Myitsone Dam

Myitsone Dam
Rendition of Myitsone Dam
Location of Myitsone Dam in Burma
Official name	မြစ်ဆုံ တာတမံ
Location	Kachin, Burma
Coordinates	25°41′23″N 97°31′4″E / 25.68972°N 97.51778°E / 25.68972; 97.51778Coordinates: 25°41′23″N 97°31′4″E / 25.68972°N 97.51778°E / 25.68972; 97.51778
Construction began	2009
Opening date	2017 est.
Construction cost	US$ 3.6 billion
Owner(s)	the Ministry of Electric Power No.1 of Myanmar, China Power Investment Corporation, Asia World Company Limited
Dam and spillways
Type of dam	Concrete faced rock-fill dam
Impounds	Irawaddy River(Ayeyawady River)
Height	139.6 m (458 ft)
Length	1,310 m (4,300 ft)
Reservoir
Creates	Myitsone reservoir
Total capacity	13.282 billion m3
Surface area	447 km2 (173 sq mi)
Maximum water depth	121 m (397 ft)
Power station
Installed capacity	6,000 MW (8,000,000 hp)
Annual generation	30.86 billion kWh

The Myitsone Dam (Burmese: မြစ်ဆုံ တာတမံ [mjɪʔsʰòʊɴ tàtəmàɴ]; lit. the Confluence Dam) is a large dam and hydroelectric power development project at the confluence of the Mali and N’mai rivers and the source of the Irawaddy River (Ayeyawady River) in Burma (Myanmar). The project is (as of 2017) suspended.

If the project had been completed as planned for 2017, it would have been the fifteenth largest hydroelectric power station in the world. The dam, planned to be 1,310 metres (4,300 ft) long and 139.6 metres (458 ft) high, to be built by the Upstream Ayeyawady Confluence Basin Hydropower Company, a joint venture between the China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), the Burmese Government’s Ministry of Electric Power and the Asia World Company It is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity primarily for Yunnan, China. CPI contended that China would not be the electricity's primary market and stated that Myanmar would have first claim on the electricity generated, with the remainder sold for export. Opponents remained skeptical because most Burmese are not connected to the electrical grid, and doubted whether the dam would improve their livelihood.

The dam project has been controversial in Burma due to its enormous flooding area, environmental impacts, location 60 miles from the Sagaing fault line, and uneven share of electricity output between the two countries. The Burmese public regards the Irrawaddy River as the birthplace of Burmese civilization and although the Chinese market guarantees the dam’s electricity sales, to many Burmese Myitsone represents growing Chinese influence in Burma, which they perceive as "exploitative" to the country hitherto isolated by Western economic sanctions. Even the government officials have differing opinions on the project.