Electrical industry of burma/myanmar

Additional references
Data summary: Myitson
For more information on CPIC’s Myitsone hydropower project see the following key articles in the compendium: ‘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 the six Upper Cascades hydropower projects in Kachin State see: Appendix 32 (ELEP044). For reports on the environmental impact of all of CPIC’s hydropower projects in northern Kachin State see: ‘BANCA’S critical report on China-backed dam smothered’ (DVB: 18/07/11) and ‘China Power Investment EIA report on Upper Ayeyawady projects’ (CSPDR: G2011). For information on transmission of the power generated by these projects see Chinese engineers planning grid connection (IRROL: 23/01/10).
NLM, 07/10/10. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs09/NLM2010-10-06.pdf

Maj-Gen Myint Soe of the MoD inspects the construction of the main dam of the Myitsone hydropower project. Preparations are underway for construction of the spillway. [A photo shows the dam site in the distance across the river but there is little evidence of the construction activity mentioned in the news item.]

Irish Times, 19/06/10. Excerpt.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2010/0619/1224272838627.html

As part of a resettlement plan for those affected by construction of the Myitsone dam, two new villages of 500 houses each are being built by Asia World Co. People from 47 isolated farming communities will be squeezed into these two small towns. People were told to be ready to move by May or June of 2010, but contractors appear to have fallen behind schedule.

KNG, 09/06/10. Edited and condensed.

http://www.kachinnews.com/News/Three-more-villages-being-shifted-from-Myitsone-dam-site.html

Residents of three more villages have been relocated from their homes in the Myitsone dam site area. Over 100 villagers from Dawng Pan, Sut Ngai Yang and Shoi Ba villages near the dam have been moved since early June, said local sources. At least 40 families were shifted from their homes where they have lived for decades. They were moved to Lungga Zup village about 18 miles from Myitkyina where small new houses have been constructed for them. They were prohibited from taking along their cattle and other domestic animals to the new place, said the villagers. However, a few families with farms on the mountain side are still left in these villages. This is the second move at relocating villages after Mazup village was shifted on May 28 by the junta. “People (workers) came from Myitkyina and pitched in to relocate the villages,” said a source.

KNG, 28/05/10. Edited and condensed.

http://www.kachinnews.com/News/First-village-forcibly-relocated-for-Irrawaddy-dam-project.html

The first of the ethnic Kachin villages in the Myitsone dam construction area has been moved to a new location, said village sources. In a surprise move, the axe fell on Mazup Village, (Mazup Mare in Kachin), which houses 63 households, with over 150 people. All the villagers were shifted to new houses (40 x 60 sq ft) constructed by the authorities in Lungga Zup village, 18 miles north of Myitkyina. Mazup village was located in the area between the Mali N’Mai rivers, near the confluence of the two rivers, 28 miles north of Myitkyina. The soil here is fertile and yields good crops, said villagers. About 200 people including government employees from different departments in Myitkyina, members of the junta-backed USDA, Burmese Army officers and civilians who had been ordered to help in the relocation, participated in the relocation activities. 600 houses have already been built in Lungga Zup for villagers to be relocated from the project site, said residents in the dam area. [Photo showing new houses in Lungga Zup village]

AKT, Democratic Voice of Burma, 26/05/10. Condensed.

http://www.dvb.no/news/60-arrested-over-kachin-dam-bombs/9176

A major police operation in Burma's northernmost Kachin state netted around 60 people last night suspected to have been involved in the bombing of the Myitsone dam in April. A resident of Myitkyina told DVB that the operation involved police, ward officials and anti-narcotics agents, as well as the tactical operations commander of the Burmese army's Northern Command. At least three bombs exploded at the controversial Myitsone dam site, killing three and injuring 20. The explosions occurred in the compounds of Asia World Co Ltd, which is building the dam. All three victims were company employees. The compound is located 18 miles north of Myitkyina. Posters were placed around Myitkyina displaying sketches of the suspects and announcing rewards for their capture. Some of the detainees were freed later, according to the resident. He added that authorities were "taking advantage of the bombings" to arrest people who had protested the construction of the dam which is likely to displace up to 10,000 people and has been strongly opposed by Kachin locals.

Kyaw Thein Kha, IRROL, 25/05/10. Edited and condensed.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18552

The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) met with the commander of the Northern Military Regional Command (NRMC) to discuss the border guard force (BGF) issue and the bomb blasts at Myintsone Dam, a KIO source told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday. KIO officials said that during their meeting, they also discussed the youth detained by the government as suspects in the Myitsone bomb blasts. The authorities had arrested several youth suspects in Myitkyina, but they were released after interrogation, according to sources in Kachin State. Other youth suspects, including a Kachin youth leader, were arrested on Monday. “One or two of them have been released, but the authorities arrested more youths on Monday,” said the KIO official. Most of the arrested youths are not KIO members, but some have attended social work training, the official said. Following a series of bomb blasts on April 17, local authorities interrogated local residents in the Myitsone Dam area, about 25 miles north of Myitkyina. The Myitsone Dam project is a joint operation of Asia World, the main Burmese contractor, and a state-run Chinese company, the China Power Investment Corporation.

