Salween Hydro Projects

[GWR]

Here's the official Myanmar Junta line on yesterday's attack:

New Light of Myanmar

KNU terrorist insurgents fire artillery at Hatkyi Hydropower Survey Project, killing one Thai worker

Nay Pyi Taw, 3 Sept�KNU terrorist insurgents are perpetrating a string of atrocities to jeopardize stability of the State, community peace and tranquillity and prevalence of law and order. In the meantime, they are undermining nation-building endeavours being carried out by the government.

At 7.15 pm on 2 September, a group of KNU fired heavy weapons at Malaryu in Hlaingbwe Township, Kayin State, where 13 Thai nationals who are engaged in the Hatkyi Hydropower Survey Project and one interpreter are accommodated. Consequently, a shell of the heavy weapons landed on the site and exploded, leaving Mr Smarn, 54, a Thai national, dead.

Despite shouting for serving the interest of Kayin State, the KNU are undermining national development tasks, collecting extortion money in the villages, doing forced recruitment, planting bombs, committing robbery and forcibly getting villagers to move to refugee camps in the border.

The local Tatmadaw column are in hot pursuit of the KNU terrorist insurgents.

View from the Thai side:
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/forum/showpost.php?p=16852&postcount=32

Related thread on the increasing regional competition for Myanmar power gen:
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/forum/showpost.php?p=18273&postcount=82

[GWR]

Chinese firm takes 51pc of Tasang hydropower project
By Kyaw Thu

A CHINESE energy firm has picked up a 51 percent stake in the US$6-billion Tasang hydropower project planned for the Thanlwin River, an official from the Ministry of Electric Power 1 said on November 13.

China Gezhouba Water and Power Group Co., Ltd took up the majority holding earlier this month after Thailand’s MDX Group Co., Ltd told the Myanmar government it needed to reduce its stake due to financial difficulties, the official said.

The design of the 7110-megawatt plant in eastern Shan State, which is scheduled for completion in 2022 and represents the single largest investment ever in Myanmar, has not be changed, the official said.

Under the new arrangement, MDX Group holds a 24pc stake and Myanmar’s Department of Hydropower Implementation holds a 25pc stake, he said, adding that the Minister of Electric Power 1, Colonel Zaw Min, informed Thai ambassador Bansarn Bunnang of the change on November 8 in Nay Pyi Taw.

“(MDX Group) have been implementing the project for a decade but there has been no significant progress so far. So the government handed it over to the Chinese consortium,” the official said in a telephone interview.

He added that the government had been annoyed at the slow pace of development and had decided to diversify the stake holdings because it was less confident about MDX Group’s ability to proceed with the project.

A Yangon-based representative of MDX Group, U Win Moe, told The Myanmar Times last month that the Thai company was not facing any financial difficulties and had halted work at the Tasang site due to challenges posed by the wet season. Work at the site, some 75 kilometres from the Thai border, had since resumed, he said.

U Win Moe was unavailable for comment last week.

MDX signed a joint venture agreement with the Department of Hydroelectric Power in April 2006 to develop the project. The department was broken into three new departments the following month when the Ministry of Electric Power was split in two.

Work on the Tasang project started on March 30 this year. The dam across the Thanlwin – currently the longest free-running river in Southeast Asia – is to be 868 metres long and 227 metres high.

“On completion, generators to be equipped at the power station will have a total capacity of 7110 megawatts and the project is expected to produce 35,446 million (kilowatts per hour) yearly,” The New Light of Myanmar said shortly after work began.

Thailand had been expected to purchase most of the electricity generated by the plant, although it is now uncertain who the buyer will be, the ministry official said last week.

Officials have said construction would take place over 15 years and create 15,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Electric Power 1 officials were due to discuss the Hutgyi power project with its stakeholders in Nay Pyi Taw on November 16.

The Hutgyi dam is a $1-billion, 1200mw project planned for the Thanlwin River downstream from the Tasang in Kayin State. It is a joint venture project involving the Ministry of Electric Power 1, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and China’s Sinohydro Corp.

http://www.mmtimes.com/no393/b004.htm

Related thread on a looming regional energy 'war', which makes mention of Thai problems with the Tasang Hydro Project:
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/forum/showthread.php?t=2473