Electrical industry of burma/myanmar

KHABAUNG RESERVOIR AND HYDEL STATION INAUGURATED IN OTTWIN TOWNSHIP

NLM, 24/03/08. Edited and rewritten. http://burmalibrary.org/docs4/NLM2008-03-24.pdf

Khabaung reservoir, built by Construction Group 5 of the Agriculture and Irrigation Ministry, was opened in Ottwin township on 23/03/08. On the same occasion a ceremony to launch the Khabaung hydropower plant was held. The events were attended by military and civil officials, local people and technicians of the China National Heavy Machinery Corp (CHMC) and the China National Electric Equipment Corp (CNEEC).
The reservoir is on Khabaung creek, 15 miles west of Ottwin. It has an earth embankment measuring 200 feet by 920 feet. It will [eventually] be able to irrigate 100,000 acres of farmlands. Generators in the power plant at the reservoir can produce about 120 million kWh annually.
In an address SPDC Secretary-1 Tin Aung Myint Oo said that although Bago division experienced floods in the rainy season, it was unable to grow crops in the summer due to scarcity of water. Khabaung Reservoir had been designed as a multi-purpose project to prevent floods in the monsoon season, to supply irrigation water and clean drinking water in summer and to fulfill electricity needs, if possible. As a result of the dams, small-scale river-water pump projects and embankments built on both sides of the Bago yoma, cropped acreage in the division had been extended from 1.1 million acres to three million acres, including 350,000 million acres of paddy grown in the summer and 1.3 million acres of edible oil crops.
Afterwards, separate ceremonies were held to officially open the reservoir and launch the power station. The official party then viewed the operation of the turbines and generators and functions of the radiator and control room. Later, Secretary-1 Tin Aung Myint Oo presented a flower basket to technicians of CHMC and CNEEC of the PRC [who were responsible for the installation of the machinery at the plant].
[A good photo of the exterior of the power station and the dam embankment is included in the print edition of NLM.]
Map references

Topographical map reference: Burma 1:250,000: Series U542, U.S. Army Map: NE 47-05: Toungoo

Khabaung, 15 mi north-west of Oktwin [18° 49' N, 96° 26' E], grid square reference: 9\9, 25\6

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/ams/burma/txu-oclc-6924198-ne47-5.jpg
A map showing the location of the Khabaung dam and reservoir and the irrigation weir and proposed canal system can be found along with a description of the project proposal for OPEC funding on the website of the A&IM: http://www.irrigation.gov.mm/ofid/default.html
Additional references
Data summary Khabaung

See below ‘Multi-purpose Khabaung project long overdue’ (NLM: 13/09/03)

Ko Tin Hlaing, NLM, 26/08/10. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs09/NLM2010-08-26.pdf

U Naing Win Zae, chairman of Ottwin TPDC said that due to irrigation canals built below the Khabaung dam the number of acres on which summer paddy in the township could be grown had tripled from 6805 to 21084 acres in 2009-10. The water is being supplied to the fields through a diversion weir near Shwelaung village. The concrete weir is 150 feet wide and 25 feet high. There are retaining dykes on the right and left sides measuring 2350 feet and 5300 feet respectively. The canal system on the right side has been in operation since 2008-09. [Photos of the dyke at the dam are included in the print edition.]

Kyaw Sein, photos by Aung Than, NLM, 04/07/10. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs09/NLM2010-07-04.pdf

Khabaung diversion weir is built five miles downstream of Khabaung dam near Shwelaung Village. The reservoir at the dam stores water from the middle range of the Bago yoma in the rainy season and supplies it to a 30-megawatt hydropower plant Afterwaards, the water from the hydropower plant flows along Khabaung creek and is stored at the diversion weir to irrigate farmlands through left and right canals. According to Assistant Director U Tin Aung of Construction Group 5 of the ID, the 920-foot-long main embankment and 800-foot long saddle dike of the 200-foot-high dam is [still] under construction inclusive of the spillway, the water diversion tunnel and the power intake tunnel, but hydropower is being generated. Toungoo and Ottwin townships of Bago division have 90 inches of rainfalls on average annually. At times, the region faces difficulty in getting adequate rainwater for cultivation of paddy in the late monsoon. But farmers in the area have been growing summer paddy since 2009-10 thanks to water supplied from Khabaung Dam. The water comes along 29-mile left and right canals, each with five valves. [A photo of the weir is included in the print edtion of NLM.]

