Myanmar junta revives plans for China-backed mega-dam

Sub: Geography

Sec: Mapping

Tags: Myitsone dam, Myanmar junta revives plans for China-backed mega-dam

Context:

Myanmar’s junta has revived plans for a $3.6 billion Chinese-backed dam in the north of the country that was suspended more than 10 years ago following huge public opposition.

Details:

Myanmar is a vital piece of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Xi’s flagship $1 trillion project that includes maritime, rail and road projects in Asia, Africa and Europe.
Last year an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups seized swathes of territory in Shan state along the border with China’s Yunnan province.

Myitsone dam:

The project to build the 6,000-megawatt Myitsone dam in northern Kachin state was ended in 2011 under a previous junta.
The dam will be built on the Ayeyarwady River.
It would have exported around 90% of the power it generated to China.
A World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report in 2018 estimated that some 34 million people in Myanmar live in the Ayeyarwady basin, roughly two-thirds of the country’s population.
Animals potentially impacted due to dam construction include the endangered Irrawaddy dolphin and the critically endangered Ganges shark.

Ayeyarwady River:

The geographical source: Ridong Qu headwaters, southeast Tibet, China.
The Irrawaddy River (official Romanisation: Ayeyarwady) is the largest river in Myanmar.
Originating from the confluence of the N’mai and Mali rivers, it flows from north to south before emptying through the Irrawaddy Delta in the Ayeyarwady Region into the Andaman Sea.
Tributaries:
- Left: Chindwin River, Mu River
- Right: Myitnge