Final report, Pa Mong resettlement research project : Pa Mong resettlement

A wide variety of field data were collected in Northeast Thailand and Laos through an inventory of homes, businesses, property, religious buildings, etc. in the reservoir area and through extensive surveys in regard to residents" resettlement experience, rural resettlement alternatives, self-managed resettlement on private land, urban resettlement, and infrastructure replacement; Lao and Thai officials, advisors, and rural dwellers provided extensive assistance in conducting these surveys. Presentation of these research data constitute the bulk of the report. A final section formulates, on the basis of these data, a least-cost resettlement program designed to: ensure that evacuees earn the same income after resettlement as they did beforehand; identify and compensate all groups of people who will be significantly disadvantaged by the creation of the reservoir; bear the full monetary costs of evacuee resettlement; provide evacuees with several economically and ecologically viable resettlement alternatives from which to choose; adequately prepare both evacuees and resettlement sites before resettlement occurs; protect evacuees from potential fraud; maintain former levels of government and private services for the affected population; and be administered by and independent, centralized resettlement agency. While it is hoped that such a program will meet both social and economic justice goals, the authors admit frankly that experience shows that these goals cannot be fully achieved. Appendices include an atlas and a village inventory of the Pa Mong reservoir area and the results of field surveys conducted in Thailand and Laos.