Electrical industry of burma/myanmar
IN DEFENCE OF PROPOSED HYDROPOWER DAMS IN THE AYEYAWADY RIVER BASIN
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- INDUSTRY-2 PROJECT PLANS TO LIGHT UP 5000 VILLAGES
- CHINA POWER INVESTMENT EIA REPORT ON THE UPPER AYEYAWADY PROJECTS
- About Upstream Ayeyawady
- Environmental and Social
- BANCA’S CRITICAL REPORT ON CHINA-BACKED DAM SMOTHERED
IN DEFENCE OF PROPOSED HYDROPOWER DAMS IN THE AYEYAWADY RIVER BASIN MEPE staff member, NLM, 09/08/11. Edited, revised and abridged. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs11/Article_on_dams-NLM2011-08-09.pdf Some persons and organizations have been manufacturing fabricated news stories to mislead the international community and the people with regard to the ongoing hydropower projects at the confluence of the Maykha and Malikha rivers that meet and form the Ayeyawady River. There are eight hydropower projects at the confluence and above it: namely Myitsone, Chipwe, Chipwenge, Wusauk, Khaunglanphu, Yinan, Fizaw and Laizar whose total installed capacity will be 18,499 megawatts. The projects are all due to be completed in 15 years. In compliance with the MoU signed between the Ministry of Electric Power-1 and the China Power Invest -ment Corporation (CPI) of the PRC in December 2006, the hydropower projects at Myitsone on the Ayeyawady and on the Maykha and Malikha rivers in Kachin State are to be implemented with the assistance of a scientific organization with expertise in the area of water resources. In December 2007, the Changjiang Survey, Planning, Design and Research Co Ltd (CSPDRC) completed a planning report on the dams proposed for construction in Upper Kachin State. The CSPDRC completed the terms of reference (TOR) for an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report in March 2008, and this was approved in June 2008. A Feasibility Research report on the Myitsone hydropower plant on the Ayeyawady River was completed in October 2009. Altogether 260 members from the CSPDRC, the Ministry of Water Resources and the Chinese Academy of Science, the Institute of Hydrology, the South China Botanical Garden, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the South China Institute of Endangered Animals, and the Biodiversity and Nature Conservation Association of Myanmar (BANCA) carried out the feasibility study on the Environmental Impact Report of Hydropower Development in Upper Reaches of Ayeyawady River Report from January to July in 2009. The 260 members included over 100 experts from China and Myanmar. The 569-page report features 12 chapters, as follows:— (a) introduction (b) overall review of the project (c) analysis of feasibility study and environmental situations (d) finding out environmental impact (e) assessing and deciding on environmental impact (f) assessing and deciding on social impact (g) analysis of environmental impact on surrounding areas of the model hydropower plant (h) reducing environmental impact (i) analyzing environmental impact from the economic point of view (j) public participation (k) environmental conservation plan (l) resolutions and proposals
(a) The hydropower projects upstream the Ayeyawady River will have installed capacity of about 18,400 megawatts, will be able to produce 99,110 million kilowatt hours a year, and will contribute towards the prevention of river floods, water transport and other related businesses. (b) The projects will also help improve transport, communications and industries. (c) Regarding flood control, the projects will have storage capacity of about 0.85 billion cubic meters. So, floods can take place in Myitkyina only once in every five to 20 years. (d) The waterways in the watershed areas will improve. (e) If compared with coal-fired power plants, the hydropower plants on the Ayeyawady River will emit far less carbon dioxide and cause far less air pollution. (f) Resettlement and rehabilitation tasks will help reduce the environmental impact and improve the economy and the natural ecology of the regions.
(a) The courses of the waterways can be changed for better positions. (b) Hydropower produced by the plants will be supplied to local people. (c) Irrigation water can be provided as needed for farmlands. (d) The projects will prevent formation of sandbanks to some extent downstream the river. (e) They will prevent floods when rivers are swollen. (f) They will prevent the entering of seawater into riverside regions.
