The recent hiring by China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) to interview forcibly relocated villagers about ways to “improve” the Myitsone/Irrawaddy dam project makes a mockery of international dam-building standards.
CPI has recently tasked the Beijing Rong Zhi Corporate Social Responsibility Institute to carry out a CSR project which plans to improve the Myitsone project, suspended since September 2011, by giving “more consideration to economic, social and environmental impacts [in] the local in the construction process, in order to make more contributions to local development.”

Anti-dam gatherings held on Chindwin and Salween Rivers in Burma

Today, on the International Day of Action for Rivers, BRN members are jointly organizing public events along two of Burma’s main rivers to oppose accelerated plans to build mega dams amidst continuing conflict in ethnic areas.   

Despite warnings from local authorities, communities along the Chindwin and Salween Rivers are gathering today to oppose dams being planned to export power to India, China and Thailand.

Plans for over twenty-five large dams in Burma are now being speeded up, including six on the headwaters of the Irrawaddy amidst ongoing warfare in Kachin State. Six dams are also proceeding on the Salween River in Shan, Karenni and Karen States, where ceasefires remain tenuous.