NLM, 28/04/09. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs07/NLM2009-04-28.pdf

Water that has been used to generate electricity at Khabaung Dam is channeled to a diversion weir, five miles downstream from the dam near Shwelaung Village. Currently, the left main canal of the diversion weir can supply water to 10,000 acres of farmlands in Ottwin township and 8,500 acres of farmlands are being cultivated with the help of the irrigation facility. [Photos of the weir and one of the two main canals accompany the article in the print edition of NLM].

NLM, 05/02/09. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs6/NLM2009-02-05.pdf

Construction work continues on the main right canal of Khabaung dam. The remaining systems are due to be constructed in the dry season. 7,000 acres of summer paddy are currently being cultivated in the fields of Ottwin township through the Khabaung diversion weir. [A photo of the earth work operations is included in the print edition of NLM.]

NLM, 12/02/08. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/08nlm/n080212.htm

Test-run of the first turbine and the installation of second turbine and the control panel are underway. The work is being carried out under the supervision of Chinese experts of CHMC Co and engineers of EPM No 1. The plant with a capacity of 30 MW will go into operation soon.

NLM, 27/12/07. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/07nlm/n071227.htm

Project Director Maw Tha Htwe and Mechanical and Electrical Installation Director Khin Maung Win brief EPM No 1 Zaw Min, Dep Min Myo Myint and D-G Hoke Kyi of the HPID on construction of the power plant and installation of machinery at the Khabaung hydropower project in Toungoo township. They check the power control rooms, laying of underground cables, work on the switchyard, installation of porcelain balls, placing of concrete on steel pipelines, digging of the outlet canal of the power plant and dredging of Khabaung creek. The project is 90pc complete.

NLM, 10/11/07. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/07nlm/n071110.htm

EPM No 1 Zaw Min briefed by Dir U Maw Tha Htwe of Construction Gp 3 and Dir of the Mechanical and Electric Installation Division Khin Maung Win. Construction of the power plant, installation of the generators, turbines and penal, building of the switch yard and penstock pipes is ongoing. The power plant is expected to generate 120 million kWh yearly. The project is 88pc complete and will be finished in the 2007-08 financial year.

NLM, 28/09/07. http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs4/NLM2007-09-28.pdf

Khabaung creek hydropower project is more than 86pc complete. It will be able to generate 117 million kWh a year.

NLM, 10/09/07. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/07nlm/n070910.htm

U Soe Tha, Minister for National Planning and Economic Development, signed a loan agreement for agricultural development at the Thonze and Khabaung dam projects with the OPEC Fund for International (OFID) at Vienna on 06/09/07. In Vienna, the minister met with various officials of OFID on matters related to the development of the agriculture and electric sectors and co-operation with OPEC. Compiler’s note: A description of the project proposal for the development of irrigation networks at the Thonze and Khabaung projects can be found on the website of the A&IM at http://www.irrigation.gov.mm/ofid/default.html. Most of the information on this page appears to date from 2004 when the proposal was first published, but it also includes revisions added in 2007. The proposals for both project areas cover the development of the irrigation canal network exclusive of the costs of dams, weirs and hydroelectric facilities. Technical data useful to the irrigation aspects of both projects is included. The cost estimate in kyats and the estimated rates of return appear to apply to the canal system only. A good frontal view of the Khabaung dam is available on this site.

Franco – ASEAN Seminar Myanmar Country Presentation, 06-07/09/07.

http://www.jgsee.kmutt.ac.th/seminar_programme/DAY%202/Country%20Report%202/Tin%20-%20Myanmar%20-%20Presentation.pdf

The Khabaung dam and power station with a planned capacity of 30 MW is under implementation by the ID and HPID. It will generate 120 million kWh annually when it comes on line in Dec 2007.

China Heavy Machinery Corp, 30/04/07. http://www.chmc2003.net/news.do?cmd=show&id=1666

A CHMC news release in Chinese about construction activities at the Khabaung hydropower plant. The initial phase of construction was completed in April 2007.

NLM, 14/02/07. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/07nlm/n070214.htm

Gen Soe Win visits the Khabaung project which is 80pc complete. Work continues on the embankment and spillway. Construction of the water tunnel and power plant is ongoing.

NLM, 04/12/06. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/06nlm/n061204.htm

EPM-1 Zaw Min is briefed on the construction of the water-intake and sluice gate, building of the hydel power plant and placing of the steel pipe lines. He meets with foreign experts and officials and gives instructions on the timely arrival of imported machinery. Work on the project is 73pc complete.

