Concrete placement for the RCC dam is being undertaken by China’s Gezhouba Water and Power. The dam will be 134m high and have a volume of approximately 2.4M m3. Concrete placement began in February 2006 and in the first 14 months approximately 1M m3 of concrete had been placed. By late October more than 60% of the structure had been built.
The Yeywa scheme is being built on the Myitnge river and will be the biggest hydropower project in the country. All major structures and equipment for the project are being supplied by Chinese companies.
The installed capacity of the hydropower plant will be 790MW and it is to generate approximately 3550GWh annually. The plant will have four units installed, each of 195MW capacity.
Other recent hydro developments in the country include Panuglaung (280MW) and Mone (75MW). Schemes under construction besides Yeywa include Shweli (400MW) and a 7110MW, scheme called Tar-hsan (though spellings for the massive scheme have varied, to include ‘Tarhsan’, ‘Tarjan’ and ‘Ta Sang’ or ‘Tasang’) is in its early stages, involving MDX Group of Thailand as co-developer. Part of the construction work is by Gehouba Water & Power.
Last year, Myanmar signed a concession deal to develop the Shweli, or Ruili River I, hydro project. The deal was signed between the Hydropower Implementation Dept and Yunnan Joint Power Development Co.
Recently, Russian manufacturer Power Machines said its strategic joint venture with Chinese firm Zhejiang Fuchunjiang Hydropower Equipment was to deliver eight units to the Hutgi plant – seven of 170MW and one of 132MW.
India has also given a US$60M exim loan, as a line of credit, to Myanmar for the 100MW Thahtay Chaung hydropower project.
However, work at the 600MW Hatkyi project suffered a disturbance recently when a guerrilla attack was launched on worker accommodation near the project site at the Thanlwin (‘Salween’) river. The scheme was being surveyed. It is being developed jointly with the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat).
Last month, it became apparent that authorities in Bangladesh were unlikely to continue with plans to invest in hydropower projects in Myanmar over security concerns and anticipated high costs of building and maintaining plants.
In October, meetings were held with Chinese firm Dalang (Yunnan) United Hydropower Developing Co with regards to hydropower development.
