A CHINESE energy firm has picked up a 51 percent stake in the US$6-billion Tasang hydropower project planned for the Thanlwin River, an official from the Ministry of Electric Power 1 said on November 13.

China Gezhouba Water and Power Group Co., Ltd took up the majority holding earlier this month after Thailand’s MDX Group Co., Ltd told the Myanmar government it needed to reduce its stake due to financial difficulties, the official said.

The design of the 7110-megawatt plant in eastern Shan State, which is scheduled for completion in 2022 and represents the single largest investment ever in Myanmar, has not be changed, the official said.

Under the new arrangement, MDX Group holds a 24pc stake and Myanmar’s Department of Hydropower Implementation holds a 25pc stake, he said, adding that the Minister of Electric Power 1, Colonel Zaw Min, informed Thai ambassador Bansarn Bunnang of the change on November 8 in Nay Pyi Taw.

“(MDX Group) have been implementing the project for a decade but there has been no significant progress so far. So the government handed it over to the Chinese consortium,” the official said in a telephone interview.

He added that the government had been annoyed at the slow pace of development and had decided to diversify the stake holdings because it was less confident about MDX Group’s ability to proceed with the project.

A Yangon-based representative of MDX Group, U Win Moe, told The Myanmar Times last month that the Thai company was not facing any financial difficulties and had halted work at the Tasang site due to challenges posed by the wet season. Work at the site, some 75 kilometres from the Thai border, had since resumed, he said.

U Win Moe was unavailable for comment last week.

MDX signed a joint venture agreement with the Department of Hydroelectric Power in April 2006 to develop the project. The department was broken into three new departments the following month when the Ministry of Electric Power was split in two.

Work on the Tasang project started on March 30 this year. The dam across the Thanlwin – currently the longest free-running river in Southeast Asia – is to be 868 metres long and 227 metres high.

“On completion, generators to be equipped at the power station will have a total capacity of 7110 megawatts and the project is expected to produce 35,446 million (kilowatts per hour) yearly,” The New Light of Myanmar said shortly after work began.

Thailand had been expected to purchase most of the electricity generated by the plant, although it is now uncertain who the buyer will be, the ministry official said last week.

Officials have said construction would take place over 15 years and create 15,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, Ministry of Electric Power 1 officials were due to discuss the Hutgyi power project with its stakeholders in Nay Pyi Taw on November 16.

The Hutgyi dam is a $1-billion, 1200mw project planned for the Thanlwin River downstream from the Tasang in Kayin State. It is a joint venture project involving the Ministry of Electric Power 1, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand and China’s Sinohydro Corp.