{"id":1258,"date":"2016-05-26T03:25:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-26T03:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shanhumanrights.org\/?p=1258"},"modified":"2022-05-30T06:08:36","modified_gmt":"2022-05-30T06:08:36","slug":"open-letter-to-daw-aung-san-suu-kyi-regarding-plans-by-norways-sn-power-to-build-the-middle-yeywa-dam-on-the-namtu-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shanhumanrights.org\/?p=1258","title":{"rendered":"Open letter to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi regarding plans by Norway\u2019s SN Power to build the Middle Yeywa Dam on the Namtu River"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Date: May 26, 2016<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/header>\n
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Open letter to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi regarding plans by Norway\u2019s SN Power to build the Middle Yeywa Dam on the Namtu River<\/strong><\/section>\n
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To: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor and Foreign Minister, Naypyidaw<\/section>\n
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On March 30, 2016, we published a report \u201cSave the Namtu River\u201d raising concerns about four planned dams on the Namtu\/Myitnge River, including the 700 MW Middle Yeywa dam, planned by Norway\u2019s state-owned SN Power in Nawng Khio township of northern Shan State.<\/p>\n

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Since publishing our report, we have obtained a promotional document summarizing SN Power\u2019s pre-feasibility study for the Middle Yeywa dam, completed in June 2015 (see attached). SN Power is currently undertaking a feasibility study for the dam under an agreement with the former Ministry of Electric Power.<\/p>\n

We have serious concerns about the findings of their pre-feasibility study, which identified no significant obstacles (\u201cred flags\u201d) to the project. Our concerns are as follows:<\/p>\n

1. The study makes no mention at all of the ongoing conflict in Shan State, and how the project may impact or be impacted by this conflict. As stated in our report, the issue of natural resources is a key driver of the ethnic conflict, with ethnic forces fighting to resist unitary government control over resources in their areas, and with increased Burma Army militarization around resource extraction projects. Fighting was raging in northern Shan State even while the pre-feasibility study was being conducted, but no mention was made of this. Particularly given the recent escalation of fighting in Kyaukme township (directly east of Nawng Khio), where the Burma Army has launched a large scale offensive, with airstrikes, against Shan State Progress Party\/Shan State Army positions just north of the Upper Yeywa dam site, we regard this as an inexcusable omission.<\/p>\n

The lack of conflict sensitivity is of particular concern since SN Power is a Norwegian state-owned company, and the Norway government is a leading donor of the \u201cpeace process\u201d in Burma.<\/p>\n

2. The Initial Environmental and Social Impact Assessment only focused on the section of the river where the Middle Yeywa dam and its reservoir are planned. There is no consideration of the cumulative impacts of the cascade of five dams on the river, which is going to drastically alter the ecology of the river, and all those living along it. It is thus very misleading that the study states that a baseline for \u201call key environmental aspects<\/strong>\u201d has been established,\u201d and that the \u201cRiver and inundated not a major source of food or resource.<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

3. We dispute the findings in the study: \u201cInitial consultations with local communities and socio-economic survey complete. Good atmosphere, locals are generally positive<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to our own interviews with local villagers living near the dam site, there has been no meaningful consultation with them about the dam. They have simply been told that the dam is being planned, and have been asked to answer questions for livelihood surveys. They have not been informed about any potential negative impacts of the dam (let alone any cumulative impacts of the cascade of dams along the river), and have not been asked their opinion about the dam. To conclude that locals are \u201cgenerally positive\u201d about the dam is therefore seriously misleading.<\/p>\n

4. The study states that the proposed project site has \u201cno geological\/geotechnical restrictions.\u201d There is no mention at all of the potential earthquake risk, although the planned dam will lie directly over or very close to the Kyaukkyan fault line, along which the largest earthquake in Burma\u2019s history took place, in 1912.<\/p>\n

It is extremely worrying that even at this early stage, facts are being ignored or misrepresented by SN Power for its own purposes. We do not want the fate of our beloved river and the tens of thousands relying on it to be in the hands of such an entity.<\/p>\n

We therefore urgently reiterate the demands made in our report, as follows:
\n– To immediately halt all current dam-building plans on the Namtu, including the Upper Yeywa Dam<\/p>\n

– Only when there is a negotiated federal settlement to the ethnic conflict, bringing genuine nationwide peace and decentralized natural resource management, should options for future hydropower development along the Namtu river be considered<\/p>\n

– Any future plans for hydropower development on the Namtu River must involve a transparent strategic impact assessment along the entire river<\/p>\n

– There must be Free Prior and Informed Consent of affected indigenous communities for any future hydropower projects along the Namtu River<\/p>\n

Yours sincerely,
\nThum Ai, Shan State Farmers\u2019 Network Phone: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 +99 (0) 94-5313-2755
\nKhur Hseng, Shan Sapawa Environmental Organisation Phone: \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 +66 (0) 81-672-2031<\/p>\n

Kheun Mai, Shan Human Rights Foundation Phone: +66 (0) 94-638-6759<\/p>\n

Copies to
\n– U Pyae Myint Htun, Minister of Electric Power and Energy, Naypidaw
\n– Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) headquarters<\/p>\n

Open letter PDF files<\/strong>: Shan<\/span><\/a><\/span> Burmese<\/span><\/a><\/span> English<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

SN Power<\/strong>\u00a0Middle Yeywa Project<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Date: May 26, 2016 Open letter to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi regarding plans by Norway\u2019s SN Power to build the Middle Yeywa Dam on the Namtu River To: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, State Counsellor and Foreign Minister, Naypyidaw On March 30, 2016, we published a report \u201cSave the Namtu River\u201d raising concerns about four planned dams on the Namtu\/Myitnge River, including the 700 MW Middle Yeywa dam, planned by Norway\u2019s state-owned SN Power in Nawng Khio township of northern Shan State. Since publishing our report, we have obtained a promotional document summarizing SN Power\u2019s pre-feasibility study for the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"yes","wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[304,299,298,355],"class_list":["post-1258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates","tag-ts11","tag-ts23","tag-ts66","tag-ts70"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shanhumanrights.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shanhumanrights.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shanhumanrights.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shanhumanrights.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shanhumanrights.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shanhumanrights.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shanhumanrights.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shanhumanrights.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shanhumanrights.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shanhumanrights.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}