Tanintharyi Region Chief Minister Le Le Maw insisted a coal-fired power plant project would not be launched during her tenure, as she outlined the regional government’s progress over the past year at a press conference yesterday.
She said she had ditched the plan despite being pressured constantly by the Union government to go ahead with building the plant to meet growing energy demand.
In the regional capital, Dawei, daily distribution of gas has doubled from one million to two cubic feet under the current regional government. Authorities will ask for additional supplies from the Union government when power consumption increases to meet demand from the Dawei deep-sea port and special economic zone currently under construction.
The Tanintharyi government has twice asked the Ministry of Electricity and Energy to supply natural gas for free, as it does for other regions and states. Instead, the extra one million cubic feet were provided at a cost. The Tanintharyi government is now calling on the Union government to sell the gas at half price. Chief Minister Le Le Maw urged residents of the region to petition the Ministry of Electricity and Energy for a cut in the price of natural gas.
Moving onto other matters, the chief minister said she was not satisfied with her government’s progress.
“I am not satisfied with the plan to fight narcotics or to boost the economic sector. No one makes investments here even though the region government is inviting foreign investment,” she said.
Source: Eleven Myanmar