KNG, 20/05/10. Edited and condensed.

http://www.kachinnews.com/News/Fresh-batch-of-300-Chinese-dam-workers-arrive-in-Myitkyina.html

A fresh batch of over 300 Chinese dam construction workers arrived in Myitkyina to replace an earlier lot, who fled to mainland China in the wake of serial bomb blasts on April 17, said eyewitnesses. The new arrivals belong to the Chinese state-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI). “At least 30 trucks arrived in Myitkyina today transporting over 300 Chinese workers and construction materials like cement and steel,” the eyewitnesses said. With the arrival of the fresh batch of Chinese workers local people will be under severe pressure from the regime to relocate from their homes, where they have been living for decades. It will also usher in demographic changes in the region. Local authorities and township leaders held a meeting on May 16 in Tang Hpre village at the Myitsone 27 miles from Myitkyina to formulate a strategy to shift residents, who are still resisting relocation. Meanwhile authorities continue arresting and investigating residents over the bomb blasts but are yet to find the perpetrators.

Ko Htwe, IRROL, 22/04/10. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18297

The owner of a rubber plantation near the Myitsone dam project and four employees were arrested on 19/04/10 by township police, according to the Kachin News Group (KNG). Two employees were later released. The man was identified as Ze Lum of Chyinghkrange village. According to Lapai Naw Din, the editor of the Thailand-based KNG, Ze Lum's rubber plantation was burned down to make way for construction activities when the dam project was started. When he asked for compensation from Asia World co, they refused to give him anything.

Kyaw Thein Kha, IRROL, 17/04/10. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18266

A series of bombs exploded early on 17/04/10 around the area of the Myitsone dam project in Kachin State, according to residents of Myitkyina, the Kachin state capital. “At least, seven bombs exploded in three places in and around the Myitsone dam project this morning,” a source told The Irrawaddy. “Two cars were destroyed, but I heard that nobody was killed in the blasts.” However, the Kachin News Group based in Thailand reported on Saturday that four people had died and 12 were injured in the blasts, the majority of whom were Chinese workers. There are currently around 300 workers from China employed by the China Power Investment Corporation at the dam site. At least three bombs reportedly exploded in front of the offices of the Asia World Company, the main Burmese contractor at the project. The controversial dam project has been condemned by human rights groups and environmentalists. About 15,000 local people are due to be relocated to make way for construction of the dam.

David Paquette, Irrawaddy, April 2010 (Vol 18, No 4). Excerpt.

http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18217

Plans were hatched quietly in 2006 between Burma’s Ministry of Electric Power and the state-run China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) to clear the way for seven mega-dams in Kachin State in northern Burma. However, it was not until June 16, 2009, that the Burmese state media reported that the government had signed an MoU with CPI on the project. In a leaked memo obtained by The Irrawaddy, CPI confirmed it had met with representatives from the Yunnan Power Grid Company on March 7, 2007, and negotiated a deal whereby “electricity yielding from Myanmar [Burmese] hydropower projects [will] be transmitted back to China via the Yunnan power network.” In other words, CPI is providing most of the financing for the dam projects, along with a handful of other Chinese investors, while Yunnan Power is building the transmission lines to transfer the electricity to southwestern China. This fits in with China’s West-to-East Power Transmission Policy, a wider initiative that aims to supersede the country’s reliance on coal mining in its industrial east. . . . In the January [2010] issue of China Investment, a state-run magazine, Zhou Jiachong, the director of China International Engineering Consulting Corporation, one of the Chinese state enterprises involved in the Kachin State dam projects, confirmed that companies representing the two governments had made an agreement in 2009 for hydroelectric development along the Irrawaddy River that would have a combined electricity generating capacity of 16,000 megawatts—about two-thirds the entire capacity of neighboring Thailand and more than 10 times Burma’s current supply. [Compiler’s note: The information provided by David Paquette in the article ‘Dam Nation’ is clearly at variance with the facts. There was nothing “secret” about the deal by CPI to develop hydropower resources in upper Kachin state. As noted in the edition of the New Light of Myanmar of 02/01/07, an MoU on the development of the “Maykha-Malikha Water Resources and Ayeyawady Confluence Hydel Power Project” was signed between CPI and Hydropower Implementation Dept of EPM-1 on the 28^th of December 2006 (see the lead article above). According to the New Light of Myanmar of 20/06/09, a final agreement on the development, operation and transfer of the Maykha – Malikha and Myitson project (commonly known as a B.O.T. agreement) was signed on the 16^th of June 2009 during a visit of the SPDC’s Gen Maung Aye to Beijing. In the time between these two events a whole series of signing ceremonies related to the mega-hydroprower project, all publicly itemized in NLM and other news publications (as cited below), took place. The details of the B.O.T. agreement signed in Beijing have not been made public, but it seems safe to assume that they provide for some of the power that is produced in the Upper Kachin area to be made available for use inside Myanmar, as in the case of the Shweli-1 hydropower development]

