Hydro-powering the Regime
(Page 2 of 4)
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Many ongoing or planned hydro-power projects whose electricity is slated for domestic use are located in central areas of Burma—mostly between Rangoon and Mandalay. For example, there are a number of dams being built—or in planning—on the Sittang River and its many tributaries. The sites include Khabaung, Pyu, Kun, Bogata, Yenwe, Thaukyegat and Shwe Gin, with the potential capacity of each site ranging from about 20MW to 160MW and the dams about 52 meters to 77 meters high.
Further upstream on another tributary of the Sittang is the Paunglaung Dam, which reportedly is near completion at 131 meters high with an estimated capacity of 280MW. The regime plans to implement two more projects nearby—Upper Paunglaung and Nancho.
Construction is proceeding at Yeywa Dam just southeast of Mandalay, also planned to be over 130 meters high with an installed capacity of 780MW. Concerns have been raised about the displacement of local residents, as well as the prospective submersion of an ancient Buddhist temple in the area. But the scale of the dams in central Burma is fairly modest when compared with planned hydro-electricity developments on the country’s borders.
The sale of electricity to neighboring countries is as important to the regime as is securing domestic power supply. The regime will get hard currency, while bordering countries will get cheap electricity free from the headache of dealing with the public debate and protests that would occur if the power projects were built at home.
Burma and Thailand are making plans to jointly develop hydro-power plants on the Salween River, which runs through eastern Shan State in Burma, and along the Thai-Burmese border. The power is to be exported to Thailand. In the early 1990s, about ten potential sites were identified through preliminary studies that were commissioned by energy authorities in Thailand and Burma and conducted by Japan’s Electric Power Development Company, or EPDC.
A feasibility study is underway for the development of two of these sites, Weigyi and Dagwin. Estimates indicate that these two export-oriented projects will, if completed, have generating capacities of 4,540MW and 792MW, with dams 168 meters and 49 meters high, respectively.
In 1997, the two governments signed a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, under which Thailand agreed to encourage the purchase of up to 1,500MW of electricity from Burma, including hydro-generated power, by 2010. There also are reports that progress is being made with respect to a hydro-power project for export at Tasang in Shan State, which would involve a 168 to 180-meter high dam and potential generation capacity of 3,300-3,600MW (recently SPDC capacity estimates for this project jumped to 7,110MW).
Japan’s EPDC has already conducted a feasibility study at the Tasang site. In December 2002 an MOU purportedly on the project was exchanged between the military regime and MDX, a Thai company. The content of the MOU has not been made public, however, and the exact status of the Tasang project is unclear.
In western Burma, just inside the Indo-Burmese border, runs the Chindwin River, where several potential dam sites have been identified that are likely to service export-oriented hydro-power plants. The sites include Thamanthi, Mawlaik, Homalin, and Shwezaye.
The Price to Pay
The World Commission on Dams has found that large dams can cause irreversible harm to the environment—tens of millions of people have been displaced around the world because of dams. It also found that large dams built to deliver hydro-power tend to perform below expectations. Some developed countries have simply stopped building large dams and have started decommissioning existing ones, while looking into alternative options for generating and saving energy. In developing countries, too, plans to build large dams are often met with strong opposition.
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The Salween River |
But Burma’s regime seems determined to repeat the mistakes of its neighbors, which have prioritized investment in large-scale energy supplies regardless of the consequences.
The political and social conditions in Burma compound the negative impact common to large dam projects in developing countries. Burma has all the factors needed to bring about the worst-case scenario.
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