State-owned China Datang Company has agreements to build two dams on the Dapein River near the China border. The construction of the Dapein 1 hydropower station was launched on December 19, 2007. It was completed and started distributing electricity in February 2011. According to Burmese media in 2006, the total cost will of the Dapein 1 hydropower station would be 108 million Yuan. According to Datang, 90% of the power from the dams will go to China.

Chinese

• China Datang Corporation
• Central China Power Grid Company
• Sinohydro
• China Water Resources and Hydropower Construction Corporation
• Central China Power International Trade Company
• Jiangxi Water Resources Planning and Design Institute

Burmese

• Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise

Burma’s Army sent in troops to secure the Dapein dam sites which further inflamed tensions with the Kachin Independence Organization and on June 9 2011 fighting broke out between the two sides. An estimated 30,000 local people have been displaced so far by the fighting. Approximately 300 Chinese workers were trapped by the fighting but were eventually able to return to China. During the fighting infrastructure of the Dapein 1 hydropower station has been destroyed and the electricity flow has been shut down.

Mega dams that fuel conflict need to be stopped until there is genuine participation of affected peoples in decisions around the management of their resources.