Myanmar is one of the most energy and resource-rich countries in Southeast Asia. Yet, it remains one of the region's poorest with one in four people living below the national poverty line.According to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), a major limiting factor to Myanmar's development is its poor energy infrastructure. Statistics prepared by the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar show that approximately two thirds of the population lacked reliable access to electricity in 2019.
The Myanmar government acknowledges that major reforms in its energy sector is the way forward for sustaining economic growth and development. Part of the solution to Myanmar's energy sector reforms includes harnessing the nation's immense hydropower potential. An assessment of Myanmar's energy sector by the ADB in 2012 found that the nation's hydropower potential exceeded 100,000MW, of which only 5% was being harnessed as at 2018.
Capitalising on Myanmar's hydropower potential requires the construction of large dams. However, the construction of such major infrastructure projects often requires the displacement of communities to make way for these projects. Unfortunately, displacement outcomes often leave affected communities marginalised and impoverished.
The Myitsone Dam: A case study
In 2006, the Myanmar Ministry of Electric Power and the China Power Investment Corporation (CPIC) signed a memorandum of understanding to construct the Myitsone Dam. The dam was to be constructed at a height of 152 metres (with a reservoir capacity as large as 766 km2) and estimated to produce 6000MW, dwarfing the almost 200 hydropower dams that have been built up to date in the nation.
The USD$3.6B mega dam was to be funded by the CPIC in an arrangement where 90% of the electricity generated by the dam was to be exported to China's Yunnan Province in exchange for USD$500M per annum. The Myitsone Dam was widely unpopular amongst the public, not least because of the conviction that affected communities would fail to benefit from the revenue generated.
In 2011, the Myanmar government embarked on major political reforms towards democracy with key actions including a newly elected democratic government and the lifting of media and information censorship. This development empowered actors in the public sphere to openly resist the dam’s construction which manifested in national level public protests and an increased prevalence of anti-dam sentiments shared on social media and news platforms. Ceding to intense public pressures, the new government suspended the Myitsone Dam construction in September 2011. However, for the affected communities, this action was too little too late as pre-construction works in 2009 necessitated the displacement of approximately 12,000 people.
Whilst displaced locals have been provided compensation packages, much of their livelihoods have been stripped away. The displaced no longer had access to land and water resources previously relied upon and they lacked the skills to generate income through alternative means.
What went wrong?
There is a myriad of factors that led to the marginalisation and impoverishment outcomes of those displaced by the Myitsone Dam.
Firstly, the Myanmar Government lacked the analytical capacity to scrutinise the detrimental impact of the Myitsone Dam on the internally displaced population and environmental sustainability. In fact, at the time of the construction of the Myitsone Dam, the Myanmar Government had no stringent requirements nor standards for environmental impact assessments for hydropower projects.
Secondly, limited funding was allocated to facilitate the resettlement process for the displaced population. A proposed ‘rule of thumb’ has been to allocate 10% of project costs to addressing environmental and social impacts arising from dam construction. Whilst the Myitsone Dam had an estimated projected total cost of USD$3.6B, a corporate social responsibility report released by authorities from the CPIC indicated that investment on environmental sustainability and resettlement efforts were approximately USD$60M.
Thirdly, authorities failed to engage with local stakeholders to obtain their perspectives on how the Myitsone Dam project would affect their livelihoods. As a result, little consideration was given to how to support the displaced in sustaining a livelihood in their new area of relocation.
All too often, the needs of those displaced are overlooked in governments’ attempts to progress economic development. These factors provide lessons to be learned to mitigate the unfavourable outcomes on the displaced.
For a more in-depth review of the issues, read the case study Dams and the Displaced: Lessons from the Myitsone Dam in Myanmar written by Bernard Minn, which was awarded a Merit Prize in the Case Writing Competition 2019/20 at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
Access more Case Studies from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.
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