Upper Hsedawgyi Project to help meet electricity demand ofcountry and to support irrigation facility of Hsedawgyi Dam

Member of theState Peace andDevelopment CouncilGeneral Thura ShweMann, who accompaniedChairman of the StatePeace and DevelopmentCouncil Commander-in-Chief of Defence ServicesSenior General ThanShwe, together with Lt-Gen Tha Aye of the Ministry of Defence,Chairman of MandalayDivision PDCCommander of CentralCommand Maj-Gen TinNgwe, Minister forAgriculture and IrrigationMaj-Gen Htay Oo,Minister for ElectricPower No. 1 Col ZawMin, Minister for ElectricPower No. 2 Maj-GenKhin Maung Myint, ViceQuartermaster-GeneralMaj-Gen Htin AungKyaw and officials ofSPDC Office leftMandalay by helicopteron 19 April morning andarrived at the worksite ofUpper HsedawgyiSupporting MultipurposeDam Project inMadaya Township at 9.15a.m.

At the briefinghall of the project,Minister Maj-Gen HtayOo presented a reportsaying that the project isbeing implemented bythe Ministry ofAgriculture andIrrigation in cooperationwith the Ministry ofElectric Power No. 1 withthe aim of supportingwater to Hsedawgyi Damand generatingelectricity. The project ison Nampat creek, 33miles upstream theHsedawgyi Dam. Ifcompleted, the daminstalled with threegenerators can hold500,000 acre feet ofwater and can generate60 megawatts. It is anearthen embankment. Itis 3200 feet long and 240feet high. The existingalignment of embankmentwas chosenafter conducting feasibilitystudy on threetentative alignments.The minister alsobriefed on preliminaryconstruction tasksincluding construction ofapproach road which willbe built by the Ministryof Agriculture andIrrigation andconstruction of diversiontunnel, mainembankment andspillway.Minister forElectric Power No. 1 ColZaw Min reported thatthe Ministry of ElectricPower No. 1 is to

of the project,Minister Maj-Gen HtayOo presented a reportsaying that the project isbeing implemented bythe Ministry ofAgriculture andIrrigation in cooperationwith the Ministry ofElectric Power No. 1 withthe aim of supportingwater to Hsedawgyi Damand generatingelectricity. The project ison Nampat creek, 33miles upstream theHsedawgyi Dam. Ifcompleted, the daminstalled with threegenerators can hold500,000 acre feet ofwater and can generate60 megawatts. It is anearthen embankment. Itis 3200 feet long and 240feet high. The existingalignment of embankmentwas chosenafter conducting feasibilitystudy on threetentative alignments.The minister alsobriefed on preliminaryconstruction tasksincluding construction ofapproach road which willbe built by the Ministryof Agriculture andIrrigation andconstruction of diversiontunnel, mainembankment andspillway.Minister forElectric Power No. 1 ColZaw Min reported thatthe Ministry of ElectricPower No. 1 is to construct the powerintake structure, thepower intake tunnel, thewater tank, the penstockpipes, the power plant,the drain and the switchyard. Upper HsedawgyiProject to be installedwith three 20-megawattgenerators will produce60 megawatts, totalling315 million kilowatthours yearly. The powergeneration of HsedawgyiDam will reach 194million kwh, up 60 millionkwh from 134 million kwhat present, he added.Upper Hsedawgyi andLower Hsedawgyi Damswill generate 509 millionkwh in total yearly.Minister forElectric Power No. 2Maj-Gen Khin MaungMyint submitted thereports on supply systemof electricity fromHsedawgyi HydropowerPlant and the powersupply system for UpperHsedawgyi HydropowerPlant on itscompletion.After hearing thereports, General ThuraShwe Mann gaveinstructions that UpperHsedawgyi Projectwould contribute tomeeting the electricitydemand of the countryand it would support theirrigation facility ofpresent Hsedawgyi Dam.With the aims ofsupplying both powerand water, the Ministryof Agriculture andIrrigation, the Ministryof Electric Power No. 1and the Ministry ofElectric Power No. 2 areto implement the projectharmoniously, he added.The General continued tosay that efforts are to bemade for timelycompletion of theproject. He stressed theneed of the ministries todraw the work plan andsupervise theconstruction tasks, use ofmanpower, finance,heavy machinery andconstruction materials.The General pointed outthat the commander,those in charge of theregion, are to supervisethe project tasks.In conclusion,the General urged allofficials to strive forimplementation of theproject as it is importantfor supplying water foragricultural purpose andelectricity for the localconsumption ofMandalay Division.Next, theGeneral discussed theirrigation areas of thedams and river waterpumping projects, theincrease of irrigationareas due toimplementing the newdam projects, prospectsof extending sownacreage of paddy andlocal rice sufficiency.Lt-Gen Tha Ayeof the Ministry ofDefence, CommanderMaj-Gen Tin Ngwe andthe ministers reported onprospects of extendedsown acreage andincreasing of per-acreyield, irrigation system of river water pumpingprojects, cultivation ofcrops and supply ofelectricity.Departmental officialsof MandalayDivision also submittedthe reports on changing ofgrowing crop items in theirrigation areas, increasingof sown acreage of cropsand extended cultivationof paddy.The Generalinstructed them to strivefor achieving local riceYANGON, 22 April— Jointly organized byThailand-based SoutheastAsian Ministers ofEducation Organization,Regional Center forArchaeology and FineArts, SEMEO SPAFA andASEAN Foundation, theopening of Workshop onYouth, Culture andDevelopment hosted byMyanmar was held atMandalay Hotel inWorkshop on Youth, Culture andDevelopment openssufficiency in Mandalayand Magway Divisionsand give priority toconducting agriculturalcensus.Upper HsedawgyiSupporting MultipurposeDam Projectwith 60-megawattgenerating capacity willgenerate 315 millionkwh yearly and supportthe hydropowergenerating functions ofthe present HsedawgyiDam.Upper HsedawgyiSupporting MultipurposeDam will supplywater to the HsedawgyiDam for extending10,000 more acres ofsummer paddy.On the way fromthe dam project site toMandalay, the Generaland party viewed the flowof water into MaleNattaung Dam in SinguTownship and HsedawgyiDam by helicopter.