Myanmar’s new military-backed authorities plans to revive the controversial China-backed Myitsone dam mission and is anticipating to finish it inside roughly eight years, in line with a report by Reuters.
The report cited two sources with information of latest feedback by Khet Htein Nan, the chief minister of Kachin State, the place the $3.6 billion dam is slated to be constructed.
Htet Paing Htoo, a member of the Kachin State parliament, advised Reuters that work on the mission, which was suspended in 2011 on account of widespread public opposition, would “start shortly.”
“An official announcement might be launched,” he advised the information company. “The president himself has already said that it is going to be restarted.”
Since January, Khet Htein Nan, who beforehand opposed the dam, has led a collection of public conferences throughout Kachin State, together with within the state capital Myitkyina, urging locals to assist the mission.
At one such assembly in Mohnyin township on June 23, the Kachin Information Group reported, the chief minister admitted that he regrets opposing the Myitsone Dam mission. He additionally declared that the military-backed authorities is decided to press ahead with building.
“As for the Myitsone mission, it may take about 10 years to finish, however since numerous the groundwork was already performed earlier than, I imagine we will end it in simply over eight years,” he was quoted as saying.
He additionally accompanied Min Aung Hlaing on the latter’s latest state go to to China, the place the resumption of the dam mission was reportedly mentioned.
The Myitsone dam, which was first agreed on by a earlier junta in 2006, is ready to be constructed on the confluence of the Mali and N’Mai rivers, which come collectively to kind the Irrawaddy River. On the time, the mission was controversial and broadly opposed, each due to the probably environmental and social impacts, and due to studies that 90 p.c of the electrical energy generated by the dam can be exported to China.
In 2011, President Then Sein, who headed a military-backed authorities, introduced the suspension of the dam’s building, citing the “needs of the individuals.” The suspension of the mission helped catalyze a collection of then-unthinkable financial and political reforms, which initiated a brand new and extra open period for Myanmar earlier than being terminated by the coup d’etat of 2021.
China, which was angered by the mission’s suspension in 2011, has since pushed for its resumption – and the junta’s growing reliance on China, notably in reversing positive aspects by ethnic armies alongside the Myanmar-China border, has pressured it to take Chinese language considerations severely.
In April 2024, the navy junta introduced the formation of a brand new management staff for the Myitsone mission. The staff was tasked with conducting analysis, contemplating technical options, and dealing with public relations for the mission in collaboration with the dam’s Chinese language developer, the SPIC Yunnan Worldwide Energy Funding Firm.
The resumption of the mission was additionally mentioned throughout Min Aung Hlaing’s latest go to to China, presidential spokesperson Khaing Khaing Soe mentioned earlier this week. Based on the spokesperson, the previous normal, who criticized earlier governments for suspending the mission, has advised cupboard conferences that if the mission had been applied earlier, Myanmar would already get pleasure from nationwide electrical energy protection.
Khaing Khaing Soe acknowledged the general public considerations concerning the mission, saying that Min Aung Hlaing has instructed his administration to hunt public consent to proceed with the mission. “We’re analyzing these issues intimately, evaluating the extent of the advantages versus the destructive impacts, to strike a steadiness,” she advised reporters.
Whether or not the mission will find yourself going forward as deliberate stays unclear. As The Irrawaddy notes, “no official particulars have been launched on the revised contract, possession rights, or operational framework.” The extent of the federal government’s reliance on China, which has intervened extra actively in Myanmar since 2023, could recommend that it has restricted leverage. Certainly, resuming the mission is probably the value it must pay for preserving relations with Beijing on a productive observe.
Any try to restart the Myitsone mission is also sophisticated by the battle in northern Myanmar. The Kachin Independence Military (KIA), which has made vital territorial advances in Kachin State because the coup, continues to oppose the mission. Whereas the KIA doesn’t occupy the realm across the Myitsone confluence, the opportunity of resumed preventing within the neighborhood may carry the mission to a halt as soon as once more.