‘Public workshop held on environmental impact of Ayeyawady basin dams’ (NLM: 18/09/11). ‘Hydropower minister defends construction of Myitsone dam (IRROL: 12/09/11) See below: ‘China Power Investment EIA report on Upper Ayeyawady projects’ (CSPDR: G2011) ================================================================================== INDUSTRY-2 PROJECT PLANS TO LIGHT UP 5000 VILLAGES Than Htike Oo, Myanmar Times, 08/08/11 (Issue 587). Edited. http://mmtimes.com/2011/news/587/news58717.html The Ministry of Industry 2 plans to introduce electricity to 5000 villages located off the national grid over the next five years, an official from the ministry says. “We will provide electricity through solar panels, wind turbines, bio gas, hydro turbines and diesel generators,” U Win Myint, an assistant director of the ministry, told The Myanmar Times by fax last month. U Win Myint is also a member of the Village Energy Development Support Committee, which the ministry formed in June to help villages receive electricity to facilitate better education and health services. He said villages would be selected based on the recommendation of the chief ministers of the state and region governments. “We aim to get proposals [to provide electricity to] 1000 villages from chief ministers each year of this five-year project,” he said. “When we get a proposal for a village, we will assess the available resources in the area first. Based on those available resources, we will choose the most suitable means of providing electricity.” “We have started enquiries in Chin State and we’ve already received some proposed village lists from Bago and Yangon regions and Mon State governments,” he said. If implemented fully the project could see an additional 3.5 million people receive electricity by 2016, based on the national average of 700 residents a village. U Win Myint said where possible the costs would be shared between the government, village residents and donors. “The cost of electrification will likely be covered by the ministry and the village itself, or in some cases donors will pay a portion,” he said. “We are not still sure how much the ministry will pay and how much the village or donor will have to pay. The cost will vary from village to village based on the type of electricity generation and the resources of the village.” The outgoing State Peace and Development Council gave the Ministry of Industry 2 a massive budget boost for the 2011-12 fiscal year. The ministry has been allocated K147.971 billion (about US$185 million), up from just K1.089 billion in 2010-11. U Win Myint said the committee was open to working with local and international NGOs on the rural electrification project. “If individual donors or villages ask us for help, we will provide the technology and experts so that they can install electricity generators in a village.” Villages selected for electrification would have to manage the assets themselves, he said. “The villages will have to come up with a plan as to how to manage the equipment and how to fund the maintenance costs. We will just help them install the system in their villages,” U Win Myint said. Villages that receive wind or hydro turbines will be required to establish a village electricity management committee. Homes that receive solar panels are likely to have access to electricity for only three years, he said. “If we install solar power in a village, each and every house in that village will have their own individual solar power units,” he said. “A house will get a solar panel, a battery and three bulbs, and that house will have to maintain these as their own property. The solar panels will last up to three years but batteries will need regular maintenance and they will have to do it themselves.” According to an Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey conducted by United Nations Development Program and Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development in 2009-10, 27.9 percent of households in Myanmar have access to electricity. Compiler’s note: For information on other mini-hydro, bio-gas wind and solar electricity projects, see especially the highlighted articles in the topic index, ‘Renewable Sources and Small Generating Facilities’ (SF) Additional references NLM, 24/0711. Excerpt. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs11/NLM2011-07-24.pdf A news item notes that, among other items, low and high power LEDs and solar panels for rural use, all produced by the state-owned No. 2 General Heavy Industries [i.e. Industry-2], are on display and available at the Myanma Industrial Products Show-2011 currently being held at the convention centre in Zabuthiri township in Nay Pyi Taw. Maung Tway Htet, NLM, 25/07/10. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs09/NLM2010-07-25.pdf Apart from solar-powered equipment, Ministry of Industry-2 is preparing to produce solar parels ranging from 21 watt to 185 watt at its Machine Tool and Electronics Factory (South Dagon) starting in Sept-10. Aung Maung Myint Swe, NLM, 18/03/10. Edited and condensed. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs08/NLM2010-03-18.pdf At its meeting on 05/03/10, the Special Projects Implementation Committee received guidance on a project to produce solar panels that can generate electricity. The Ministry of Industry-2 will soon install machines to produce thin-film solar panels at its plant in Yangon. New methods will be used in the production of the low-cost solar panels will be used. The panels will be available for both military and civil apparatuses. The ministry is aiming at producing enough panels to produce a total of two megawatts annually. Demand for the popular panels is bound to increase and will make it necessary to manufacture them on a commercial scale. NLM, 06/03/10. