Following this discovery, authorities beganplanning ways to market dinosaurs as a touristattraction. Numerous statues throughout the city ofKhon Kaen, as well as a proposed dinosauramusement park, are clear illustrations of this. Theprojected amusement park would bring more peopleto Khon Kaen, which, in turn, would boost the touristindustry in the region. However, access to the parkwould be too expensive for the average Thai. Thebuilding of the amusement park and the supportinginfrastructure would also be at the cost of localfarmland.

Like the farmers in Khon Kaen, local people aroundwaterways face the threat of losing their land ascompanies and the government move in to buildtourism projects. Dams, built for the purposes ofirrigation and electricity, also encroach on the land ofthe local people. Massive reservoirs formed from theconstruction of these dams are now being used asresort areas. Lush forests and perfectly manicuredlawns line the reservoir, where bystanders can seetourists boating on the water. These man-made visionsof paradise have been constructed as luxuriousgetaways for the wealthy, complete with golf courses.While the damming of the rivers has given energy, ithas also provided an additional market for travelersseeking a relaxing trip to the waterfront, a unique formof tourism that is a direct result of the GMS project.

While tourism undoubtedly brings economic growthto a region, it often excludes the needs of the localpopulation. As the East-West Economic Corridor pavesthe way for tourism to expand across

Southeast Asia, it also changes the face of the local culture. By layingthe initial infrastructure, the EWEC project allows western luxuries andthe secondary industries needed to support them to assimilate thepreexisting way of life of Isaan people. They will be subjected to acommoditized, commercial-based economy; one of luxury and excess,one which they cannot afford. If Isaan people have limited participationin such an economic society, how can they maintain their traditional wayof life and simulataneously exist in a world focused on modernity?

Written by Orianna Cacchione and Alexis SeroteMuqbil, Imtiaz: “Fine Tuning Tourism Strategy in the Mekong” Bangkok Post: 29March 2004

Postcards: Messages HomeOpposite Page:Postcard from Friendship Bridge, linkingThailand andLoasFirst Above:Dinosaur statues of Khon Kaen CitySecond Above: Postcard for Khon Kaen

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Trafficking in UrbanA road is a medium of transfer between two points, transporting resources,cultures, ideas, and people.

Roads connect, and as they do, cities form. The inevitable diversity andflux of a city, by its own nature, fosters freedom and imprisonment, toleranceand prejudice, vastness and claustrophobia.

A road brought pesticides, fertilizers, western technology, and cash cropseeds to the farmers of Isaan. These inputs radically changed the natureof agriculture in the Northeast. Self-sufficient farmers became providersfor the cities, making them dependent on an unpredictable market. Greaterinput costs fueled spiraling debt, causing labor migration to the cities.Poor families needed money to survive, filling the ranks of low skilledworkers in construction, factories, and the sex industry. Affordable housingquite often simply proved impossible.

These families drifted into unoccupied areas, most commonly unusedpublic land. Burgeoning numbers spawned a near continuous illegalhuman settlement, on either side of the city’s railroad lines. Denied publicservices, these people are the forgotten byproducts of centralized growth.

For the middle class, money in a commoditized lifemeans consumer opportunities. A commoditized lifefor the poor means a perilous existence.

At one corner of Khon Kaen’s major intersection is abillboard with a picture of a young, attractive womanasking for help. Her words: “Take pity on me. Don’tignore the situation.” At the bottom of the public servicedisplay it reads, “Human Trafficking is Illegal andDestroys Lives.”

The allusion to human trafficking is appropriate: trafficof all types will flow heavily through this mid-sizednortheastern Thai city as the East-West EconomicCorridor (EWEC) project commences.

The city of Khon Kaen will be the very epicenter ofThailand’s launch into Indochina and a new era ofdevelopment. This intersection is the meeting placefor the EWEC, linking Myanmar to Vietnam, and Mitraphap (“Friendship”) Highway, which connects

A Road to What End 15

GrowthBangkok to the Northeast.

Right behind the billboard is a kilometer-longcommercial strip within meters of the FriendshipHighway. Its back wall hides the railroad tracksbehind. On the other side of the tracks is one of themany slum communities that lie on land owned by theState Railways of Thailand (SRT). Running for someten kilometers from the city’s borders to the south andnorth and squeezed within forty meters of either side ofthe tracks are sixteen slum communities.

