NAYPYIDAW, July 1 — Myanmar's new government aims to complete within roughly eight years a contentious US$3.6 billion (RM14.74 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 northernmost 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," he said.
The halt angered China, but resentment over its deep influence in Myanmar and environmental concerns about flooding an area roughly the size of Singapore prevailed over plans to export 90 per cent of the six gigawatts of power generated to the giant neighbour.
That capacity would rank Myitsone among Southeast Asia's largest hydropower projects, though it would still be dwarfed by the likes of China's Three Gorges Dam, with an installed capacity of 22.5 GW.
Presidential Office spokesman Khaing Khaing Soe said that project resumption was discussed during Min's China visit, as it could provide more than half of the 10 GW of power required by a country woefully short of electricity.
She added that the government is weighing concerns over flooding and displacement voiced by local communities.
"We are analysing these matters in detail, evaluating the extent of the benefits versus the negative impacts, to strike a balance," Khaing said yesterday.
Khet'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 were private.
Revived project could cost more than three times original
A revived Myitsone dam could cost US$11.5 billion (RM47.08 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 US$1,914 (RM7,836.11) a kilowatt for Asian hydropower projects outside China and India.
Min'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, 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 37km from the dam site, state leader Khet has underlined the government's desire to pursue the project, according to two sources with knowledge of the 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. There is nothing to worry about," the source quoted the minister as saying.
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 152m tall and stretch 152m 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'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.