Salai Han Thar San, Mizzima, 04/03/10. Edited and condensed. http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/3610-junta-forcibly-acquires-relocation-consent-for-myitsone-dam.html

Myitkyina township PDC members forced Chairman Aung Bahn of Tan Hte VPDC to give his consent to the relocation of the village by signing on a consent paper on 07/02/10. TPDC members told him that they acting on orders of the Home Ministry. He was threatened with arrest and imprisonment if he refused, according to Chairman Awng Wah of the Kachin Democratic Network Group (KDNG). Local authorities are currently preparing to relocate about 60 villages in preparation for the construction of the Myitsone hydropower dam.

NLM, 26/12/09. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs08/NLM2009-12-26.pdf

EPM-1 Zaw Min and President Lu Qizhou of China Power Investment Corporation and officials attend a ceremony to launch Myitsone dam project near Tanphe Village in Myitkyina township, downstream of the confluence of the Maykha and Malikha rivers. They are briefed by the director and officials of No 5 Construction Group of the Hydropower Dept about ongoing pre-engineering work. They also visit the site of the Chibwenge dam project in Chibwe township.

KNG, 24/12/09. Edited and condensed.

http://www.kachinnews.com/News/First-500-households-await-relocation-from-Irrawaddy-dam-site.html

Relocation has been ordered for 500 households in the Myitsone dam project site, according to military officers attending the inaugural ceremony. The villagers will be moved to a site between Chyinghkrang and Lungga Zup villages about 18 - 20 miles north of Myitkyina. The site is currently being levelled by a bulldozer of Asia World Co which will construct the homes for those to be relocated. Each household is also to be provided with a one-time grant including a sack of milled-rice and a viss of edible oil, said villagers who attended the ceremony.

KNG, 21/12/09. Edited and condensed.

http://www.bnionline.net/news/kng/7591-inauguration-of-dam-construction-marred-by-anti-dam-posters-.html

Construction of the dam at the confluence of the Irrawaddy River was inaugurated today at the construction site near Lahpe, 22 miles north of Myitkyina. The ceremony was held a week earlier than originally scheduled. Officials of Asia World Co and China's state-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) along with EPM-1 Zaw Min, CPT Minister Thein Zaw and the Northern Regional Commander Soe Win attended the ceremony, said company sources. About a hundred people from Lahpe and Tang Hpre attended the ceremony. Meanwhile students have put up 500 anti-dam posters in Myitkyina and the dam project sites. The hand-written posters calling for the scrapping of the Myitsone dam were pasted on walls near high schools and in other public places in Myitkyina, according to students who took part. They were also posted in the villages close to the dam site such as Tang Hpre, Ubyit, Dum Gan, Alam and Lungga Zup, said student leader Zau Shawng.

Amy Smith, John Campbell, IRROL, 19/11/09. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=17247

Protests by villagers at Tang Hpre near the Myitsone dam site in October appear to have resulted in a delay in the arrival of 20,000 Chinese construction workers waiting to be transferred to the area. Many villagers have said they would rather die in their villages than leave the confluence. The tension has been ratcheted up and support for opposition has increased among the villagers. The KIO has been unusually silent on the issue of the dam.

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Kachin Development Networking Group, Resisting the Flood, (October 2009).

http://www.burmariversnetwork.org/images/stories/publications/english/ResistingtheFlood-1.pdf

A photograph of a diagram map showing the layout for the Myitsone dam, diversion channel and power house which is on display at the project camp near the dam site, is included on p 10 of the report. It shows that the project has been designed to take advantage of the 'big bend' in the Irrawaddy at the confluence of the Malikha and N'maikha. The map was prepared by the Changjiang Institute of Surveying, Planning, Design, and Research (CISPDR) from China which is responsible for the detailed design of the project

According to the report, sixty villages in the flood plain of the Myitsone dam which are home to 15,000 people are going to be relocated over a period of six months beginning in October 2009. Local officials have been going from house to house since September getting residents to sign ‘compensation’ agreements that detail the size and composition of their landholdings. The process was begun in the villages of Tanghpre, Chyinghkrang, Njip, Nsawp, Lahpa, Layen, Nawnghkying, and N-gan. Chyinghkrang village, for example, has a population of approximately 350, most of whom are farmers. The village has 2,000 acres of rubber plantations, 300 acres of mixed fruit orchards and an additional 200 acres of orange orchards that have been established for over twenty years. All of these will have to be abandoned.
Villagers in the Myitsone dam area are firmly opposed to the project. Numerous public prayer services against the dam have been held, including one in early Oct-09 when 300 persons from several villages and faith groups assembled at Tanghpre near the confluence. In a letter to the Northern Commander, dated 09/10/09, the Tanghpre village women’s group publicly appealed to him to bring their objections to the construction of the dam at the confluence to the attention of the authorities in Nay Pyi Taw.
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KNG, 24/08/09. http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php/news/1054-irrawaddy-hydropower-project-to-displace-many-kachin-villagers.html

