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Karenni greens release report on Salween dams
Karenni Development Research Group (KDRG) today (14 March) released the report Dammed by Burma's Generals, calling on all foreign investors to stop plans to build dams on the Salween...
No.14 - 03/2006
15 March 2006
Environment
Karenni greens release report on Salween dams
Reporter: Phu Murng
Karenni Development Research Group (KDRG) today (14 March) released the report Dammed by Burma's Generals, calling on all foreign investors to stop plans to build dams on the Salween.
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Report Cover |
The report focuses on the Weigyi Dam that will be built in Karen State. If the dam is built, 26 villages and two towns in Karen and Karenni states will be submerged, and will increase human displacement due to flood, according to Moe Moe Aung a Karenni girl who represented the KDRG. The Burmese military regime and Thai government signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in December 2005 to build four dams along Salween River, the longest free flowing river in Southeast Asia. The dams at Tasang in Shan State and Hatgyi, Weigyi, and Dagwin in Karen State, together will produce 15-20, 000 megawatts of electricity that will be sold to Thailand. |
Burma’s first hydropower project began in 1960 at Lawpita falls in Kareeni State. It had caused floods in Zarmka and Mongpai in Shan State. Moreover, although the water flows from Shan State and the power pylons pass through there, local people didn’t get electricity, instead it goes to Rangoon.
"We rely on the Salween River for our livelihood: for farming, fishing, and trading. The river is our life," a villager from the Pasawng area along the Salween is quoted on the report.
Dammed by Burma's Generals can be read at www.salweenwatch.org.
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