Bhumibol Dam

The Bhumibol Dam (formerly known as the Yanhi Dam) is a concrete arch dam on the Ping River, a tributary of the Chao Phraya River, in Sam Ngao District of Tak Province, Thailand. It is about 480 km (298 mi) north of Bangkok and was built for the purposes of water storage, hydroelectric power production, flood control, fisheries and saltwater intrusion management. The dam was named after King Bhumibol Adulyadej and it was Thailand's first multi-purpose project. It is the highest dam in Thailand at 154 m (505 ft) tall.

In the late 1940s to early 1950s, Thailand was struggling to recover from wartime damages and to develop its resources with international financial help. On 17 October 1950, the United States extended military assistance, and the International Bank granted its first loan to Thailand ten days later. Amounting up to USD $25,400,000, the loan was to fund irrigation, railway, and port development projects. In early 1952, a request was made for a secondary loan to fund the construction of hydroelectric projects. In 1952, M.L. Xujati Kambhu requested the World Bank for financing construction, proposing a survey conducted by the Irrigation Department. Another proposal was submitted in early 1953 with an increased electricity production capacity and larger estimated costs. Following the second proposal, Thai officials requested assistance from the United States Bureau of Reclamation in the Department of the Interior. The agency agreed to send a survey team to the proposed sites, deciding whether they would agree that Thailand had needed such funding. The dam was originally called Yanhee Dam in 1951 when the government of prime minister Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsongkram initiated the project. It was renamed Bhumibol Dam in 1957. The dam, among others in the Chao Phraya basin, was constructed beginning in the 1950s to exploit the agricultural and hydroelectric potential of the basin. Construction on the dam began in 1958 and was finished in 1964 at a cost of 3.5 billion baht. The reservoir was completely filled in 1970. The first two generators were commissioned in 1964. In 1972, the Sirikit Dam was completed on the Nan River, one of two major tributaries of

Dam data from Wikidata (CC0) plus curated additions. Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).