On 05/08/09 officials from the Myitkyina Administrative Office and government departments held a meeting with villagers of Chyinghkrang in the area to be cleared for dam construction about 17 miles north of Myitkyina and told them their village would have to be moved. The next day, Northern Region commander Maj-Gen Soe Win also met with the same villagers and told them they could farm just as well in the hills as in the river valley. The meetings followed a visit by the military junta's Gen Maung Aye to the confluence town of Tang Hpre on July 19, said local residents. Soon after Snr-Gen Maung Aye’s visit to the hydropower project site, each family in the villages around the dam project site were required to sign a special form regarding displacement provided by the Asia World Co. A Tang Hpre resident said they had to provide a list of family members, and information about their homes, number of fruit trees on their lot, the size of their family- owned land and plantation. The villagers around the hydropower project site have yet to be instructed to move to new areas. They have not been offered any compensation by either the Asia World Co or the government.

NLM, 21/06/09. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs07/NLM2009-06-21.pdf

[During a visit to the PRC by SPDC Vice-Chairman Gen Maung Aye, . . . Myanmar Ambassador U Thein Lwin and President of China Power Investment Corporation Lu Qizhou signed a MoA between the Dept of Hydropower Implementation and China Power Investment Corp for the Development, Operation and Transfer of the Hydropower Projects in Maykha, Malikha and Upstream of Ayeyawady-Myitsone River Basins and exchanged notes” on 16/06/09.

NLM, 02/04/09. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs6/NLM2009-04-02.pdf

Officials of China Power Investment Co Ltd (CPIC) led by PRC Minister of Energy Zhang Guobao together with Deputy EPM-1 Myo Myint visited the Ayeyawady confluence hydropower site on 29/03/09. They were briefed on the implementation of the Confluence and the Chibwaynge hydropower projects by Engineer Shi Su Byan of CPIC.

Xinhua, 27/03/09. http://english.cri.cn/6826/2009/03/27/1721s468995.htm

Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, of the PRC, met with Myanmar's Prime Minister Thein Sein Thursday amidst his on-going visit to Myanmar. During his visit, China and Myanmar . . . agreed to support the development of hydropower resources in Maykha, Malikha and up-stream of Ayeyawady-Myitsone river basins. Commenting on the agreement Li said, "In recent years, China and Myanmar have carried out fruitful cooperation in energy, hydropower, infrastructure and other areas, bringing real benefits to the two peoples." All these big projects "can lay a solid foundation for the future economy," Li said, adding that he hoped the two sides would “continue to explore new areas and new ways for common development."

NLM, 27/03/09. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs6/NLM2009-03-27.pdf

A ceremony to sign agreements between Myanmar and the PRC was held at the hall of the SPDC Office in Nay Pyi Taw. . . . EPM-1 Zaw Min and Head of China’s National Energy Administration Zhang Guobao of the PRC signed the ‘Framework Agreement on Development of Hydropower Resources in the Union of Myanmar’ between the two government bodies. Deputy Minister for Finance and Revenue Hla Thein Swe and Governor Li Ruogu of Export-Import Bank of China inked an MoU ‘Regarding Buyer’s Credit for Construction Projects between the Export- Import Bank of China and the Myanmar Ministry of Finance and Revenue’.

KNG, 14/03/09. http://www.kachinnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=742

Villagers in Dumgan, 14 miles north of Myitkyina, have been told by Asia World Co employees that Chinese labourers coming to work on a hydropower project there will be based in the vicinity of the village. Hundreds of Chinese engineers and workers are expected to arrive at the project site in October this year to start construction of Myitsone dam, according to sources in the company.. Several houses for Chinese engineers and camp required for 15,000 Chinese labourers are being constructed at three main places in the project site by the Asia World Company, said local eyewitnesses. [A good aerial photo of the confluence of the Mali and N’mai rivers is included with the article, which includes considerable background information from the local communities in the Myitsone area.]

KNG, 12/03/09. http://www.bnionline.net/news/kng/5966-explosives-to-be-used-on-irrawaddy-river-bed.html

Explosives are in place on the bed of the Irrawaddy river two miles below the confluence of Mali and N’Mai rivers, close to the site of the proposed dam there, according to Chinese engineers at the project site. Yesterday evening, the sound of two explosions from the project site was heard by residents of Tang Hpre, the large Kachin village at the confluence. Meanwhile, local Kachin gold miners near the river are being expelled by Burmese Army soldiers and Asia World Co, the prime contractor for the project, said local short-time workers of Asia World Co. The miners said a group of Burmese soldiers from Northern Command headquarters in Myitkyina had seized engines, tools and equipment used for gold mining operations in the Irrawaddy at the project site.