NLM, 06/11/06. www.myanmar-information.net/infosheet/2006/061106.htm

In Nanning in the PRC, EPM No 1 Zaw Min meets with Chairman Zhao Ruolin and party of China National Electric Equipment Corp (CNEEC)* about the timely arrival of electronic and mechanical equipment for Yenwe, Yeywa, Khabaung and Kengtawng hydel power projects. V-C Zhu Xu and party of China National Heavy Machinery Corp call on the minister and discussed timely sending of electronic and mechanical equipment and hydraulic steel structure for the Kun and Khabaung hydelpower projects. Compiler’s note: The Hunan Savoo Overseas Water and Engineering Co has also been among the PRC companies that have participated in the construction of the Yenwe dam and powerhouse, probably as a sub-contractor to CNEEC for hydraulic steel equipment. See pictures and text in Chinese on the Hunan Savoo website.

http://www.hhpdi.com/hhpdi/ShowArticle.asp?ArticleID=113
NLM, 27/05/06. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/06nlm/n060527.htm

EPM No 1 Zaw Min nspects construction of the power plant, water tunnel, sluice gate and embankment at the Khabaung hydel power project, 15 miles west of Ottwin. Two 15-MW generators will produce 120 million kWh yearly.

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SMALL BUSINESSES, FACTORIES STRUGGLE TO KEEP UP WITH RISING FUEL PRICES

Wai Moe and Kyi Wai, Irrawaddy On-line, 06/03/08

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=10728&page=2
Fuel prices in Burma are rising again, as authorities try to reign in a black market that many rely on to meet their basic energy needs. According to business sources in Rangoon, prices have gone up by more than 13 percent since the beginning of a crackdown on illegal fuel trading that started on February 27. The sources said that many businesses, particularly factories which use heavy machinery, are struggling to keep up with the rising cost of fuel, which has gone from 4,400 kyat (US $4) to 5,000 kyat ($4.50) for a gallon of gasoline, and from 4,600 kyat ($4.20) to 5,200 kyat ($4.70) for a gallon of diesel.
Prices have also increased for trading companies, which must now pay the semi-official rate of $4.00 a gallon for diesel, up from $3.52 last Wednesday. This rate is only available to businesses which hold foreign currency accounts at the Myanmar Foreign Trading Bank. Although oil prices have been rising rapidly worldwide, the recent price hikes in Burma have been outstripping global price increases, mainly due to government efforts to control the sale of fuel. The world market price for oil hit a high of nearly $105 per barrel today, up from around $100 one week ago.
Businessmen in Rangoon say that the recent rise in fuel prices is hitting smaller businesses the hardest, since large companies—most of them owned by the military or by cronies of top generals—are able to stockpile supplies.
Last August, the regime raised official fuel prices from 1,500 kyat (then worth $1.16) to 2,500 kyat ($1.94) per gallon of gasoline, and from 1,500 kyat ($1.16) to 3,000 kyat ($2.33) kyat per gallon of diesel. The sudden, unannounced skyrocketing of fuel prices ignited Burma’s largest mass protests in nearly twenty years. Although official rates have remained unchanged since last August, quantities are strictly limited to two gallons per day, and fuels purchased at these rates can only be used to operate privately owned vehicles.
The doubling of official diesel prices, which led to a dramatic rise in black market prices, was particularly hard on Burmese businesses and consumers. A lack of energy infrastructure in Burma, particularly a notoriously unreliable supply of electricity, forces many to use diesel generators to meet their everyday energy needs. “The government can’t even manage to provide electricity for 24 hours, so we need to use a generator,” complained the operator of a photocopy shop in Rangoon. “We need to buy fuel to run the generator, but now the government has cracked down on our energy sources. How are we supposed to survive?”
The rising cost of fuel is affecting a variety of businesses. The owner of an Internet café in Rangoon said he was forced to charge more for Internet access, because his business, like many others, relies on a diesel generator. “There’s been a diesel price hike, so now we have to increase Internet user fees at our shop,” he said. The owner of a small cooking-oil factory in Mandalay complained that the crackdown had completely cut off his normal supply of diesel, forcing him to travel outside the city to a government-run gas station. He noted that the gas station charged the black market price, not the cheaper official rate
Another business owner in Mandalay said that the latest price hikes were putting severe pressure on her ability to do business. “Prices have gone up 400 or 500 kyat per gallon in the past week. To run my factory, I need about 200 gallon of diesel a day. So I’m not sure how much longer I can stay in business.” Meanwhile, a police official in Mandalay, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the recent crackdown on illegal fuel trading was at least partly driven by concerns about safety. Several major fires have hit Rangoon and Mandalay in recent weeks, some of them possibly caused by privately owned generators.
Electricity shortages are expected to worsen in the coming months, as Burma enters the dry season and power from the country’s aging hydroelectric plants becomes even more unreliable. Most factories in Burma’s nineteen designated industrial zones use privately owned generators, and most are run on diesel bought on the black market, because supplies at government stations are strictly rationed. According to official data, there are 42,707 private factories, 8,500 home industrial businesses and 833 state-owned factories in Burma.
Additional references
See above: ‘Improved power supply brings better business climate to most’ (MT: 06/06/11)

