Street vendors in Rangoon work by candlelight. (PHOTO: Reuters)

RANGOON—Burma’s state-run newspapers belatedly reported on Sunday, April 8, that the electrical power supply for the whole country was being severely rationed starting from April 2.

Quoting a statement issued by the country’s Ministry of Electrical Power No. 2, the media reported that the blackouts were due to a surge in national power consumption during the summer.

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Although Myanmar’s President U Thein Sein has ordered a halt to Myitsone Hydropower Project in Kachin State, the fresh and convincing evidences  of Eleven Media Group has suggested that the employees of China’s CPI Company and Myanmar’ Asia World Company are continuing their working processes in the project area.

Myitsone Hydropower Project is located at the confluence of the N'mai and Mali rivers (Maykha and Malikha rivers) near Myitkyina Township. The project was a joint-venture between Ministry of Electric Power (1) and China Power Investment Corporation with the contribution of Asia World Company.

MYITKYINA, Burma — Environmental activists concerned that the controversial Myitsone dam project was never in fact halted say that a recently leaked document proves that construction is indeed moving ahead as previously planned.

The leaked document is a March 28 letter written by Chinese government officials to their Kachin state counterparts requesting that “500 road construction engineers” be given permission to enter Burma because “China Power Investment (CPI) is planning to restart the Myitsone Hydro-power Project”.

The letter addressed to Kachin state chief Minister Lajawn Ngan Seng, also asked that CPI be given permission to bring “1,000 tons of diesel, 200 tons of petrol, 10,000 tons of cement, 5 bulldozers, 6 excavators, 8 trucks, and 20 cars, as well as other necessary materials and goods (for rations) to enter” Burma at the Kambaiti (also spelt Kan Pai Ti) gate without having to pay import duty.
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Leaked document of Chinese border office says CPI is planning to restart Myitsone dam.
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The letter written by the chief in charge of the Tengchong-Myitkyina Road Liaison Office is according to the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) solid proof refuting President Thein Sein's September 20, 2011 announcement that project was suspended.

A leaked government document has confirmed that the controversial Myitsone dam project in Kachin state is set to reopen just six months after Thein Sein pledged to halt operations during his presidency.

In a letter dated 28 March 2012, local authorities request the importation of materials to restart the US3.6 billion dollar project, which has drawn widespread condemnation from environmental and community groups.

On March 30, 2012 local people held an anti-Myitsone dam campaign at the Shatapru Roman Catholic Church in Myitkyina. The Kachin State RC Fathers and National Hlut Thaw candidate U Je Yaw Wu gave encouragement speeches. The main objective of the event was to stop the Myitsone dam project and to stop forced relocation by acting according to the law and presenting the issue at the Hlut Thaw. Over 100 people from the Myitsone and downstream areas joined the event.

“Chen Kerui pointed to a spot less than five metres from our meeting room. ‘Part of the roof was blown off. It looked like it was homemade bombs,' he said.”
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Behind Myanmar’s suspended dam (1)
 March 28, 2012     

               
Behind Myanmar’s suspended dam (2)
 March 28, 2012                    

Lessons from the Irrawaddy
 October 10, 2011                

    
We approached the Myitsone construction site along a new concrete road, laid over the local government’s old, rough track by China Power Investment Corporation (CPI). This Chinese state-owned power company is the investor behind this multibillion-dollar hydropower scheme in northern Myanmar, also known as Burma, and its Yunnan-based staff told me I was the first reporter to be granted permission to visit.

A cascade of seven dams is planned for the Irrawaddy River, of which the Myitsone scheme – located 30 kilometres north of the Kachin state capital Myitkyina – is just one. At a total cost of 160 billion yuan (US$25 billion) and with power-generating capacity of 20 gigawatts, this string of dams is set to be China’s largest overseas hydropower investment to date. Once the dams are complete, experts say, Myanmar’s government will receive tax revenues, free electricity and shares and dividends worth US$54 billion (340 billion yuan). That’s more than Myanmar’s entire GDP for 2010, which was US$42.9 billion (270 billion yuan).

A leading member of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) has refuted allegations that the ethnic militia contacted a Chinese hydropower investor for kickbacks.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, KIA Vice Chief of Staff Gen. S. Gun Maw denied that any letter had been sent to China Power Investment Corp (CPI) requesting profit-sharing on the Myitsone Dam construction project.

An article in the Chinese edition of Bloomberg Businessweek earlier this month quoted the general manager of CPI’s Yunnan provincial branch, Li Guanghua, as saying that the KIA had requested in a letter to “hold talks to discuss the distribution of interests” at an initial stage of the project.

“After consideration, the letter was thrown into the dustbin,” Li was quoted as saying.

In another recent article, in the Chinese daily Economic Observer, Qin Hui, a historian at Beijing’s renowned Tsinghua University, also alleged that KIA and its political wing, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), had attempted to cooperate with Chinese investors on the hydropower project.

“In fact, it was the KIO that first attracted Chinese investors to the region’s hydropower potential,” Qin wrote. However, “certain Chinese companies … cast the KIO aside, causing the angry separatists to change their stance on several projects.”

Yet, Qin wrote, even though the KIO was keen to work with Chinese investors, it had always opposed the Myitsone project, comparing its symbolic position for the Kachin people to that of Mount Fuji in Japan or Mount Kumgang in North Korea.

A recent article published by the Chinese edition of Bloomberg BussinessWeek, substantiates the claims of environmental activists that a large number of workers from the firm behind the stalled Myitsone dam project remain at the construction site more than 6 months after the project was officially suspended by President Thein Sein.

According to the article by Yang Meng, of the original workforce of 2,000 that was sent to the Myitkyina area to build the dam, 200 workers from the Chinese state-owned firm leading the project China Power Investment (CPI) are still at the site. 700 million Yuan ($111m) worth of equipment also remains writes Yang, who visited the Myitsone project site in April.