Myanmar's new government will conduct an environmental impact study of a dam on the Irrawaddy River before going ahead with the project, which has been criticized by opposition figures and environmentalists, officials said Friday, according to dpa. "We love the Irrawaddy," Information Minister Kyaw Hsan told a press conference in Naypyitaw, the capital. "We will protect the Irrawaddy just like other citizens would." The government spokesman said a downstream environmental impact study of Myitsone dam in the Kachin State will be carried out before the hydro-power plant is put into operation. Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi issued a statement Thursday night calling on the governments of Myanmar and China to reassess the 6,000-megawatt dam project due to safety and environmental concerns. "We believe that, keeping in mind the interests of both countries, both governments would wish to avoid consequences which might endanger lives and homes," Suu Kyi said. The dam is planned for an upper stretch of the Irrawaddy River, the longest in Myanmar, starting in the northern Kachin State and traversing the central plains before emptying into the rice-growing Irrawaddy delta and the Indian Ocean. Given the economic, social and environmental importance of the river, Suu Kyi appealed to the international conservationist community "to join us in a campaign to create a worldwide awareness of the dangers threatening one of the most important rivers in Asia." Construction on the estimated 3.6-billion-dollar Myitsone hydro-electric dam project began in 2009, as a joint venture between the Myanmar government and the state-owned China Power Investment. "Under the current proposal, the dam will displace up to 12,000 people from 63 villages and flood critical cultural heritage sites," said the International Rivers environmental group, adding that the project already faced "violent opposition from the local Kachin population." The Kachin are one of five ethnic minority groups that are waging insurgencies against the Myanmar army, which has ruled the country since 1962 and continues to dominate the current elected government. The project site was reportedly hit by a series of bombs in April 2010. Suu Kyi also questioned the geological safety of the project. "The presence of fault lines in the vicinity of the dams and the sheer immensity of the reservoir raises the spectre of horrendous devastation in the event of an earthquake." Suu Kyi is Myanmar's chief opposition figure, who has spent 15 of the past 21 years under house arrest. She was released from a seven-year house detention sentence on November 13. Although she has no official position, and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party has been dissolved, Suu Kyi remains a powerful political force. "Even though the NLD is an illegal party, the government has been dealing with the them patiently," Kyaw Hsan said. He said the treatment was in accordance with President Thein Sein's inaugural speech of March 30, in which he said he would work with everyone. The pro-military government's chief liaison officer, Labour Minister Aung Kyi, met with Suu Kyi Friday afternoon in Yangon. The two sides issued a joint statement to "avoid conflicts and to cooperate together." Suu Kyi is planning a "political tour" to Bogo, 50 kilometres north-east of Yangon on Sunday, despite government warnings against the trip.