‘Chaungzon supplied with electricity at a big loss’ (NLM: 29/03/11)

‘Power boost for Yangon as rain falls’ (MT: 21/06/10)

See below: 'Fuel price increase impacts industrial use of electricity' (IRROL: 15/08/07)

Kyaw Kha, Mizzima, 23/12/09. Edited and condensed

http://www.mizzima.com/business/3199-financial-crisis-hurts-garment-industry-in-burma.html

Burma’s garment industry in industrial zones is on a downhill slide due to the global financial crisis, the Garment Industry Entrepreneurs Association said. Association Chairman Myint Soe said the industry has suffered a decline of 30pc since mid-November this year. " About 20pc of our industries have either suspended their business due to economic reasons or totally shut down,” Myint Soe told Mizzima. There are 171 garment factories under the association of which 150 units are still running and over 20 factories have stopped business. Due to the closure of these factories, over 60,000 workers have been affected and will be laid off if the factories are totally shut down, Myint Soe said. Despite low wages in Burma, factory owners are facing shortage of electricity, high fuel and transportation costs, difficulty in accessing internet telephone and email, foreign currency exchange fluctuation and unavailability of business loans from the government. “We suspended business in this unprofitable situation. There’s no electricity and the cost of alternate energy source such as diesel is too high,” said an official from the Rangoon based 7 Star Co Ltd.

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POWER HUNGRY MYAUNGDAGAR INDUSTRIAL ZONE NEARLY READY

Htar Htar Khin, Myanmar Times, 25/02/08. http://www.mmtimes.com/no407/b_brief.htm

The Myaung Dagar Steel Industrial Zone in Hmawbi township is 80pc complete, said an official from the Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development (DHSHD) recently. “The aim of this project is to group all the steel factories in one place,” he said, adding that it would also lead to better infrastructure in the area and create jobs.
The project, which began in 2006, covers an area of about 1016 acres and has been split into three phases.

“Of the total area, infrastructure accounts for 395.19 acres, while the industrial sector itself is 620.38 acres.

“We’ve already sold 37 of the 327 2-acre plots that make up the zone,” the official said, adding that the plots were sold at a cost of K18.4 million an acre.
The DHSHD official said work on Phase One started in early 2006, Phase Two began about one year later, while the construction of Phase Three started early in 2008. “All the infrastructure – like the roads, electricity network and drainage – in Phases One and Two have been finished but Phase Three only has roughly built roads to date,” he said.
Electricity to power what is likely to be an extremely power-hungry enterprise is already taken care of in the form of one 100MVA transformer linked to the Bago-Kamarnat substation in Bago Division, the official added.
Compiler’s Note:

Plans to set up a “steel industrial zone” at Myaungdaga appear to have originated in conjunction with a mill and shop to fabricate steel plates and H-beams set up near the village by the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) of the MoD. Little published information is available about the complex which is known as the MEC’s Steel Mill No 2. Pictures of pipelines installed at the factory in 1999 can be found on a website of the United Engineering Group of Myanmar. http://www.united-engineering.net/Engineering/project.htm In 1998, the state electricity company, MEPE, investigated sites near the village where a gas-fired power plant might be set up (NLM: 24/06/98. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/98nlm/n980624.htm). In 1999, MEC’s Iron and Steel Division put out tenders for the supply of a 100-150 MW combined cycle gas turbine generatiing station to be built at Myaundaga (on-line reference no longer available), but the plan was apparently scrapped in favour of providing power to the mill and “steel zone” through a power sub-station with connections to the generating plants at Shwedaung, Ahlon and Lawpita. By 2001, the plant was fully operational and being fed by imported billets from China, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and India. (“Imports set to dominate Myanmar construction sector”, [Metal Bulletin, no. 8584, 18/06/01, p. 23]).

H beams forged in the shop have been used in various bridge projects carried by military engineering corps (NLM: 29/12/01. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/01nlm/n011229.htm#(1; NLM: 29/03/04. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/04nlm/n040329.htm The mill and adjacent steel zone are strategically located located close to the main south-north gas pipeline that links Kanbauk in the south with the natural gas fields of Irrawaddy valley. A PRC company, CAMC Engineering, is currently building a urea fertilizer plant for the Myanmar government at Myaundaga that should benefit from the availability of natural gas and electric power facilities.

