406 



Undoubtedly, construction of the Pa Mong dam would be a turning 

 point in regionalism in Southeast Asia. It would confer on the partici- 

 pating countries a considerable prestige. It would provide economic 

 stimulus for further technological development. It would afford many 

 kinds of economic opportunity. It would significantly mitigate the 

 threat of massive floods in the lower Mekong basin. Moreover, success 

 in this task would break the ice for at least two other grand under- 

 takings on the main stem: at Sambor and Tonle Sap. However, as 

 the undertaking at Pa Mong progressed through the planning phase, 

 more and more attention was directed to the matter of infrastructure. 

 What social adaptations would be necessary to make proper use of 

 the dam as a new resource ? What amenity capital investments would 

 be needed in the form of schools, hospitals, terminals, and other social 

 overhead items? What would be the problems of resettling people 

 from the inundated reservoir? How would the power generated at 

 the dam be distributed and how should it be utilized? 



INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE MEKONG PROJECT 



President Johnson's Johns Hopkins speech was the signal for an 

 accelerated staff effort in U.S.A.I.D., working in cooperation with an 

 improvised White House office set up to support Eugene Black in his 

 role as the President's Advisor on Southeast Asia Economic and Social 

 Development. A program of increased assistance to the countries of 

 Southeast Asia was quickly drafted, and was presented to the Con- 

 gress June 1. Hearings were held promptly, and the Congress speedily 

 acted on the President's request for a supplemental $89 million "to 

 help in the peaceful economic and social development" of that region. 



The bulk of the request was for import assistance : $45 million to buy 

 iron and steel, cement, chemicals and pesticides, drugs, trucks, and 

 other essential goods. Another $19 million was earmarked for use by 

 the Coordination Committee to start the Nam Ngum dam construction 

 work, associated power lines, and some further studies. The remaining 

 $25 million would be used to help the three countries (Cambodia being 

 at that time unrecognized 57 ) to develop a supporting infrastructure. 



According to the President's message to Congress: 



$5 million would be used to support electrification cooperatives as a pioneer 

 project in Vietnam ; 



$7 million would be used to provide improved medical services in the three 

 countries ; 



$3 million would be used to "train people for the construction of roads, dams, 

 and other small-scale village projects in Thailand and Laos ;" and 



$7 million to "supplement the present program of agricultural development 

 and support additional government services in all three countries, and [to] help 

 in the planning of further industrial expansion in the secure areas of Vietnam." 



In hearings before (he Senate Foreign Relations Committee, June 3, 

 L965, Secretary Rusk explained thai the requested funds had two pur- 

 poses: (i) to implement the President's April 7 proposal ("an inter- 

 tiational campaign to stimulate Southeasl Asian economic and social 

 progress and promote closer regional economic cooperation'') and 



' 7 i-'or an account "f the complicated diplomacy of Prince Sihanouk toward the I'nited 

 stains and the Mekong Project in this period, Bee William A, Hanna, "The Mekong Project," 

 Part VII "The Enigma <>f Cambodia," American Universities Field staff Report*, Southeast 

 Asia Series xvl, no. 17, (September, 1968). 



