Rangoon brightens up

Reporter: Chai Sayam
Believe it or not, Rangoon, for the first time in decades, has been getting 24-hour elecriticity since 28 June and has so far yet to let the residents down, according to sources coming to the border.

The reason for their exhilaration is the underground hydropower plant on the Panunglaung, near the Burma Army's new command center in Pyinmana, that has begun functioning since the opening of the monsoons.

The plant's construction was completed in March, but the shortfall of water in the Paunglaung had left it idle for three months. "We don't know what will happen when the dry season return," worried a visitor nevertheless.

Another resident chooses to be hopeful. "this is the first time in my long life the generals have made me happy," he says. "I hope they learn from this experience that being a government is to be responsible for the people's happiness."

Previously, the Mobye (Mongpai in Shan) hydropower plant in Shan State had been the sole power supplier to Rangoonians.