The SRT, one of the country’s many cash-strappedstate enterprises, has been struggling for years. Oneof their few ways to generate new income is by leasingout prime urban land, and they can receive ahandsome rent from the commercial strip owners.Illegal shantytowns occupy the majority of the rest oftheir urban property.Simply put, slum dwellers get in the way.

Pressured from the sides, Khon Kaen’s urban poor are oppressed, atleast symbolically, from above as well.

At night, the five-star Hotel Sofitel sparkles, towering over Khon Kaen City’surban landscape. It is a jewel, emblematic of the city’s development,offering Western-affluent refuge from the chaotic streets below. Its view isstrangely apparent and unavoidable from a nearby stretch of the city wherethe urban poor have made their stakes along the railroad tracks.

As the traffic starts to roar through this corridor, the pressures on the poorwill increase just as the economic opportunities for the wealthy will expand.

Driven from their farms by the failing agricultural sector over the past fewdecades, these urban poor no longer have any roots in the countryside,nor do they have any clear position within the city. They are in the city butnot part of it, representative of the modern face of urban development inThailand, a widening gap between racing affluence and an urban poorthat scrapes by and serves the lowest echelons of labor. The proposedEast-West Corridor project promises to continue this urban-based devel-opment, development that serves first and foremost the needs of the city atthe expense of the surrounding countryside and people.

Opposite: The intersection ofMitraphap Highway and a sectionof the East-West CorridorLeft: ‘Urban Cowboy’ of Taperak1 slum community of Khon KaenCityAbove: The Hotel Sofitel isalways in view from the slumcommunities that line the railroadtracks of Khon Kaen. It is one ofmany symbols of Westernaffluence growing in the region,affluence that is virtuallyunattainable for these displacedcommunities.RIght: Railroad tracks

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The model is nothing new.

First came the road. In the 1950s, another road scheme cut a majorhighway through the mountains separating central Thailand from theNortheast. Mitraphap Highway aimed to link Southeast Asia and open itto the global market.

Then came the dam. Under Thailand’s first National Development Planin 1961, the Northeast’s infrastructure was built up. The Ubonrat Dam,finished in 1965, created a stable source of water and energy for futureindustry.

Then came the Green Revolution. Up the road came chemical fertilizersand hybrid varieties of cash crops that linked the fate of small-scalefarmers to the fluctuations of the global commodities market. Exportrevenues from agriculture were then placed at the service of industry.For domestic markets, falling agricultural prices ensured low food costsfor a burgeoning urban population.

Finally came the factory. In the early 1980s the Phoenix Paper and PulpFactory used the consistent water source behind the dam, the electricityit generated, and transported its pulp down the Friendship Highway toBangkok and foreign markets. At the same time, Phoenix capitalized onthe failing agricultural sector by promoting Eucalyptus tree crops toserve as its primary source for pulp.

The Northeast is now a scattered Eucalyptus plantation. Trucks streamup the highway to the factory loaded with logs; trucks loaded with pulpmake for the port 600 kilometers away.

It is no coincidence that all of these conditions make “the city” possible.In particular, since the early 1980s, the poor from the countryside havecome into Khon Kaen to find work. With the impossible task of findingaffordable housing, they drifted into what few unoccupied areas wereleft, most specifically along the railroad tracks. Remaining blind to Thaisociety for years, they began to organize in the mid-1990s.

Their fight has been for housing rights, but it is no easy one. As the citydevelops and land becomes more scarce, the conflict over prime urbanplots has intensified. In 1999, 1,000 slum-dwellers in Khon Kaengathered to protest the commercial bidding of land along the railroadtracks. Though the slum network in the past five years has made gainson the national level in bringing the government to the negotiating tablefor 30-year eases on SRT land, the slum network in Khon Kaen faces amuch greater challenge. The likelihood of their winning 30-year housingleases diminishes in the face of the predicted boom coming with theEast-West Corridor.

The value of a road comes from the amount of traffic that travels upon

it. As the EWEC-Mitraphap Highway infrastructurecontinues to develop, the value of the land willincrease. Pressure to derive commercial benefit fromurban land will push hardest upon the most vulnerable:the urban poor.

Kovit Boonjear, an NGO worker with the Slum Network,feels that the East-West Corridor will increase thecompetition for scarce land resources. In the ruralareas, new factories will displace increasing numbersof villagers who will be pulled into the cities to seek outwage labor. There will be “an incredible demand forlabor in the city,” suggests Kovit, when at the sametime, “the pressures on the urban poor will be equallyincreasing.”

