Thai hunger for cheap energy throws lifeline to Myanmar

Searching for cheap energy, Thailand has clinched controversial hydropower deals with neighboring Myanmar and thrown the impoverished military-ruled state an economic lifeline.

Myanmar, one of the world’s poorest nations, is under a series of US and European economic sanctions imposed over the junta’s human rights abuses and the house arrest of 61-year-old democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But their effect has been weakened because neighboring China, India and Thailand are spending billions of dollars for a share of Myanmar’s vast energy resources to solve their fuel problems at home.
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MDX said its dam, the biggest in Myanmar, would be ready in 2012, with electricity capacity to be upgraded to 7,000 megawatts later.

Thailand will receive 85 percent of the electricity from the MDX hydropower dam, with the rest going to Myanmar. EGAT said it would likely get some 60 percent of electricity from its dam.

But the projects have sparked opposition from environmentalists who argue such dams could destroy the ecological system of the Salween River, home to 7,000 species of plants and 80 rare or endangered animals and fish.

“The Salween River is one of the most pristine and unique rivers in Southeast Asia. If they build dams, it’s going to be a huge ecological impact on the river,” said Thai Greenpeace activist Tara Buakamsri.

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