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China’s Export-Import Bank has provided financing for at least three hydro-power projects—Thapanseik, Mon Creek, and Paunglaung—and has expressed an interest in the Salween Hydro-power Project. It also has been reported that loans from China will be used to buy equipment for the Yeywa project.

Chinese companies such as China International Trust and Investment Corporation, or CITIC, and Yunnan Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation, or YMEC, have been involved in the development of many hydro-power projects, including Mone Creek in Magwe Division, Shweli, Zawgyi No 1, Zaungthu, Thapanseik, and Paunglaung. It also has been reported that China National Machinery and Equipment Import and Export Corporation, the same company that has been involved in building China’s Three Gorges Dam, has expressed an interest in working on the Weigyi and Dagwin projects.

Thailand has been working on the Weigyi and Dagwin projects on the Thai-Burmese border. The Myanmar Times recently reported that the Burmese government intends to establish two hydro-power plants to supply electricity to the industrial zones near Hpa-an and Myeik that are planned to be developed under Thailand’s Economic Cooperation Strategy, or ECS. For dam sites on the Chindwin River along the Indo-Burmese border, the regime is reportedly looking for assistance from Indian companies.

It also bears mentioning that the Asian Development Bank, or ADB, to which Japan is one of the largest financial contributors, includes the controversial Tasang site in its “Master Plan” for regional power interconnectivity, under which electricity generated by hydro-power plants in Burma, China and Laos will be consumed by Thailand and Vietnam. While not providing direct financial assistance to Burma because of the current political situation, the ADB, like the Japanese government, may be waiting for what it believes will be a more propitious time to begin assisting the regime to develop large-scale hydro-power projects.

End-game

Rangoon has been able to secure funding for the development of large-scale hydro-power in Burma, so the construction of major dams has been proceeding at an accelerated pace. If the regime’s ambitions are even partly achieved, many large dams will be built in coming years—and not just on the Salween, but on the Irrawaddy, Sittang and Chindwin rivers.

The lack of meaningful public participation in development decisions and widespread human rights abuses inflicted by Burma’s military are likely to increase the ecological and social problems commonly associated with large dams built in developing countries, while revenues from electricity exports will bolster the incumbent regime.

Yuki Akimoto is a co-ordinator of the Burma Information Network-Japan. She is also editor of a forthcoming report: “Tragedy of the Two Lands: Damming the Last Free River in Southeast Asia.”