China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), the major investor in the suspended US $3.6 billion Myitsone dam project in Burma, has reportedly embarked on a public relations campaign in Kachin State in the hope of restarting the project in the near future.

On Thursday, media groups inside Burma reported that over the past two weeks, CPI employees have been distributing pamphlets extolling the benefits of the megadam project to locals in Aung Myaytha and Mali Yang villages in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State.

A villager in the area was quoted in the report as saying that “the pamphlets said that the Myitsone project will benefit the local residents and it will not have any negative impact because it will be constructed in a very systematic way.”

The report comes five months after Burmese President Thein Sein made the historical decision to suspend the project until at least 2016 when his presidential term expire. He cited environment concerns and public criticism; pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was among the many public voices calling for the dam's suspension.

The decision to abort the multimillion-dollar hydropower project angered the Chinese government which called for “friendly” consultations with Naypyidaw to resolve the matter while insisting that “the Myitsone hydropower plant is a China-Myanmar joint-investment project which has gone through scientific feasibility studies and strict examinations by both sides.”

A 6000-megawatt dam project planned for construction at the confluence of Burma's largest river, the Irrawaddy, the Myitsone dam is part of a seven-cascade dam project mainly financed and built by Chinese state-owned companies. Much of the electricity it was to generate was scheduled to be exported to China.

Many assumed that the construction of six smaller hydro-dam projects in Kachin State were also halted along with Myitsone dam closure in September.

But the latest reports indicate that construction is ongoing at those smaller dam projects. Sources have also reported that CPI officials have visited the dam sites last month when they conducted meetings with local officials aimed at implementing the projects.

Several observers in Kachin State say they believe that CPI and the Chinese investors are still intent on realizing this project despite the popular concerns within Burma.

Earlier in January, Chinese energy lobbyist Zhang Boting published an essay stating that the Myitsone dam construction will contribute to poverty alleviation efforts in Burma. The essay was published on the website of the Chinese government’s most authoritative mouthpiece, The People’s Daily.

Zhang is the deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Hydropower Engineering Association in charge of international projects.

CPI also published an essay recently on its website, describing as objective Suu Kyi's criticism of the ecological problems of the Myitsone dam project, but saying that the Burmese democracy icon “is not a professional ... and so cannot comprehensively and accurately evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of construction of hydropower projects and dams.”

Patrick Boehler contributed to this report.