ABSTRACT
The Lao People’s Democratic Republic opened its borders in the mid-1980s, thus ending more than a decade of isolation from the capitalist world. For the mountainous, land-locked nation that suffered untold damage during the war, hydro power has emerged as an eminently saleable commodity on the international market. Indeed, so attractive appear the prospects of exploiting this ‘white gold’ that dozens of projects are being planned. A combination of political, geographical and economic conditions in Laos has spurred a race for hydro power on a scale and at a speed that is unprecedented in south-east Asia.
