Myanmar likely to export hydropower to Bangladesh

Myanmar is likely to export hydropower to Bangladesh, deliberating to build hydropower plants in western state of the country linking the neighbor for the move.

If Bangladesh agrees, a dam will be built in Rakhine state where many rivers border the neighbor and facilitate the construction of the infrastructure, sources with the Ministry of Electric Power-1 said on Monday.

If the move is agreed between the two countries, feasibility study will be conducted on the Kaladan River, Lemro River, Sai Tin Creek and Dalet Creek which are all in the Rakhine state, the sources said.

Meanwhile, official report reaching from Bangaldesh said as an initiative of a move to bring in hydroelectricity from Myanmar to cope with the country's prevailing power shortage, an official delegation is expected to visit Yangon shortly for discussions with its Myanmar counterpart to buy electricity and implement the proposed hydropower plant.

According to Power Adviser of Bangladeshi caretaker government Tapan Chowdhury, hydroelectricity could either be imported directly from Myanmar or Bangladesh might invest in the proposed plant to generate such electricity for getting the same.

Meanwhile, a giant Myanmar-Thai joint venture hydropower project, which is the 7,110-megawatt (mw) Tar-hsan hydropower project, is being implemented on the Thanlwin River in eastern Shan state's Tachilek. The 6-billion-U.S.-dollar hydropower project, which started in last April, represents one of the two signed with Thai companies during the past two years.

The Tar-hsan project, which can produce 35.446 billion kilowatt- hours (kwh) a year, is implemented by the Myanmar Hydropower Implementation Department of the Ministry of Electric Power and the MDX Group Co Ltd of Thailand. The project also involves shares of Ratchaburi Co and Chkarnchang Co of Thailand and the China Gezhouba Water and Power Group Co Ltd.

Source: Xinhua