KNG, 04/03/09. http://www.bnionline.net/news/kng/5917-camps-for-15000-chinese-labourers-at-irrawaddy-river-hydropower-project.html

Labour and construction machinery camps for CPIC's Upper Kachin hydropower projects are being built close to where the confluence of the N’Maikha and Malikha forms the beginning of the Irrawadddy river. One is at a place along the Irrawaddy called Lungga Zup in Kachin where Kahpre village is situated [about 16 miles north of Myitkyina], according to residents in the project area. They said that Asia World Co Ltd owns five acres of land in Kahpre village where it has already built new labour camps. The camps are meant to accomodate 15,000 Chinese construction workers and labourers who are expected to arrive in October this year. Presently, a hundred Chinese inspectors and labourers are working at the project site day and night.

NLM, 16/11/08. http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs5/NLM2008-11-16.pdf

At a co-ordination meeting (1/2008) of the Special Projects Implementation Committee in the office of the Commander-in-Chief (Army), EPM-1 Zaw Min gave a brief account of six completed projects, 22 ongoing projects and 15 hydropower projects that call for the approval of the Committee. [Among the the fifteen are] the Yi Nan (1200 megawatts), Khaung-lanphu (2700 megawatts), Phizaw (2000 megawatts), Wuhsauk (1800 megawatts), Chiphwe (2800 megawatts), Chiphwenge (99 megawatts), and Laikzar (1900 megawatts) hydropower projects in Kachin state.

[Compiler’s note: There are significant differences in the list of projects noted above and those published in NLM on 02/01/07 and 05/05/07. It would seem that the new list reflects the results of two years of research by field teams financed by the China Power Investment Corp. As indicated in a news report of the Myanmar Times (24/03/08), a feasibility study of the proposed projects in northern Kachin state was expected to be delivered by year’s end, and the list provided by EPM-1 to the SPIC meeting would appear to be in line with what that report will recommend. Notably, the proposed outputs of several power plants including those at Khaung-lanphu, at Phizaw, at Chiphwe, at Chiphwenge and at Laikzar have been increased. The projects at Pashe and Lakin creek have disappeared, probably in favour of the one announced for Wuhsauk on the N’maikha which is somewhat to the north of the Lakin site. The location of the Yi Nan project here mentioned for the first time has yet to be identified. The revised list was still on the official books in March 2010 (ELOV015).
KNG, 11/11/08. http://bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5342&Itemid=1

About a hundred Chinese workers have arrived back in groups at camps of the Myitson dam project beside the Myitkyina-Sumprabum car road since the beginning of November, residents near the hydropower project site said. According to a source close to the camps, hundreds of labourers from villages [near the site] will be recruited for work on the project.

Violet Cho, IRROL, 19/08/08. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=13944

A 5.3 magnitude earthquake struck near the Burma-China border on 19/08/08, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). No deaths were reported. The quake was located 224 km from Dali in southwest China and 65 km from Myitkyina in Burma [and the location of the proposed 3,500-MW Myitsone dam on the upper Irrawaddy]. China’s Xinhua News Agency said the tremor destroyed buildings and about 1,200 people were forced to evacuate their homes near the epicenter, an area populated by large numbers of ethnic minorities. According to the report, “Damming the Irrawaddy,” the Myitsone dam is located less than 100 km from a fault line where the Eurasia and India tectonic plates meet. "If the Myitsone dam is built and breached by an earthquake, Myitkyina, with more than 140,000 people, will be at risk and hundreds of thousands of people in Waingmaw, Sinbo and Bhamo townships along the Irrawaddy will be under water,” said Naw Lar, co-ordinator of the Kachin Network Development Group.

KNG, 07/06/08.

http://bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4277&Itemid=6

Testing activities at the Myitsone dam site have been temporarily suspended with the onset of the monsoon season but will be stepped up when winter season arrives, according to sources close to Asia World Co.

Kyaw Thu, Myanmar Times, 24/03/08. http://mmtimes.com/no411/b002.htm

A feasibility study that will pave the way for the construction of seven mega-hydropower projects in Kachin state is expected to be finished by the end of 2008, according to an energy expert close to EPM No 1. The planned projects will theoretically produce a total of 16,500 megawatts of electricity and are expected to take 15 years to build. Experts from both countries have been conducting surveys to produce the feasibility report for the projects. The reports will likely determine whether Myanmar’s government gives the projects a green light.

NLM, 03/02/08. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/08nlm/n080203.htm

EPM No 1 Zaw Min meets with D-G Cao Baojun of China Power Investment (CPI) in Nay Pyi Taw to discuss bilateral co-operation in the production of hydropower.

