BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Myanmar’s military government appears to be considering reviving a massive Chinese-backed hydroelectric dam project whose work was suspended more than a decade ago after protests over its potential impact on the environment.
A Ministry of Information notice published online on Tuesday in the latest issue of the government gazette announced a new leadership team for the Myitsone hydropower project, which was shelved in 2011 by Myanmar’s military-backed former president Thein Sein.
The $3.6 billion project in northern Kachin state, along the Irrawaddy River, would export about 90% of the electricity it generated to China, Myanmar’s northern neighbor.
China saw the dam as an important part of a national strategy to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and achieve its pollution reduction goals. There was strong lobbying to resume its construction even after the suspension.
Environmentalists have said the dam would displace scores of villagers and disrupt the ecology of the Irrawaddy River, one of the country’s most vital national resources.
Other opponents questioned the arrangement that would see China take 90% of the dam’s power, when nearly 70% of Myanmar had no access to electricity at the time, according to the World Bank.
Myanmar is currently experiencing prolonged power outages that have become a major burden since the military seized power in February 2021 and ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Power outages in Yangon, the country’s largest city, now last an average of eight hours a day.
State-owned Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation said early this month that power supplies have declined due to inadequate power generation, a sudden increase in power consumption during a recent brutal heat wave and the destruction of electricity supplies by forces fighting the country’s military government. .
Current energy production can only meet 50% of demand, the report said.
It said a board for the Myitsone hydropower project had been formed with 11 members from different departments. Aye Kyaw, a deputy minister in the Ministry of Electricity, was appointed leader of the board.
The announcement, dated April 24, said the group would conduct research, consider technical solutions and handle public relations for the project in collaboration with the leadership team of China’s SPIC Yunnan International Power Investment Company.
Any revival of the project will have to deal with the war being fought across much of Myanmar by pro-democracy guerrillas and their ethnic armed allies against the military-led government installed after Suu Kyi was ousted.
Fighting has erupted in nearby townships of the Kachin capital Myitkyina in recent months after troops from the powerful Kachin ethnic minority forces reportedly captured dozens of army bases in the area.