“Land within the city will be in great demand,” arguesKovit, “especially land that is relatively cheap, such asthe land of the SRT.” Slum communities are in primecommercial areas, and the increased economicactivities due to the East-West Corridor “will likely leadto their eviction and resettlement outside the city.” Hewarns that although the resettlement will be packagedas a step up for the poor, “in reality it will increase thecosts for the poor and put them into even greater debt.”

Actions like these, he says, means that with every newstep toward greater development in the city, the livesof the some ten thousand villagers will be imperiledeven more. At the same time, the opportunities fordomestic and international businesses to benefit fromthe increased commerce will expand.

Every new Hotel Sofitel will require cheap labor andservices. With the promise of relief for the failingagricultural sector likely, the poor will be both drawnand pushed into the city, but under increasingly worseconditions. Living costs will be higher. Affordablehousing will prove even more impossible as slums fillup or are cleared to make way for commercial ventures.

Roads are a symbol of limitless destinations for thosepossessing the wherewithal to travel them. For thepoor, the end of the road is the city; an end that isbecoming increasingly hostile to those who live on thewrong side of the tracks.

Written by Nathaniel Coburn, Graham Ingalsbe, andMichael Insel

A Road to What End 17

EditorArt Director

Thai Art DirectorEditorial Staff

PhotographyContributors

Translations

The publication staff wishes to thank: DavidStreckfuss, CIEE staff, Khon Kaen University,

ENGAGE, and all of the affliliated NGO’s, govern-ment officials, teachers, former student groups andthe interns. Without the hard work , dedication andassistance of these people, this publication would

not have been possible.

Back cover:Afterword written by Aubrey White

Nathaniel CoburnOrianna CacchionePanita ThongthipMary BykerCarleen XiongRuth AertsAlexis SerotePiyathida SupakijAlaric ColeGraham IngalsbeMichael InselPearl PariAlexis SeroteAubrey WhiteSongsaengian WiasongsaAdisak KaewrakmukArunee ChuphunthodSupapim Jongrak

‘A Road to What End’ was written and produced by the studentsof the Spring 2004 CIEE Thailand Program. The Council onInternational Educational Exchange is not responsible for, nordoes it endorse, any of the views expressed in thispublication.

For more information, write to:CIEE - Khon KaenPO Box 91Khon Kaen UniversityKhon Kaen 40002Thailand

18

We are students in search of answers. Rooted in different locations, differentbackgrounds, different interests, we joined together in Thailand under the auspice ofa program on development and globalization. Our travels have been lessons inhistory, lessons in struggle, and lessons in perseverance.

Throughout our stay in Thailand, the East-West Economic corridor has consistentlyarisen as an underlying issue, with a hand in almost everything we’ve studied. Itsparked our interest upon first mention. But mention was all we got. Askingeveryone we could what they knew about this project, we only received the samefragments of information, and we were motivated to find more. Originally set onpresenting a coherent background on the East-West Economic corridor, we quicklyfound that the information regarding it largely does not exist. The immensity of GMSdevelopment became clear through the lack of concrete information. Our search foranswers simply led to more questions. In order to step forward, we realized thenecessity to reflect.

What have we seen in our three months in Thailand? Traveling through Isaan, twowhite vans driving in single file, we unloaded at site after site of struggle. Villagersthroughout Isaan consistently welcomed us into their homes to share the ways inwhich development has occurred without their consent, the ways in which they feelthey have been wronged. Villagers fear that a potash mine will suffocate therichness of their land. Fisherman watch their rivers drain down to a trickle as damgates close. Farmers struggle to repay debts brought upon them by the GreenRevolution, a farming system with unforeseen consequences. Tin houses line railroadtracks throughout the region, a testament to development moving too quickly forpeople to keep up. This is what we have seen, this is what we know. The specificoutcomes of the Corridor cannot be certain at this point. But by looking at thepatterns of Thailand’s past development, we can make inferences about its future.

This is not a book of answers. This book is only a starting point, a look back at whathas happened and what could continue if the development path of Thailand stays onits current course. Throughout our stay here, we have learned that the most crucialfactor in changing that course is the involvement of people. We are leaving Thailand,returning to our respective roots to pursue answers at home. Our hope is that thispublication paves the way for the specifics of the East-West Economic Corridor tobecome apparent, that it begins to clear the road so your questions can be answered.