Saw Yan Naing, IRROL, 29/01/08. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=10064

According to a source who recently observed the Myitsone dam site, about 20 Chinese and a handful of Burmese engineers and 300 construction works of the Asia World Co are currently working at the site of the hydropower project, 26 miles (42 km) north of Myitkyina. The workers have built shelters in the area by the site and are currently tasked with detonating dynamite underneath the Irrawaddy River to break up the rocks and create space for the dam. The project is being implemented under an agreement signed in late 2006 with the state-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) and the EPM-1. Meanwhile soldiers of LIB 121, which has been assigned to provide security at the dam site, have taken over a library building at Tanghpare village some 3 miles (5 km) away, where they are extorting money from local merchants and taking materails from the shops in the village. They are also reported to be taking vegetables, pigs and chickens from local farms. Naw La, coordinator of the Chiang Mai-based Kachin Environmental Organization, claims that more than 40 villages near the dam site will be flooded when the dam is finished.

KNG, 16/11/07. http://www.bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3015&Itemid=6

Release of four women and an elderly man arrested for opposing Myitsone dam project; had been held for two days in No. 1 Police Station in Myitkyina; arrests were related to signature campaign in Myitkyina against the Myitsone dam; detainees were interrogated by members of the Special Branch (SB) and Military Affairs Security Unit (Sa-Ya-Pha); release was conditional on a guarantee by respected persons in the community that the detainees would cease the signature campaign. The previous week anti-dam wall writings saying "No Dam Myitsone: Than Shwe killer" had been spray painted at key places in Myitkyina where there are always crowds. The wall writings were the handiwork of university students owing allegiance to the All Kachin Students Union (AKSU).

Kachin Development Networking Group, Damming the Irrawaddy, October 2007.

http://www.burmariversnetwork.org/images/stories/publications/english/dammingtheirrawaddy.pdf

A preliminary study of the Myitsone [confluence] dam (Irrawaddy Myitsone Dam Multi-purpose Water Utilizing Project, prepared by MEPE and the A&IM in 2001-02, estimated the maximum height above sea level of the dam reservoir at 290 metres (p 23). Using contours derived from a digital elevation model database of the Upper Kachin region, KDNG projects a flood zone of 766 sq km (map, p 22), inundation of 47 villages (map, p 58) and the displacement of an estimated 10,000 people, if the project proceeds as planned. Many other villages will be impacted by a reduction in available land for farming, loss of forests and an influx by those displaced by the flood in other villages. The main roads from Myitkyina north to Putao and northeast to the Chibwe area will also be cut off. The report presents valuable insights into the traditional patterns of life in the confluence area, much of which it claims will be severely disturbed or lost completely, should the dam plans go ahead (pp 25 – 32). Safety concerns involving the recent collapse of two dams in the area are cited (see below, ‘KIO promises better power supply for Kachin state). Detailed information is provided on the threatened loss of biodiversity in the Mali and N’mai river basins and on probable health risks resulting from the proposed dam scheme. Extensive gold mining along the beds and banks of both the Malikha and N’maikha in recent years has produced high levels of mercury in 22 fish species along the Irrawaddy. “Any mercury accumulated in the area will be trapped behind the [Myitsone] reservoir where it will transformed to methylmercury. When the water is released . . . millions living along the Irrawaddy throughout Burma will be affected” (pp 42-3). Two maps showing the projected flood area and the villages affected are included. Colourful photos illustrating the traditional life patterns in the area accompany the text.

Inc-Global website information, September 2007.

http://inc-global.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=41&Itemid=55

Yu Pei Geng, GM & Chief Engineer of China Power Investment Corp, addresses an international seminar in Beijing on the subject of Myanmar-China hydro-power projects, including updates and developments on the Maykha river project, the Maykha-Ayeyawady project and the Myanmar Hydropower Dept.

Mizzima, 01/08/07. http://www.mizzima.com/MizzimaNews/News/2007/Aug/01-Aug-2007.html

Kachin activists who staged a rally in New Delhi to demand a halt to a planned hydro power project involving the construction of several dams in northern Burma, claimed that at least 50,000 villagers around the dam sites will be displaced because their villages will be inundated. They said over 100 Chinese workers have already been brought into Kachin state to work on the project and that there are plans to bring in at least 40,000 labourers from China.

KNG, 28/06/07. http://www.bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1930&Itemid=6

Myitsone residents told KNG that the number of Chinese visitors has increased significantly following pre-testing activities for the Myitsone hydropower project which began last year. Recently, a group of Chinese inspectors led by Zhou Chuan-song, the Deputy Chief Engineer of the Space Surveying Company under the Changjiang (Yangtze River) Institute of Surveying, Planning, Design and Research, completed five months of inspection in Myitsone. A Chinese news story published on 30 May 2007 provides further details. http://www.cjw.com.cn/index/civilization/detail/20070530/88736.asp Compiler’s note: According to Damming the Irrawadddy (p 15), following the signing of the MoU between CPI and HPID (see lead article above), Chiangjiang teams carried out geological and hydrological surveys at the Myitsone site from Jan to May 2007. CISPDR is the largest engineering institute involved with planning, designing and supervising large-scale water conservancy and hydropower projects in the PRC. (Damming the Irrawaddy, p 19).

