You’ll be forgiven if you’re skeptical about the latest pledge from Yangon’s electricity minister: she has said there will be no power cuts in the city this hot season.
Any resident who has been tormented by mosquitoes while sweating in pitch darkness knows that city authorities have always struggled to keep the juice flowing around
the clock, especially as temperatures rise and aircon units hum into action.
But Daw Nilar Kyaw, Regional Minister for Electric Power, Industry and Transportation, has promised the seemingly impossible, state media reported last week.
We are taking two measures to supply sufficient electricity to Yangon Region during the summer,” she said, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar. “And sufficiently means full voltage and uninterrupted power supply,” she added.
The first of those measures is a 300-megawatt power station is being built in Serikkyi Khanaungto township, and the second another power station of the same
capacity at the Thilawa special economic zone.
Yangon’s decrepit power infrastructure has faced increasing strain as the commercial hub has played the most significant role in Myanmar’s economic boom, with high rise buildings springing up along the skyline as foreign and internal migrants move in in increasing numbers.
The minister said that Myanmar’s power grids need to be made more efficient, adding that the country loses 13.5 percent of its energy when it is
transmitted. She also said her ministry faced a loss of K470 billion because electricity prices were so low.
Here’s hoping Daw Nilar Kyaw’s ambitious promise becomes reality, though we wouldn’t bet on it.
Source: Myanmar Business Today
