Myanmar: Shan coal power plant to run health tests

Myanmar: Shan coal power plant to run health tests

Tikyit coal-fired power plant in southern Shan State will be tested for one
year and if the results point to serious consequences, it will be stopped,
says Swe Thein, Shan State's minister for electric power, energy and
industry.

Wuxi Huaguang Electric Power Engineering Co Ltd hired the plant from the
ministry on a 22-year lease.

He said: "We have a meeting at Tikyit. We will organise many committees,
including one concerned with health care in cooperation with Khun San Lwin,
leader of Pa-O self-administered zone. If there are serious health problems
during trials, the plant will be closed."

Only 34 per cent of households in Shan State had access to electricity so
the state government was trying its best to supply electricity in every
possible way, he said.

Tikyit residents are asking for environmental- and social-impact
assessments, saying coal-fired plants have serious consequences in health,
education, religion, agriculture and social sectors.

"The consequences are not only affected Tikyit but also Aungban, Nyaungshwe
and Taunggyi. So people from those areas also have to be included in the
committees. It should not have happened. People from the whole nation are
angry about it. The government needs the public's trust. We are afraid of
the serious consequences to generate electricity using the coal-fired power
plant," said Ko Moe from the Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and
Accountability in the state.

"We want the government to make full assessments in Tikyit. First, it needs
to test water in the stream as it reaches Moebye, Pekon and Inle and kills
the fish. And then test the air and finally the soil, which is also
contaminated," said villager Chit Wai.

Khin May Than, who is working to educate the villagers, said: "Villagers
have miscarriages, hypertension and coronary artery disease due to the
plant. The diseases happen in every village. The ash emitted from the plant
kills the crops. The ash poisons the people."

Villager Sein Thaung said: "The ministers and state government say they will
run it soon. We are against the project. Pagodas and homes are damaged but
they are not being repaired. We lose agricultural land. We are suffering
from it."

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Link to Original Article: http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/local/9370

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com