Photo provided by citizen journalist
Lao villagers resettled in mountaintop towns to make way for construction the China-backed Namtha 1 Dam in Luang Namtha province in northern Laos have been given houses and other facilities but now have no land to farm, leaving them unable to make a living in their new homes, Lao sources say.
More than 10,000 villagers displaced from 37 villages in Luang Namtha and Bokeo provinces have now been moved in a resettlement drive beginning in 2016 and ending last year, and are living in homes in 11 new villages on high ground.
All the moved villagers have now settled in but have been left with no land to work, a resident of Resettlement Village No. 1 told RFA’s Lao Service on Jan. 29.