Myanmar regime to complete Kyaukphyu combined cycle power plant by May 2023

By DMG 16 Jun 2022

DMG Newsroom
16 June 2022, Kyaukphyu 

The military-led Ministry of Electricity and Energy said the construction of a combined cycle power plant near Gantgawdaw Pagoda in Arakan State’s Kyaukphyu Township is slated for completion in May 2023. 

Construction of the project began in 2020 and is now 81 percent complete. When the power plant operates, it will generate 135 MW of electricity at a rate of 8.59 cents per unit. 

“When the power plant operates in full swing, it will supply power to the National Grid. Construction of the project began in 2020 and is now 81 percent complete,” U Thein Soe, an officer from the township Electric Power Generation Enterprise, told DMG. 

The power plant will be powered by the first German-made SGT-800 Gas Turbine in Myanmar, the first of its kind in Myanmar, according to the junta-controlled newspaper Myanmar Alinn. 

During the 25 years of operation of the plant, engineers from the Electric Power Generation Enterprise (EPGE) will be brought to the plant and hand over the operational maintenance technology, the state-run newspaper said. 

Most of the ongoing projects in Kyaukphyu are not done in consultation with the locals, so it is not clear what the outcome will be for the locals, said U Phoe San, a former Arakan State assemblyman from Kyaukphyu Township. 

“The project should be made public before constructing a power plant. The locals don’t know as to whether the project will benefit them or not. We will have to wait and see what the next consequences will be,” the ex-legislator added. 

The Myanmar regime’s second in command, Vice Senior General Soe Win, visited the power plant project site on June 14.