July 1 (Reuters) – Myanmar’s new government aims to complete within roughly eight years a contentious $3.6 billion dam project at Myitsone in northern Kachin state, said two sources with knowledge of comments by Khet Htein Nan, who leads the state administration.
The comments came after junta chief turned president Min Aung Hlaing returned from a visit last month to China, which has long sought to build the massive hydropower project in the northermost province of the war-torn country.
“It will begin shortly,” Htet Paing Htoo, a member of the Kachin State parliament, told Reuters regarding construction work suspended in 2011 after rare public outrage over a hydropower project that would have been Myanmar’s largest.
“An official announcement will be released. The president himself has already stated that it will be restarted.”
The halt angered China, but resentment at its deep influence in Myanmar and environmental concerns about flooding an area roughly the size of Singapore prevailed over plans to export 90% of the 6 gigawatts of generated power to the giant neighbour.
That capacity would rank Myitsone among Southeast Asia’s largest hydropower projects, though still dwarfed by the likes of China’s Three Gorges Dam, with installed capacity of 22.5 GW.
Project resumption figured in talks during Min Aung Hlaing’s China visit, a spokeswoman for the presidential office told reporters, adding it could provide more than half the 10 GW of power required by a country woefully short of electricity.
The government is weighing concerns over flooding and displacement voiced by local communities, said the spokeswoman, Khaing Khaing Soe.
“We are analysing these matters in detail, evaluating the extent of the benefits versus the negative impacts, to strike a balance,” she said on Tuesday.
Khet Htein Nan’s office and China’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources sought anonymity as the discussions led by Khet Htein Nan were private.
REVIVED PROJECT COULD COST MORE THAN THREE TIMES ORIGINAL
A revived Myitsone dam could cost $11.5 billion, or more than three times its 2009 price tag, based on the International Renewable Energy Agency’s most recent estimate of average construction costs of $1,914 a kilowatt for Asian hydropower projects outside China and India.
Min Aung Hlaing’s government, which took power in April after a widely criticised election won by a military-aligned political party, is working to resurrect the project, said three officials, including the Kachin State lawmaker.
The move comes amid a civil war triggered by a 2021 coup in which the military, led by Min Aung Hlaing, deposed the elected government of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who had also opposed the Myitsone dam.
In Myitkyina, the state capital about 37 km (23 miles) distant from the dam site, state leader Khet Htein Nan has underlined the government’s desire to pursue the project, said the two sources with knowledge of talks.
Unlike in the past, China is now ready to tackle environmental issues with new technology, the chief minister told a June 23 discussion on the dam, one of the sources said.
“They will use technology to ensure it can withstand such risks,” the source quoted the minister as saying. “There is nothing to worry about.”
A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake that killed thousands last March when it struck central Myanmar has fuelled concern over the risks of a massive dam in a seismically active region.
The Myitsone dam would stand 152 m (500 ft) tall and stretch 152 m (500 ft) at the confluence of the Mali and Nmai rivers.
A third source with direct knowledge of internal discussions cited the chief minister’s remarks at a June 22 meeting that the Myitsone Project should stand as a “historic achievement”.
The source added, “The chief minister mentioned that China fully supports and encourages the resumption of the Myitsone project.”
Reuters could not determine if Myanmar’s initial deal to send most of Myitsone’s electricity across the border to China had been reworked.
RESISTANCE CONTINUES
Khet Htein Nan’s private comments coincide with the government’s push to revitalise project support in an area now controlled by the military.
After former deputy military chief Soe Win visited Myitkyina in April for talks with local authorities, at least 26 public meetings across Kachin State backed the project, said two members of a government-supported committee.
“What we want is to provide the public with accurate information and allow them to make their own decisions,” said one of the committee members, Naw Khon.
But opposition continues, with 49 civil society groups recently calling for total cessation of the project.
“It offers no benefits to the public and will only result in the severe destruction and loss of people’s lives, homes, and property,” the groups said in a joint statement on May 5.
(Reporting by Reuters staff; Additional reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan in Singapore; Editing by Devjyot Ghoshal and Clarence Fernandez)
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