Farmers Get Help Reaching Fields
Ban Keosenkham, Bolikhamxay, December 18, 2017
Farmers in Keosenkham village, Bolikhamxay province, have taken delivery of new boat motors and hand tractors to help them work their fields. On December 15, staff from the Theun-Hinboun Power Company (THPC) handed to the villagers 141 boat motors and eight hand tractors worth a total of over 2.5 million Thai baht.
Located close to the Nam Gnouang Reservoir in Xaychamphone district, Ban Keosenkham is an upland village with little flat land, and its people mainly use hillside fields to grow rice and cash crops. According to Vansay Suanthephanay, Community Manager at THPC, getting to these fields can be difficult, especially in the wet season, so THPC supplied the new equipment as a practical support measure.
In other resettlement villages, Mr Vansay explained, the company has built roads and tracks to guarantee people access to their fields. However, in the hills around Keosenkham, such roads would be difficult to use and would likely wash away every wet season.
THPC built Keosenkham in 2010-11 for people from four villages along the Gnouang River, which was dammed as part of the Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project. Residents were originally expected to move to lowland villages in Khamkeuth district, but THPC was asked to build Keosenkham to help found the new district of Xaychamphone.
Mr Somsak Inkeomanivong, the head of Keosenkham village, said that discussions between households, district authorities and THPC had led to an agreement that the company would supply sturdy transport equipment to the farmers in place of roads, and that the villagers were pleased with this arrangement.
“We do a lot of fishing in the reservoir and also use boats to transport our goods to market”, said Mr Somsak, “so strong and reliable boat engines are very useful, while the tractors have many uses and will be shared between families at crucial times of the year, such as during the rice harvest”.
School is about more than classes
Ban Phaxang, Khammouane November 24, 2018
Children in the Theun-Hinboun hydropower project area have been learning that there is more to school than classes and the standard curriculum, thanks to an educational enrichment project run by the Theun-Hinboun Power Company (THPC).
In partnership with Action with Lao Children (ALC) and the National Library, the company has sponsored art and drama activities in schools built by THPC for resettled and relocated communities in Khammouane and Bolikhamxay provinces.
At Phaxang village in Hinboun District, Khammouane, pupils from the primary and lower secondary schools gave public performances of dramas based on traditional and international folk stories, and also showcased Lao dances and songs. The District Education Office then presented children with books donated by THPC and selected by the National Library before all the schoolchildren and audience sat down to a meal provided by THPC.
Stalls around the school yard showcased books and educational posters donated to the library and staff room of the school by ALC and THPC, attracting dozens of children eager to check out the new books, as well as interested teachers and adults from the village.
The show at Phaxang followed similar events at Ban Phonthong in Bolikhamxay and Phousaat village in Khounkham District. Surapha Viravong, THPC’s Senior Manager for Livelihoods, Government and Community Affairs explained that the provision of arts courses and books formed part of THPC’s policy of enriching education beyond the normal textbooks.
“This approach helps motivate children to learn and to apply themselves at school,” she said. “By stimulating their curiosity and imaginations, and by giving them an opportunity for expression, we can help school children and teachers approach each day at school with more enthusiasm, giving everyone a better chance of enjoying school and learning more. The reading promotion and enrichment activities that THPC support has a very positive effect on education improvement in the villages".
Download Vientiane Mai Lao article
Download Pathet Lao Lao article
Villagers Take Ownership of New Homes and Services
Khounkham District, July 26, 2017
Residents of the newly-built village of Phaxang in Khounkham District, Khammouane, have officially taken ownership of their houses and public facilities.
Phaxang, built by the Theun-Hinboun Power Company (THPC) as compensation for longer annual flood periods, groups five small communities that were formerly in Hinboun District. At a ceremony organised by district authorities with THPC, villagers received technical documentation for the infrastructure built at the village.
Phaxang is named after an elephant-shaped limestone cliff that dominates the skyline outside the village, famed for a holy cave found near its summit. It is now home to over 350 households, which have good quality houses equipped with toilets, running water and electricity. The village features all-weather access roads, a new temple, village hall and two irrigation schemes. THPC also built two schools and a health centre, which were transferred to the authorities last year. The total cost of the infrastructure was almost US$3.9 million.
People from Phahang Tai, Phahang Neua, Thana Tai, Thana Neua and Phachoua moved to the new site in 2014 and 2015. The Theun-Hinboun hydropower expansion project, inaugurated in 2013, intensifies the natural flood cycles on the Hinboun River, so THPC has built new houses and amenities on higher ground for villages along the river.
As noted by Mr Oday Soudaphone, Governor of Khammouane Province, the area became part of the new Khounkham District when it was created in 2010 in recognition of the economic development and growing population along the upper Hinboun following the success of the Theun-Hinboun projects. At the Phaxang handover ceremony, Mr Khamsy thanked THPC for its thorough approach to compensating villages along the river and for working with local communities and authorities to build a sustainable future for people in the province.
THPC Deputy General Manager, Mr Soulideth Baomanikhoth, remarked that the people of Phaxang were adapting well to the new site, which already looked like a prosperous and well-managed village, and said that THPC would continue to work with local authorities to support communities in the project area.
Tree Planting Strengthens Nature Connection in Keosenkham
Xaychamphone District, June 9, 2017 
Villagers in Keosenkham village joined with the Theun-Hinboun Power Company (THPC) to mark National Tree Planting Day on June 1, adding 2,300 saplings to the village and surroundings as part of progress towards a greener environment.
THPC provided eight saplings to every household in the village, plus trees for public areas such as the school, along with instructions on how to plant and look after trees plus materials to help protect the saplings.
Each year the company selects one village for tree planting efforts in the area around its power plant, organizing an event with local authorities to mark National Plantation Day and World Environment Day. The theme for this year’s Environment Day is “Connecting People to nature” and the people of Keosenkham appreciated the effort to plant more trees around their village.
Robert Allen, General Manager of THPC, said that as Keosenkham was located at a fairly high altitude, the trees could provide important material benefits to the villagers. “This is not a major rice growing area,” said Mr Allen, “but fruit and other trees can contribute to the economy of the people in the long-term, as well as enhancing the environment around the village”.
Keosenkham was founded in 2010 when five villages living along the Gnouang River moved to the newly founded Xaychamphone as part of the Theun-Hinboun Expansion Project. THPC provided those who chose to resettle at the new site with houses, farm land and public facilities alongside the Nam Gnouang Reservoir, which the villagers fish each day.
THPC staff joined Keosenkham residents, schoolchildren and district staff to mark National Plantation Day by planting trees around the village in Xaychamphone. Many of the saplings came from THPC’s nursery, established to help reforest the area around the Nam Gnouang Reservoir.