Kun Sam, IRROL, 22/06/07. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=7619

The Kachin Consultative Assembly (KCA) has sent a letter of complaint to Burma’s military gov’t asking it not to build a dam at the Irrawaddy confluence. The complaint followed a report in NLM on 5 May, 2007 that seven hydropower dams that would generate 13,360 MW were to be built in Kachin state. The largest of these is a 3,600-MW facility at the Irrawaddy confluence, 26 miles north of Myitkyina. According to the KCA, nine villages, including Tanghpre and nine villages in N’Jang Yang township would be flooded out if the dam is built. Tanghpare alone has 178 households and more than 1,000 residents, a primary school and a high school. The letter said the dam would destroy the lives and property of local people, damage natural resources and cause the loss of irreplaceable natural habitat. The gov’t has not responded to the letter. Compiler’s note: A translation of the letter can be found on pp 54-56 of Damming the Irrawaddy. The letter emphasizes the fact that much smaller hydropower projects would be able to provide the electricity needed for the development of Kachin state. It calls upon the Asia World Co to inform the PRC companies collaborating in the project about the “grievous impacts” resulting from the building of the Myitsone dam.

NLM, 13/06/07. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/07nlm/n070613.htm

While in Beijing, EPM-1 Zaw Min met with V-Cs Deng Zon Zi and Jin Shoar Lu of China Power Investment Corp at the hall of Grand Hotel Beijing on 07/06/07. They discussed work on the hydropower projects at the Ayeyawady confluence and Chibwe creek and future tasks to be carried out in those places.

China Power Investment Corp website information, 21/05/07.

http://eng.cpicorp.com.cn/news.do?cmd=show&id=24580

On 21 May 2007, CPI South China Branch signed a co-operation agreement on co-development of hydropower projects in the N’mai Hka River, Mali Hka River and Irrawaddy river basins in Myanmar with South China Grid Corp (CSG). The two companies have become strategic partners in the project. Compiler’s note: CSG operates in the five southern provinces of the PRC where it assumes responsibility for the construction and management of cross-regional power transmission as well as the purchase and sale of power and the financing of power projects "at home and abroad". According to the company website, there is a total installed capacity of 79,540 MW in the region with transmission lines of 229 kV and higher spanning 41,005 km and substation capacity of 138,400,000 kVA. CSG says it has been particularly active in promoting the process of Greater Mekong Sub-region power co-operation.

http://eng.csg.cn/topic.php?channelID=1&topicID=1 Without providing verification, Damming the Irrawaddy (p 11) cites a report of the Myanmar Hydropower Dept of CPI’s South China Branch which claims that Yunnan Power Grid Co, a wholly owned subsidiary of CSG, will be responsible for transmission of electric power produced by the project to the region.
NLM, 07/05/07. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/07nlm/n070507.htm

Opening of a project office for the Maykha and Malikha Valley and Confluence Region and Chibwe Creek hydropower projects, in Sitapu ward of Myitkyina. EPM No 1 Zaw Min, V-P Shi Chengliang of CPI, Project Manager Niu Xinqiang of Chiangjiang Design Institute (CISPDR), MD Tun Myint Naing of Asia World Co and an official of CPI Southern Branch participated.

KNG, 07/05/07. http://www.bnionline.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1651&Itemid=6

A Kachin Anti-Dam Committee (KADC) has been formed by four Kachin organizations -- Kachin Labour Union (KLU), All Kachin Students and Youth Union (AKSYU), Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) and the Kachin Environment Organization (KEO). KADC was formed after work started on a 65-MW hydroelectric power project on Chibwi creek in Kachin state on April 30. KADC aims to raise awareness both in Kachin state and internationally that will bring a halt to the project. It will have branch offices in Thailand and India.

NLM, 05/05/07 http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/07nlm/n070505.htm (CB)

HPID and the China Power Investment Corp (CPI) of the PRC started construction of a hydropower plant on Chebwe Creek in Kachin State on 30 April. The project, which is expected to generate 65 MW is being built to supply power for seven other hydropower projects to be built on the Maykha and Malikha (rivers) amd at the confluence of the Ayeyawady. The seven other projects include the dam at the Ayeyawady confluence (3,600 MW), a 2000-MW project in the Chibwe area, a 1,600-MW-project at Pashe, a 1,400-MW project at Lakin, a 1,500-MW project at Phizaw, a 1,700-MW project at Khaunglanphu and a 1,560-MW project at Laiza, all in Kachin state. Together the projects are expected to generate 13,360 MW. Participants in the ground breaking ceremony included Maj-Gen Ohn Myint, EPM Zaw Min and CPI V-P Shi Chengliang.

KNG, 13/04/07. http://www.kachinnews.com/read.asp?CatId=14&NewsId=158&

On 24/03/07, Myawaddy TV reported that the government plans to construct a huge hydropower project on the Ayeyawaddy river (known to locals as Mali Hka) about 25 miles north of the state capital, Myitkyina. Locals say that Asia World Co Ltd has been carrying out pre-testing activities a mile below Myitsone since 2006. Several houses have been built at the site and others are under construction at riverside, but to date there is no sign that dam construction has started, according to residents of Tang Hpre village near Myitsone. Compiler’s note: a good map of the proposed location accompanies this KNG news item.

