Myanmar: Hydropower commission probes Myitsone contract

Myanmar: Hydropower commission probes Myitsone contract

The commission to scrutinise hydropower projects along the Aye-yarwady River
has met with the Ministry of Electric Power and Energy to learn more about
the contractual agreement with a Chinese state-owned firm underpinning the
suspended Myitsone hydropower project in Kachin State.

The commission held its second meeting August 30 in Nay Pyi Taw, and its
members will soon travel to the sites of hydropower dams in Kachin State to
interview local residents and observe conditions on the ground in the
project areas.

Irrigation expert U Cho Cho, who is a member of the commission, told The
Myanmar Times yesterday that the commission had begun reviewing the Myitsone
agreement and was working hard to submit its preliminary report on time. The
government, which formed the hydropower scrutiny commission on August 12,
has ordered that its first report be compiled by November 11.

The 20-member commission has been tasked with reviewing proposed and
existing hydropower projects along the length of Myanmar's main waterway,
which begins in Kachin State at the site of the Myitsone dam. The scrutiny
is to include recommendations on whether or not proposed projects should go
forward, analysing costs and benefits for the public.

Part of the process includes reviewing contracts inked by previous
governments. The commission has been ordered to find the best solutions for
Myanmar's people that will also be palatable to foreign investors who have a
stake in the outcomes of the report and subsequent decisions by State
Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's government.

It has also been instructed to compile the opinions of citizens and civil
society organisations in its review.

"I think in our first report it cannot be mentioned whether the projects
should continue or not because the timetable is too short. The second report
will be better than the first report," said U Cho Cho.

Daw Ja Hkaung, a member of the Kachin State-based Mungchying Rawt Jat
organisation, which was an early opponent of the Myitsone project, said the
commission needed to do more, and that people did not want to see its
members "wasting their time" with meetings in Nay Pyi Taw.

"We [Mungchying Rawt Jat] and most people are monitoring their activities
and the commission's first report," she said.

The commission also intends to submit an interim report within the next
month.

State-owned China Power Investment Corporation entered into a joint venture
to develop the US$3.6 billion Myitsone dam with local conglomerate Asia
World and the Ministry of Electric Power under the former junta government.
The project was suspended in 2011 by then-president U Thein Sein, who cited
widespread public opposition to the mega-dam.

Contributing to Myitsone's unpopularity was the widespread displacement of
populations in the project area, concerns about the dam's environmental
impacts and the terms of an agreement that would see some 90 percent of the
electricity generated sent to China.

The controversial dam was on the agenda when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met with
Chinese leaders in Beijing last month, though the state counsellor deferred
any major decision, saying that would have to await the results of the
Ayeyarwady River commission's review.

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Ref:
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/22294-hydropower-commission-p
robes-myitsone-contract.html

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com