Report on halted Myanmar dam to be offered to president

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

YANGON, Myanmar (AA) – A Myanmar commission tasked with reviewing a Chinese state-owned company’s controversial multi-billion dollar dam project in northern Myanmar will submit its first report to President Htin Kyaw in November, state media reported Monday.

Myanmar’s president had formed commission to review and scrutinize the suspended hydropower project at the confluence of the Ayeyawaddy river basin in restive northern Kachin State ahead of State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to China last month.

The Myitsone dam project was halted by Myanmar's former president, Thein Sein, in 2011 following growing criticism from prominent statesmen in Myanmar, including then-main opposition leader Suu Kyi.

Opponents of the project -- financed and led by a state-owned Chinese company -- claim it would flood a national heritage area the size of Singapore, affect hundreds of thousands of people, and say that a vast majority of the electricity generated from the project is expected to go to China.

The Global News Light of Myanmar cited an announcement by the commission in reporting Monday that the 20-member body is still engaged in the review and scrutiny of documents related to hydropower projects at the site from different perspectives.

“The commission is striving to prepare a report of its findings, which is scheduled to be submitted to the President on 11 November this year,” the announcement said.

The commission released the announcement after a field trip to Kachin, where it conducted surveys at the Myitsone project site and met with Chinese investors and local residents Sept. 15-19.

The report will reflect the predicted impact of the projects’ implementation on the social environment and ecosystems, the sustainability of the Ayeyawaddy river and risks to its water resources.

“It will also review whether or not the projects should continue,” said the announcement.

With the coming to power of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) in late March, Beijing is hoping that Myanmar will allow the dam projects to resume.

Media reports have suggested that Myanmar has three options for the $3.6 billion project -- it can cancel the dam and be liable to the tune of $800 million in compensation, resume work on the project and earn $500 million a year in revenue on completion, or do nothing and pay $50 million in interest per year during the term of suspension.

China is Myanmar's biggest investor and biggest trading partner and during Suu Kyi’s trip to Beijing in mid-August, Chinese state media reported that she and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had agreed to enhance cooperation to find a solution to the hydropower project.