(NLM: 25/03/04. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/04nlm/n040325.htm)

(NLM: 12/11/07. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/07nlm/n071112.htm)

(NLM: 21/02/08. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/08nlm/n080221.htm)

Map references:

The Myaungdaga power station is to be a pivotal distribution point for the Yangon and the Irrawaddy delta areas of the country. When the 230-kV transmission line connecting it to the power station at Kamanat (near Bago) is completed it will have direct links with both the Sittaung and the Irrawaddy valley grids to the north and to Yangon through the Hlawga power station and to the Irrawaddy delta area through the main station in Hlaingthaya. Its present and future connections can best be seen by comparing the maps found on Slides 34 and 35 of the Myanmar presentation to an ASEAN policy seminar on regional power issues in Sept 2007. http://burmalibrary.org/docs2/MMpresentation.pdf

See below: ‘Grid Map 4: Transmission System as it existed in mid-2007’

‘Grid Map 5: Grid projects underway 2007 - 2009

Additional references
See above: ‘Local electricity plant powers village metal workshops in Thabyu’ (NLM: 27/03/11)

‘Towers on Hlinethaya-Ahlon power grid under construction’ (NLM: 31/01/11)

‘Risky job for line crew on Bago river crossing pylons’ (NLM: 27/02/09)
NLM, 15/06/11. Condensed. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs11/NLM2011-06-15.pdf

On a visit to the district and township electrical engineer offices in Thayawady district, EPM-2 Khin Maung Soe is briefed on the chosen alignment for the 230-KV Thayagon-Minhla power grid, and the 230-KV Shwetaung-Myaungdaga power grid.

Xinhua, 20/03/09. Edited and abridged.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/20/content_11039486.htm

Presently, Yangon's electricity demands of over 500 MW daily have to be met by the city's four gas-run power plants which have a maximum capacity of only 300 MW, the local Biweekly Eleven reported on Friday (20/03/09). Low water levels at the country's hydropower generating facilities have reduced the supply of power otherwise available to Yangon. In order to supply electricity to homes and industrial zones for at least five hours day, authorities have temporarily suspended supply to high power-consuming heavy industries such as some steel plants in the Myaungtaka Industrial Zone [in Hmawbi], the report said. About 450,000 workers are employed in the industrial zones of the former capital.

NLM, 21/12/08. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs6/NLM2008-12-21.pdf

Head of Yangon Division WRUD Htay Lwin reports to Lt-Gen Myint Swe on Myaungdaga river pump station.

Myint Swe and party go on to the Kangalay river pump station in Myogyoung village where they inspect construction of the control room of a sub-power station, canal and laying of pipelines to pump water from Hlaing river and irrigated areas.
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Kayan Soe Myint, NLM, 19/11/08. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs5/NLM2008-11-19.pdf

The 40-mile-long, 230-kV power grid between Kamanat and Myaungdagar has been completed. The opening took place at Myaungdagar power station on 12 November. The grid is designed to supply power to towns and villages in Yangon division and to steel factories in Myaungdagar as well as to Ayeyawady division. [In opening the station] Minister Khin Maung Myint said that in the past foundries in Yangon had to share electric power with local residents, and that, in consequence, both industries and people had often faced insufficient electric power supply. For instance, whenever the iron foundry in PyinOoLwin [in Mandalay division] operated at maximum capacity, the power supply to Yangon had to be reduced. This created disorder in the power supply pattern since overload conditions resulted at the Lawpita hydropower station. In compliance with guidance from the Head of State, the iron foundries in Yangon have been shifted to Myaungdagar, and electric power is now being supplied to the industrial zones and the public separately. Work on the 40-mile Kamanat – Myaungdagar grid has been carried out by the Parami Co, the Se Paing Co, and DEL Co Ltd.

The 230-kV twin bundle, single circuit, transmission line has a total of 186 towers and ACSR of 650-MCM has been installed. The project was launched on 27 January 2008, and completed on 12 November 2008. The Myaungdagar station has been supplied with power through the Shwedaung gas-fired power plant since 28 August 2005. It distributes power to Steel Factory No 1, Pharmaceutical Factory No 2 in Hmawby township, to Thayawady [in Bago West], to Ayeyawady division (through the Athok power Station), to Hlinethaya IZ, and and to Yangon through the Hlawga and Bayintnaung power stations.
So far, 41 industrialists have bought 140 of the 327 plots (400' x 200') in the Myaungdagar IZ. [Other] industries in Yangon have been allocated land in the Wahtayar zone in Shwepyitha township [which is for timber and furniture factories]. Forty industrialists have purchased lots and started to construct factories there. The Ministry of Electric Power No 2 plans to establish a power station in Wahtayar.