The chief minister of northern Myanmar’s Kachin state toured the site of the controversial Myitsone Dam on Wednesday, five days after the central government set up a commission to scrutinize the Chinese-backed project and other hydropower sites.
Chief Minister Khet Aung met with officials from the State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC), formerly called China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), which is building the dam, to discuss the hydropower project.
Construction work on the dam has been temporarily suspended for the past five years.
Former Kachin state advocate-general Mary Minan, state minister Nay Win, and state minister of electric power Win Nyunt, who are also commission members, accompanied Khet Aung.
“They [SPIC] said they will build a road and a park on the bank of Irrawaddy River and make this area beautiful,” said Naw Jar, administrator of Aung Myin Tha village located seven miles from where the hydropower project is being built.
Residents of more than four villages were forced to move to Aung Myin Tha in 2010 to make way for the project.
On Aug. 12, President Htin Kyaw set up a 20-member commission, including Khet Aung, to review dam projects along the Irrawaddy River and submit a report to him in November.
Fervent opposition
Khet Aung’s visit to the hydropower construction site comes as State Counselor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi begins a five-day trip to China where she is meeting with President Xi Jinping and other top officials to discuss bilateral relations and issues of interest to both countries, including the Myitsone Dam.
In 2011, former president Thein Sein stopped CPI, one of China’s largest state-owned electricity producers, from continuing to build the 6,000-megawatt, $3.6-billion dam amid fervent opposition from locals.
Myanmar citizens have opposed it because of its predicted environmental impact, huge flooding area, dislocation of people living nearby, proximity to a geographical fault line, and unequal share of electricity output for Myanmar.
Under the investment deal, about 90 percent of the electricity produced by the dam would go to southern China’s Yunnan province.
Civil society groups in Kachin state and local residents displaced by the dam’s construction are preparing to resume protests against the Myitsone Dam amid concerns that Aung San Suu Kyi may agree to resume the project during her visit to China, the Myanmar Times reported.
Reported by Kyaw Myo Min for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Reported in English by Roseanne Gerin.