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs08/NLM2010-03-06.pdf Minister of Industry No 2 Soe Thein reports to the Special Projects Implementation Committee that the ministry will implement a solar panel project with advanced technologies in Yangon. Based on demand, [the panels produced] will [be able to] generate two megawatts a year. ================================================================================== CHINA POWER INVESTMENT EIA REPORT ON THE UPPER AYEYAWADY PROJECTS August 2011: From the Foreword to the Report entitled Environmental Impact Report of Hydropower Development in Upper Reaches of Ayeyawady River. UACHC Project website http://www.uachc.com/Liems/esite/index.jsp For Chiangjiang report: http://www.uachc.com/Liems/eWebEditor/UploadFile/Flash/201111013053.swf In 2006, CPI entrusted the planning of its Upper Reaches of the Ayeyawady River Basin Hydropower Development project to the Changjiang Survey, Planning, Design and Research Limited Company (CSPDR). After the plan was completed in December 2007, the terms of reference (TOR) for the environmental impact assessment of the project were worked out in accordance with China's ELA standards and specifications and with reference to the EIA guidelines of the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. These TOR served as the guideline for field studies conducted in Myanmar between December 2008 and May 2009. More than 100 experts from the Biodiversity And Nature Conservation Ass’n [of Myanmar], the Institute of Hydroecology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the South China Botanical Garden, the South China Institute of Endangered Animals CAS South China Institute for Endangered Species and CISPDR participated in these studies. During their investigations 8000 plant specimens, 2000 animal and bird specimensn and 1000 fish and aquatic organism specimens were collected, and 18 water quality sections, 17 atmospheric environmental monitoring sites and 7 acoustic environment monitoring sites were monitored. Afterwards, experts from China and Myanmar took part in many technical exchanges from June to September, 2009 in Myitkyina, Guangzhou, Wuhan and other places and prepared reports relating to their own research speciality. In March, 2010, CISPDR completed its EIA report based on the results of the investigations conducted by the participating institutes of both countries. All of the relevant special research reports and the completed EIA report were consulted and reviewed in both countries. The main conclusions of environmental impact assessment are as follows: 1. The original vegetation in the basin is extremely small. Vegetation in the river valleys where it is convenient for logging operations to be conducted is largely secondary in nature. The total submerged land area of the seven cascade projects (660km2) is only 1.4% of the total basin area. The effect of reservoir inundation on the vegetation cover will be rather small. 2. Protected species like spinulose tree fern, arethusa and aquilaria malaccensis etc. are sparsely distributed in the reservoir area. However, they are widely distributed in other regions which will not be submerged by the proposed dam reservoirs. The project construction and reservoir inundation will not impact the biodiversity of terrestrial plants. 3. About 195 species of fish are distributed in the river sections and only two fish species, anguilla nebulosa and anguilla bengalensis, belong to long distance migratory types. These do not normally live in the rivers above Myitkyina. No adverse impacts will be caused by the projects on rare and endangered fishes. 4. The project development will have a minor impact on terrestrial animals and birds, with some apparent positive impacts on some species. 5. The assessment institutions performed public participation surveys on local people and ecologists, which covered people of different careers, ethnic groups, faiths and education backgrounds. It was found that: 80.4% of interviewees were of the opinion that the hydropower development could bring more job opportunities and higher incomes to local people, 62.8% of the interviewees were of the opinion that the proposed hydropower projects would significantly promote development of the local economy, 13.8% of the interviewees, mainly from Tang Hpre village in Myitkyina township, did not support the projects. Their major concerns were property loss and compensation, availability of new land to farm, improved infrastructure at the resettlement site, lowering of quality of living will be lowered. All of them have since relocated to the new resettlement village. 6. The spoils, domestic sewage, garbage and excavation matter resulting from the construction period will impact the local environment to some extent, but these adverse impacts can be mitigated through practicable environmental protection measures. 7. After the Myitsone dam is completed, the confluence will be moved upstream from its present location and a new confluence will be formed. The natural landscape combined with the human landscape and supported by the improved infrastructure, will boost the growth of tourism sector in the basin. 8. During the construction and operational phases, there will be no environmental limitations as the projects are [all] environmentally feasible. Compiler’s note: This report appeared on the website of the Upstream Ayeyawady Confluence Basin Hydropower Co Ltd (UACBH) in August 2011 shortly after the publication of BANCA’s EIA report on the same project referred to in the major entry immediately below. UACBH appears to be the name of the joint-venture company formed by CPI Yunnnan and the Hydropower Implementation Dept of Myanmar’s EPM-1 to develop the seven cascades megaproject in the basin of the Upper Ayeyawady. Both the CISPDR and the BANCA reports bear original publication dates of March 2010. There should be little doubt that China Power Investment Corp and its subsidiary CPI Yunnan are the major driving forces behind the megaproject and were responsible for setting up the UACBH website and the publication of the CSPDR report. Among the more significant sections and subsections shown on the UACBH website are the following: About Upstream Ayeyawady
