Myanmar's new government aims to complete within roughly eight years a contentious $3.6 billion dam project at Myitsone in northern Kachin state, said two sources with knowledge of comments by Khet Htein Nan, who leads the state administration.
The comments came after junta chief turned president Min Aung Hlaing returned from a visit last month to China, which has long sought to build the massive hydropower project in the northernmost province of the war-torn country.
"It will begin shortly," Htet Paing Htoo, a member of the Kachin State parliament, told Reuters regarding construction work suspended in 2011 after rare public outrage over a hydropower project that would have been Myanmar's largest.
"An official announcement will be released. The president himself has already stated that it will be restarted."
The halt angered China, but resentment at its deep influence in Myanmar and environmental concerns about flooding an area roughly the size of Singapore prevailed over plans to export 90% of the 6 gigawatts of generated power to the giant neighbour.
That capacity would rank Myitsone among Southeast Asia's largest hydropower projects, though still dwarfed by the likes of China's Three Gorges Dam, with installed capacity of 22.5 GW.
Project resumption figured in talks during Min Aung Hlaing's China visit, a spokeswoman for the presidential office told reporters, adding it could provide more than half the 10 GW of power required by a country woefully short of electricity.
The government is weighing concerns over flooding and displacement voiced by local communities, said the spokeswoman, Khaing Khaing Soe.
"We are analysing these matters in detail, evaluating the extent of the benefits versus the negative impacts, to strike a balance," she said on Tuesday.
Khet Htein Nan's office and China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources sought anonymity as the discussions led by Khet Htein Nan were private.
-Reuters
The comments came after junta chief turned president Min Aung Hlaing returned from a visit last month to China, which has long sought to build the massive hydropower project in the northernmost province of the war-torn country.
"It will begin shortly," Htet Paing Htoo, a member of the Kachin State parliament, told Reuters regarding construction work suspended in 2011 after rare public outrage over a hydropower project that would have been Myanmar's largest.
"An official announcement will be released. The president himself has already stated that it will be restarted."
The halt angered China, but resentment at its deep influence in Myanmar and environmental concerns about flooding an area roughly the size of Singapore prevailed over plans to export 90% of the 6 gigawatts of generated power to the giant neighbour.
That capacity would rank Myitsone among Southeast Asia's largest hydropower projects, though still dwarfed by the likes of China's Three Gorges Dam, with installed capacity of 22.5 GW.
Project resumption figured in talks during Min Aung Hlaing's China visit, a spokeswoman for the presidential office told reporters, adding it could provide more than half the 10 GW of power required by a country woefully short of electricity.
The government is weighing concerns over flooding and displacement voiced by local communities, said the spokeswoman, Khaing Khaing Soe.
"We are analysing these matters in detail, evaluating the extent of the benefits versus the negative impacts, to strike a balance," she said on Tuesday.
Khet Htein Nan's office and China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The two sources sought anonymity as the discussions led by Khet Htein Nan were private.
-Reuters
