Construction of Upper Yeywa Hydropower Project, which suffered losses of approximately 26 billion kyats due to terrorism, is being repaired

It is known that the construction of the Upper Yeywa Hydropower Project, which suffered losses of approximately 26 billion kyats due to terrorist acts, is being repaired. Due to the actions of armed terrorist groups, in June 2024, buildings at the project base camp in Chaungme town and the work camp of the Upper Yeywa Hydropower Project, along with state-owned machinery and vehicles, related parts, construction equipment, generators, equipment in the quality control office, measuring instruments at the meteorological and hydrological observation station, electrical machinery imported and installed from abroad, substations and transmission lines, transformers and related parts were stolen and destroyed. Additionally, one office building within the project base camp in Chaungme town and one staff housing unit within the work camp of the Upper Yeywa Hydropower Project were also destroyed by arson. It is known that repair and reconstruction work is currently underway at the project base camp in Chaungme town and within the Upper Yeywa Hydropower Project. It is known that due to the destructive acts of armed terrorist groups, losses of approximately 800 million kyats occurred at the project base camp in Chaungme town, and approximately 26 billion kyats in losses occurred at the Upper Yeywa Hydropower Project for buildings, civil construction materials, equipment, machinery and vehicles, substations, and transmission lines. Furthermore, to ascertain the value of the losses of electrical machinery imported and installed from abroad, detailed investigations and cost estimations are being continuously carried out in cooperation with the foreign company that contracted and entrusted the installation of said machinery and with expert engineers from the department. After the local security situation improved, mine clearance operations were first carried out at the project base camp in Chaungme town and the work camp of the Upper Yeywa Hydropower Project, in cooperation with relevant military security forces and departmental staff. The repair and reconstruction of the damaged project base camp office and staff housing buildings in Chaungme town are scheduled to be completed in the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Once electricity supply from the national grid is restored to Chaungme town, the work of reinstalling transformers and repairing transmission lines at the project base camp in Chaungme town will continue to be carried out. Similarly, at the work camp of the Upper Yeywa Hydropower Project, work on repairing and upgrading the project access roads, repairing and constructing the project briefing hall and staff housing, providing water and electricity, and repairing the construction power lines has been underway since the 2026-2027 fiscal year, and the costs for the damages will be covered by the Union budget, with repair work to continue. The Upper Yeywa Hydropower Project is located on the Duthtawadi River (Myitnge River) near Taungchi village, approximately 20 miles south of Chaungme town in Shan State (North). The Upper Yeywa Hydropower Project (280 megawatts) was implemented starting in the 2010-2011 fiscal year, and currently, 53.95 percent of the entire project has been completed. The Upper Yeywa Hydropower Project is being undertaken with the aim of completion in the 2029-2030 fiscal year. Upon completion of the entire project, it is a major project that will generate an average of 1,409 million units of electricity annually and will be able to increase electricity distribution to 3.7 million people in Myanmar, including Shan State, through the national grid. It is known that the construction work of the project is being continuously accelerated to meet the electricity needs of the public, thanks to the dedicated efforts of the Union government and the Ministry of Electricity and Energy.