Synthesis of Impacts on the Affected Communities due to the Myitsone Hydropower Project and its Resettlement in Myanmar

Abstract

The Myitsone hydropower project (MHPP), possessing a capacity of 6000MW, stands as one of the foreign joint venture investment projects. If commissioned in 2019, it would have become Myanmar's largest hydropower initiative and rank as the 15th largest globally. Due to the extensive flooding area, the ramifications of MHPP's impact on 2556 households across 63 Villages, with a population of 11807 people, have been verified. The initial phase of the project was launched in December 2009, followed by the relocation and resettlement of five Villages (410 households with 2146 people) situated close to the construction sites and confluence river during May and June 2010. MHPP was anticipated to yield multiple advantages including flood control, irrigation, addressing the country's electricity needs, constructing fundamental infrastructures, boosting local economic growth, and generating revenue. However, the concerns on MHPP development and its resettlement which didn't sufficiently bolster up MHPP's sustainability, outweighed those benefits. These concerns encompassed the loss of land identity, detrimental effects of mental stress on both the affected and local populations, uncertainties surrounding the long-term livelihoods of the displaced people, negative consequences on long-term food security, loss of historical and cultural heritage sites, impacts on community-driven social movement, considerations of political security, negative influence on upstream and downstream environments and ecosystems, as well as the vulnerability of dam infrastructure to earthquake hazards. Furthermore, the study posited that the then prevailing policies and legislation governing environmentally and socially responsible hydropower development and resettlement processes were deficient. This paper amalgamates diverse credible sources to assess the scope of public concerns related to the development of MHPP and its impact on the resettlement of affected communities.