| Tasang Dam |
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Dam Specifications | Companies Involved | Finance | Project Status | Impacts The Tasang Dam is the biggest of the five proposed for the Salween River. If built it will be the highest dam in Southeast Asia, taller than China’s massive Three Gorges Dam. Burma’s military regime initially signed deals with Thailand’s MDX Group for implementation of the Tasang Dam in Shan State. Amidst rumors of dissatisfaction with MDX, the China Gezhouba Group Co. won a contract for initial dam construction in early 2007. In mid-2008, Sinohydro, China Southern Power Grid Co., and China Three Gorges Project Corporation signed an agreement for the development of the Salween River Basin in Burma, mentioning the Tasang Dam in particular.  Dam Specifications Height: 228 meters Installed capacity: 7,110 MW Annual production: 35,446 Ghw Companies Involved Burmese The state-run Myanmar Electric Power Enterprise Thai MDX Group Chinese China Gezhouba Group Co. Sinohydro Corporation China Southern Power Grid Co. China Three Gorges Project Corporation British Malcolm Dunstan & Associates Finance The initial estimated cost of constructing the Tasang Dam was 6 billion USD. However the actual costs are now likely to be far higher. Income generated from the sale of the electricity generated by the dam will depend on the annual production and the buying price. A power purchase agreement has yet to be signed. Electricity – where will it go? Most of the electricity from the Ta Sang Dam is intended for sale to Thailand. Project Status - Last updated September 2008 The official ground-breaking ceremony for the dam was held in March 2007, and was hosted by China Gezhouba Group and MDX. However, since the ceremony, actual construction of the dam has been stalled, and there has been little activity at the dam-site. Those who are currently living in the dam’s floodplain have been neither been informed nor consulted about the dam plans. Residents of Mong Ton, near the Tasang site, have been informed of the dam plans, but given no opportunity to voice their concerns and no information about the negative consequences of a 7,110 MW dam. Impacts The Tasang Dam is located in the midst of active conflict in Shan State, and tens of thousands of ethnic peoples living near the dam site and floodplain have been forcibly relocated and subjected to abuses from the Burma Army.  In June 2007, the Burma Army confiscated lands in Wan Mai village of Mong Ton Township and gave them to MDX company to build an office. Approximately 400 villagers were forced to attend the ground-breaking ceremony for the dam in 2007. The dam’s floodplain will extend nearly to the China border, literally dissecting Shan State; comprehensive research of the affected population has yet to be conducted. All of the dams planned on the Salween River will greatly disrupt the riverine ecosystem and destroy the livelihoods of those peoples living along the river. Large areas of land, used by many ethnic peoples for traditional farming and medicines, will be flooded. Those living along the river will be forcibly relocated, likely without compensation. Further, large development projects in Burma bring an expanded Burma Army presence and the increased use of forced labor. Business cronies of the regime have already been clear-felling the former dense teak forests around the dam site. Villagers living downstream of Tasang will also face difficulties. Alterations in river flows will affect downstream estuaries, which will harm the agricultural and fishing practices of villagers who depend on those estuaries. For more information, please see Warning Signs For more information and updated news about the Salween Dams, please visit www.salweenwatch.org 
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© 2010 Burma Rivers Network.
