Irrawaddy

 
Thailand’s state-monopoly electricity producer EGAT is suspending power plant projects in neighboring countries, including the Hatgyi hydropower dam on the Salween River in Burma.

EGAT—the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand—says the suspensions are due to falling demand for electricity, in part caused by the global economic slump which has severely damaged the country’s export industries.

The Hatgyi hydro dam in Karen State is a big project, aiming to have a massive installed generating capacity of 1,200 megawatts, but it is highly controversial because it would force many local people to relocate and could cause environmental problems downstream.

EGAT’s partners at Hatgyi are the Burmese state-owned Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise and the Chinese government-owned Sinohydro Corporation.

The project has already been beset with delays.

EGAT said this week it would also suspend a smaller but equally contentious hydroelectric project in Laos, the 440-megawatt Nam Ngiep hydropower plant.