2010-03-15

From March 3 to 13, HydroChina ZhongNan Hutgyi PMO, SinoHydro International Engineering Co., Ltd., SinoHydro Foundation Engineering Co., Ltd., Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT), and Myanmar IGE Co., Ltd. jointly carried out a field survey for Hutgyi Hydropower Project in Myanmar.

Shan Herald Agency for News

The Burmese military junta has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Chinese officials to build two more hydropower plants in Shan State North during the visit of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping to Naypyitaw in last December 2009, according to a report from the China-Salween, an Environment group that focuses on hydropower developments along the Salween (Thanlwin) river and its tributaries.

The Nu is one of only two major rivers in China yet to be dammed. But that may not last.

 QIUNATONG, China — On a drizzling afternoon in this village in northwest Yunnan province, a Chinese New Year party is underway at He Bao Shang’s earth-walled home.

The Irrawaddy
Chinese admissions about the extent of a severe drought in its southwest Yunnan Province bordering Burma coincide with an announcement that a Chinese-led consortium is beginning work a huge hydroelectric dam on the Salween River.

Dams built on major rivers running through Yunnan are being blamed for contributing to the current drought and the lowest water levels along the Mekong River for many years.

Three state-owned Chinese firms will work on the US $9 billion 7,100 megawatt capacity dam at Tasang on the Salween, confirmed the Chinese State Asset Supervision and Administration Commission.

The firms are China Three Gorges Corporation, Sinohydro Corporation and China Southern Power Grid.

The inclusion of China Southern Power Grid indicates that China is aiming to develop an infrastructure to transmit most of the electricity generated from the project into Yunnan.

Three Gorges Corporation manages one of the world's biggest hydroelectric projects, of the same name, on the River Yangtze in China—and is blamed for major environmental problems.

Burma has virtually no electricity grid outside of a narrow corridor between Rangoon and Mandalay and its generating capacity is barely 25 percent of the planned Tasang's capacity.

The Tasang dam is going ahead despite warnings from environmentalists that it will be ecologically damaging for Burma—and could lead to water shortages downstream.

China's central government has ordered a halt to some hydro dam project in Yunnan because of ecological concerns.

“Our neighbors' governments … should follow their own standards in Burma as well,” said the NGO Burma Rivers Network.

Shan Herald Agency for News

Bangkok Post
People living along the Mekong River want the government to scrap its plans to build dams, to help safeguard the river from further exploitation.

"Experience and scientific evidence show there is no way to heal environmental and social damage caused by mega-dams," the Mekong People Network said in a statement yesterday to mark International Day of Action for Rivers.