Myanmar quietly announces plans to study controversial Chinese dam project suspended 13 years ago
Myanmar’s military government appears to be considering reviving a massive China-backed hydroelectric dam project
BANGKOK, Thailand — Myanmar’s military government appears to be considering reviving a massive China-backed hydroelectric dam project, work on which was suspended more than a decade ago after protests over its possible impact on the environment.
A notice from the Information Ministry, published online in the latest issue of the government gazette on Tuesday, announced a new leadership team for the Myitsone hydropower project, which was put on hold in 2011 by Myanmar’s military-backed former president, Thein Sein.
The $3.6 billion project in the northern state of Kachin, along the country’s Irrawaddy River, was supposed to export about 90% of the electricity it generated to China, Myanmar’s northern neighbor.
China had considered the dam an important part of a national strategy to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and meet its targets to cut pollution. It lobbied strongly for its construction to resume, even after the suspension.
Environmental activists have said the dam would displace countless villagers and upset the ecology of the Irrawaddy River, one of the country’s most vital national resources,
Other opponents questioned the arrangement in which China would take 90% of the dam’s power, while nearly 70% of Myanmar at that time had no access to electricity, according to the World Bank.
Myanmar currently suffers from prolonged power outages that have become a major burden since the army seized power in February 2021, ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Power cuts in Yangon, the country’s biggest city, now typically last eight hours a day.
The state-owned Yangon Electricity Supply
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