Mizzima News

Thailand and Singapore have upped the stakes in the quest to secure access to Burma's lucrative energy market, agreeing to a further investment into hydropower production with the ruling junta last Thursday.

According to yesterday's New Light of Myanmar, Burmese officials, on October 9, inked the latest memorandum of understanding (MoU) on hydropower projects with the Thai-based Italian-Thai Development Public Co. Ltd and the Singapore-based Windfall Energy Services Ltd of the British Virgin Islands.

The MoU, for a reported 600 megawatt hydropower project, is but the latest in a series of investments in Burma's hydropower market, as regional actors race to secure resources to meet burgeoning domestic energy needs.

The hydropower plant, to be located in Burma's southern Tanintharyi Division, will reportedly produce over 35 billion kwh annually.

Just last month, India invested in two similarly scaled projects, while Burma's second in-charge, Vice-Senior General Maung Aye, discussed the prospects of additional hydropower plants with Bangladesh counterparts in Dhaka last week.

China and South Korea, in addition to Thailand, India, Singapore and Bangladesh, have also been actively engaged in Burma's hydropower market over recent years.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Burma, said by the United States Department of State to be just under 15 billion dollars as of the close November 2007, is dominated in dollar terms by hydropower projects.

Hydropower projects represent 43 percent of FDI in Burma as of 2008, and account for twice as much as the oil and gas sector and six times the figure for hotels and tourism.

Thailand is far and away the biggest supplier of FDI to Burma, accounting for half the total. Britain, for whom the Department of State includes British territories such as the British Virgin Islands, is listed as the second biggest source of FDI to the cash-strapped Southeast Asian country, providing an infusion of some 1.9 billion dollars.

FDI in Burma is now at the highest level it has achieved since 1988.