Salween dam construction begins
Burma and Thailand have begun building a controversial hydropower dam on the Salween River, the as yet longest undammed waterway in Southeast Asia, official media reported yesterday.
Thailand's MDX Group has invested about US$6 billion (Bt210 billion) in the Tasang project in eastern Shan state, which is the biggest of four planned dams on the Salween.The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said construction began on March 30 - a move likely to dismay environmentalists, who had called for a delay to allow public consultation on the project. Activists say the dams could prove disastrous to Salween's delicate ecosystem and accuse Burma's military junta of using the dams as an excuse to evict thousands of ethnic minority villagers from their land. The New Light of Myanmar said the dam, located about 75 kilometres from the Thai border in Shan state, would be 868 metres long and 227m high. "On completion, generators to be equipped at the power station will have a total capacity of 7,110 megawatts and the project is expected to produce 35,446 million (kilowatts per hour) yearly," the newspaper said. Senior officials from Burma's state-run energy firms and MDX Group attended an official opening ceremony. Three more dams on the Salween near the Thai-Burmese border are in the pipeline, mostly backed by Chinese state-owned energy companies. Energy-hungry neighbours like Thailand, China and India are keen to exploit the country's abundant natural resources - including energy, natural gas and timber - throwing a lifeline to the junta, which is faced with US and European economic sanctions. Agence France-Presse
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