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Push to build hydro projects in Burma

Magazine slams bid, claims communities moved at gunpoint

By Achara Ashayagachat    Bangkok Post  Sunday 15 August 2004

Thailand's future as a hub of foreign direct investment (FDI) depends on having a stable electricity supply and therefore it must cooperate with China and Japan to construct hydro power plants in Burma, said Thailand's ambassador to Rangoon.

Suphot Dhirakaosal was echoing Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's statement to his Burmese counterpart Gen Khin Nyunt last month at the Bimstec summit, that Thailand was interested in developing hydroelectrical energy in Burma.

''We now have an abundant supply of energy, but we must have a stable energy supply for further FDI expansion. Hydro power development in neighbouring Burma is the cheapest investment that Thailand can share with countries like China, Japan and South Korea,'' Mr Suphot said.

While recognising the Burmese government has to compensate people living along affected rivers and prepare them for changes in their way of life, the Thai ambassador insisted that neither Rangoon nor Bangkok could waste time.

''They need development, so Thailand as strategic partner with Burma, should cooperate closely with Rangoon to bring about modernisation and economic prosperity in the country for mutual benefit.''

Mr Suphot said Thai and Chinese officials were exploring possibilities in investing in hydroelectric power plants along the Thai-Burmese and Chinese-Burmese borders.

Those projects would have much higher output, 30-50 times greater than Bhumibol dam, and should be more than adequate to guarantee Thailand's future economic development, he said.

He declined to discuss a memorandum of understanding that a Thai firm, MDX, signed with Burma in December 2002 to develop a 3,000-4,000 megawatt dam.

According to the online Irrawaddy magazine, Gen Than Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), has called for more dams, raising concern among environmentalists and human rights activists.

Burma's major rivers, the Irrawaddy, Chindwin, Sittang and Salween, running roughly north-south, are used for crop irrigation, communication and transport for more than 12 million people from some 13 ethnic groups. Building dams along these rivers or on border areas would adversely affect peoples' lives and the rich eco-system of the entire region, the magazine said.

Hydro power accounts for about one-third of Burma's electricity production (1,500 megawatts). The SPDC would like to build several dozen additional hydro power projects, adding more than 25,000 megawatts of capacity.

A feasibility study is under way for the development of two sites, Weigyi and Dagwin. Estimates indicate these export-oriented projects would have generating capacities of 4,540 megawatts and 792 megawatts, with dams 168 metres and 49 metres high, respectively.

Sites are identified and studied without consultation with surrounding communities, the magazine said, and troops are brought in to secure the area, people are ordered to move at gunpoint and villagers are used as forced unpaid labourers.

 
 

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