ASEAN-China Expo rekindles hopes for hydropower project (2)

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CLEAR UP MISUNDERSTANDINGS

Guo said that the project was originally pushed ahead by the Myanmar government to ease power shortages, as three-quarters of Myanmar people have no electricity access and only 2.5 percent of the country's hydropower resources have been developed, far below the world average of 70 percent.

Guo said that the longer the suspension lasts, the heavier losses will be on both sides, and Myanmar's future development may be seriously impeded.

A feasible way to break the ice is to clear up misunderstandings among the public, he noted.

"Some local people feel it is unacceptable to see 90 percent of electricity produced exported to China. The truth is that Myanmar will not be able to consume the station's annual energy output of 110 billion kilowatts of electricity upon the completion of the seven stations. China's imports actually guarantee its sales," said Guo.

According to the agreement, about 60.7 percent of the return on investment will go to Myanmar, including free supply of 10 percent of electricity produced and 15 percent of the joint venture's free equities and tax revenue. The remaining 39.3 percent would belong to China, he explained.

After China's 50-year concession rights expire, Myanmar can secure the station's assets and operating revenue for another 50 years, Guo said.

As for local people's ecological concerns, He said that more than 100 experts from Myanmar and China had conducted a joint environmental impact assessment for the project, which shows that dam construction will not affect bio-diversity and leave only 1.4 percent of watershed land area submerged.

Dam construction is actually conducive to preventing flooding and sea water from flowing back into the watershed, he said.

Guo also refuted concerns over the dam's earthquake resistance and flood control capability.

The Myitsone dam's earthquake resistance would be much stronger than that of the Zipingba Hydropower Station in Sichuan, southwest China, which withstood the devastating Wenchuan Earthquake of 2008, he said.

The dam is also designed to withstand floods so intense they only happen every 1,000 years, he said.

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