NLM, 25/03/07. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/07nlm/n070325.htm

A 3,600-MW generator that “will generate at least 2,090 megawatts” will be installed in the power plant of the Ayeyawady Confluence hydel power project. Compiler’s note: The estimated average annual production figure of 16,634 million kWh cited in Damming the Irrawaddy (p 12) seems far closer to the mark. KNDG cites “project engineers” as the source of its estimate, but does not provide verification.

NLM, 06/11/06. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/06nlm/n061106.htm

In Nanning, EPM-1 Zaw Min meets with the V-C of China Power Investment Corp and China CAMC Engineering Co Ltd about surveying and implementation of hydel power projects at the confluence of the Ayeyawady, Maykha (N’maihka) and Malikha rivers.

NLM, 01/12/05. http://mission.itu.ch/MISSIONS/Myanmar/05nlm/n051202.htm

A Myanmar delegation led by EPM Tin Htut returns after signing an MoU between the HPD and YMEC in the PRC. Compiler’s note: Damming the Irrawaddy (p 20) cites a report in the Yunnan Daily News of 01/12/05 that the MoU signed in Kunming on 30/11/05 had to to with the “N’mai Hka Basin Development Co-operation” (www.yndaily.com.cn/en/about.htm). In the months prior to the signing of the MoU with YMEC, Suntac Technologies, a Yangon firm that specializes in digital mapping, and Kunming Hydropower Design Institute both carried carried out survey work at the Myitsone dam site apparently under contract with YMEC (Damming the Irrawaddy, p 14). Up to the present, there is nothing to indicate that YMEC is involved in the Maykha (N’mai) - Malikha valley region hydropower project of the China Power Investment Corp.

Mizzima, 11/06/04. http://www.mizzima.com/archives/news-in-2004/news-in-jun/11-jun04-19.htm

Rangoon's plan to proceed with a dam at the Irrawaddy River confluence, in spite of a letter of objection from Kachin locals, has stirred anger. On 1 February, villagers from the N’Hkai bum area submitted a letter of objection outlining the negative impacts on their communities of the project. These include damage to 5,000 houses in over 20 villages and 18,000 acres of farm land, as well as to natural resources, wild life and valuable forest products in the N‘hai bum area. Historic Christian missionary monuments will also be affected. The letter was sent to the SPDC's divisional commander, with copies to the KIO and the NDA-K. No reply was received from the authorities. A survey team from a Japanese company, Kang Seng [Kansai], visited the area twice in 2003. Compiler’s note: A translation of this letter can be found on p 57 of Damming the Irrawaddy. There are some notable discrepancies between the translated version and the Mizzima news report.

Kachin Development Networking Group, Damming the Irrawaddy, October 2007, p. 11.

http://www.burmariversnetwork.org/images/stories/publications/english/dammingtheirrawaddy.pdf

A document titled “Irrawaddy Myitsone Dam Multi-purpose Water Utilizing Project”, prepared by MEPE and the Ag & Irrig Ministry and dated February 2002, provides the initial specifications of the Myitsone dam project. According to this document, the dam would be rock-filled, with a concrete face, 152 metres high and 152 metres long. The reservoir level at full brim would be 290 metres and the power house would have an installed capacity of 3,200 MW.

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CHINA'S FIRST B.O.T. HYDRO POWER PROJECT IN MYANMAR REVS UP

Yunnan Channel (Kunming), 30/12/06. (Source: Xinhua) www.newsmekong.org/chinas_1st_hydro_bot_project_in_burma_revs_up

The Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) agreement for the Ruili (Shweli) River I hydropower station, signed in Myanmar's capital, Naypyidaw, on Dec. 30, 2006 is China's first hydropower BOT project in its neighbouring country. The agreement was signed by the Yunnan Joint Power Development Co [YUPD] and HPID of Myanmar's EPM No 1. The project owner will be Ruili (Shweli) River I Power Station Co Ltd, which was formed by the above two parties. The Yunnan company, which was formed by Yunnan Huaneng Lancang River Hydropower Co, Yunnan Power Grid Co and Yunnan Machinery Equipment (E & I) Co Ltd, is dedicated to developing hydropower resources in Myanmar and southeast Asia. Shweli River I power station will also be the company's first hydropower project outside of mainland China.
The Yunnan company which owns 80pc of the Sino-Myanmar joint-venture will be fully in charge of the project construction, operation and management. The company will run the power station for 40 years after its completion, and then transfer it to the Myanmar government. The Ruili (Shweli) River I power station is located inside Shan state in northern Burma, 90 km from China's border city of Ruili. This will be a run-of-river hydropower station, which involves no resettlement, little land inundation and environmental impact. The installed capacity is 600 MW. The actual power supply will be 174.8 MW, and the annual power output will be 4,033 GWh. The electricity will be transmitted to both Myanmar and China through 230 kV and 220 kV cables.