By Wai Moe for The Irrawaddy
The Burmese government hosted a workshop on Saturday in Naypyidaw to discuss the impact of hydropower projects on the Irrawaddy River, with ministers, NGOs and Chinese investment interests represented. However, far from being a carefully orchestrated seminar conducted by the government to sanction the controversial project, the debate turned into heated argument.
According to sources in the capital, no decision was reached on whether to suspend the Myitsone hydropower project. They said several government ministers differed on the pros and cons of the project, and that the issue may be brought before parliament.
Notably, President Thein Sein and other high-ranking ministers were seen to oppose the project.
“President U Thein Sein needs the support of more than 400 members of parliament to change the proposal,” said a senior journalist who spoke on condition of anonymity. “There are some good signals as several ministers openly aired their concerns about this project.
“The Chinese looked pretty uncomfortable at the workshop on Saturday,” he added, referring to a delegation sent by the dam’s main investor, China Power Investment Corporation (CPI).
A diplomatic source in Rangoon said shortly after the new administration came into office in March, rumors began spreading about internal conflicts between hardliners and reformists.
At the workshop, Minister for Industry-1 and Industry-2 ex-vice admiral Soe Thein, who is also Burma’s industrial development committee chairman, openly called for a review of the terms of the contract, and spoke about accountability.
He said the project has to be reviewed from a social, an economic and a defensive point of view.
“The project has to be reviewed and members of parliament must be informed,” he said. “CPI currently has control over the EIA [Environmental Impact Assessment]—this is not the right way to proceed.
“We need to seek cooperation with experts, we need to debate and review the issue for the national interest,” he said.
Burma’s state-newspapers on Sunday did not report Soe Thein’s speech at the workshop in detail.
Speaking at the workshop, Win Tun, the minister for environmental conservation and forestry, said, “If the negative impacts of the project outweigh the positive, the environmental problems could affect not only us but also future generations.”
Burma’s state media reported largely on Minister of Electric Power-1 Zaw Min who stated that even though further assessments will be made, the project will go ahead regardless.
Zaw Min also vowed he would continue working for the implementation of energy projects as per his remit within the government.
On Sept.10, he also slammed the anti-Myitsone protests as “a disease.”
Sources said an ongoing internal disagreement has evolved over Myitsone and other issues between so-called hardliners led by First Vice-president ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo alongside Information and Culture Minister ex Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, Finance Minister ex Maj-Gen Hla Tun, Upper House speaker ex Maj-Gen Khin Aung Myint, against the “reformers”: Thein Sein, Lower House speaker ex Gen Shwe Mann, Commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing and a few others.
Tin Aung Myint Oo is known to be well connected with Chinese investors and Chinese tycoons in Burma, and he has long handled foreign investments and trade in an official capacity.
On Friday in Naypyidaw, Tin Aung Myint Oo met Zhao Deyi, the president of the China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) which has a massive investment in the Yunnan to Kyaukpyu rail project.
“Vice president U Tin Aung Myint Oo may not dare to oppose the president on the issue of this hydro dam,” said an official for an environmental NGO in Rangoon. “I am sure that U Thein Sein will oppose the dam because he is a serious environmentalist.”
However, he downplayed that the internal disagreement will be threatening to the regime in Naypyidaw by saying: “It is a good strategy of the military not to act like politicians. They show splits in opinion, but they cooperate behind our backs.”
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