Environmental and Social
Additional references For the response of the Hydropower Dept of EPM-1 to the publication of this report see: ‘In defence of proposed hydropower dams in the Ayeyawady river basin’ (NLM, 09/08/11) For a report on the environmental impact of of CPIC’s hydropower projects in northern Kachin State from another point of view, see: ‘BANCA’S critical report on China-backed dam smothered’ (DVB: 18/07/11) For information on the six Upper Cascades hydropower projects in Kachin State see: Appendix 32 (ELEP044) For information on CPI’s Myitsone hydropower project see the following key articles in the compendium: ‘Agreement signed for Upper Kachin hydel projects’ (Myitson)’ (NLM: 02/01/07), ‘Prime minister updated on the Myitson hydropower project’ (NLM: 25/01/11), ‘China’s Investment in Kachin dams seen as cause of conflict’ (IRROL; 16/06/11), ‘President Thein Sein orders suspension of Myitsone dam project’ (IRROL: 30/09/11), ‘CPI president responds to suspension of Myitsone agreement’ (Xinhua: 03/10/11), and ‘KDNG claims work continuing on CPI projects in Kachin State (IRROL: 05/03/12). For information on the Chipwenge hydropower project which was built to provide the electricity needed for the construction phases of the Myitsone and the Upper Cascades hydropower projects see: ‘Chipwi creek plant to power huge hydel project in Kachin state (Myanmar Times:24/03/08). For information on transmission of the power generated by these projects see Chinese engineers planning grid connection (IRROL: 23/01/10). ================================================================================== BANCA’S CRITICAL REPORT ON CHINA-BACKED DAM SMOTHERED Francis Wade, Democratic Voice of Burma, 18/07/11. Edited and revised. http://www.dvb.no/news/critical-report-on-china-backed-dam-smothered/16599 An environmental impact assessment (EIA) report prepared for the China Power Investment Corporation, the company behind the hugely controversial Myitsone dam in northern Burma, that called for the lucrative venture to be scrapped appears to have been ignored, with work speeding ahead on a project set to displace thousands of people and cause far-reaching environmental problems. The lengthy report detailing the environmental consequences of what will become Burma’s largest hydropower development was prepared in 2009, but only made public last week on the website of Burma Rivers Network, which closely monitors the social and environmental impacts of hydropower initiatives on Burma’s waterways. Upon its slated completion date in 2017, the Myitsone dam will become the world’s fifteenth biggest hydropower structure. Development of the dam is expected to cost close to $US4 billion. But the report, titled ‘Environmental Impact Assessment on [the] Hydropower Development of [the] Ayeyawady River Basin above Myitkyina’, says that “there is no need for such a big dam to be constructed at the confluence of the Ayeyawady”. The Burma Rivers Network estimates that around 15,000 people will be displaced around the dam site, while the sizeable changes in the Irrawaddy river’s flow will “impact millions of people downstream who depend on the Irrawaddy for agriculture, fishing, and transportation”. Those concerns appear to have been echoed by the authors of the report, 80 of whom were scientists from Burma and the rest from the Changjiang Institute of Surveying, Planning, Design, and Research (CISPDR) in China. Funding for the report was provided entirely by the China Power Investment (CPI) Corporation. “If Myanmar [Burmese] and Chinese sides were really concerned about environmental issues and aimed at sustainable development of the country, there is no need for such a big dam to be constructed at the confluence of the Ayeyawady [Irrawaddy] River,” it said, urging instead for two smaller, but equally efficient, dams to be built above Myitsone. “The construction of the dam on the Irrawaddy should be avoided due to the changes in downriver hydrology which may affect navigation, riverine ecosystem and delta ecosystem and will lead to negative impacts on the economy.” It continued that the Myitsone venture risks the “disappearance and forever loss [sic] of the cultural heartland of Kachin people…” Despite EIA’s being obligatory for Chinese companies, Burma has no environmental regulatory mechanisms, and the smothering of CPI’s report will do little to allay concerns that the EIAs demanded by Beijing are for little more than cosmetic purposes. This is the first time that this report has been made public. “Chinese companies are increasing their investments in Burma yet they are not following their own standards” said Sai Sai, coordinator of the Burma Rivers Network. “While CPI Corporation is hiding its assessment from the people of Burma, construction of the dams is speeding ahead.” China is closely watching the security of its energy ventures in northern and eastern Burma following months of heavy fighting in the border regions. Speculation has mounted that the Burmese government is looking to rout insurgent groups from areas close to such projects. Yüklə 12,31 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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