CPI has the lion’s share of Myanmar’s controversial Myitsone project

China Power Investment (CPI) owns most of the shares in Myanmar’s Myitsone dam project on the Ayeyawady River in Myitkyina, Kachin State, according to the project figures released on Thursday.

The Upstream Ayeyawady Confluence Basin Hydropower Co Ltd (ACHC), which released the project data, said CPI has 80 percent of the shares in the project which President Thein Sein suspended in 2011, while the Myanmar government’s Ministry of Electric Power owns 15 percent shares with no plan for further investment, while the local Asia World Company five percent with cash-down payment. The project is allowed to run for 50 years before the full ownership is transfer to the government, according to the project figures.

The National Trade Committee permitted a registration for ACHC in June, 2010 to implement eight hydropower projects in Maykha and Malikha rivers and Myanmar’s lifeblood Ayeyawady River with an investment of US$ 20 billion.

The data show that the project will be handed over to the Myanmar government free of charge after 50 years. Myanmar will earn US$54 billion during the project period and 160 billion later on.

We will spend US$1.2 billion on the Myitsone project. The resumption of the project depends on the desire of the Myanmar people, including locals,” said Li Guanghua, general manager of ACHC.

Environmental experts say the Myitsone project and construction of dams on Maykha and Malikha have caused changes in river courses.

As well-known geophysicist, Professor Maung Maung Aye, said that the area of Myanmar’s delta region loses 13 square kilometres annually due to decreasing sediment and increasing erosion in the Ayeyawady River.

There are many disturbances in the upstream river. We cannot consider the main river alone. But we must also consider its tributaries and the Chindwin River. There is no large dam on the main river while there are dams on the tributaries of the Ayeyawady River. That can affect the natural process,” said Maung Maung Aye.

He also pointed out considering some plans to prevent environmental impacts as businesses with foreign investment increase in the Ayeyawady basin after Myanmar initiated market economy in the 1990s.

The sediment rate of the Ayeyawady River from Myitsone (confluence) to Mandalay is 32 million tons on average. The sediment rate from Mandalay to Hinthada in Ayeyawady Region is about 120 million tons.

source: Eleven Myanmar

http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/politics/4585-cpi-has-the-lion-s-share-of-myanmar-s-controversial-myitsone-project