"Junta Ramps Up Promises to Locals Over Myitsone Hydropower Project", The Irrawaddy, 21 Feb 2026

On Friday, the junta held yet another public hearing on the hydropower project at Myitkyina University in the Kachin State capital. Local sources say many people were forced to attend.

It was the third event of its kind since December as the regime pushes locals to agree to revive the project, which was suspended in 2011 over environmental and humanitarian concerns.

[...] President’s Office Minister Tin Aung San [...] claimed the dam project would meet the country’s electricity demands as well as creating job opportunities [...].

[...] Under the original agreement, 90 percent of the power was to be exported to China, with Myanmar receiving just 10 percent. In previous meetings with locals, junta officials claimed that the arrangement has been “revised” but did not disclose the ratio.

Environmentalist Zung Ting said the Irrawaddy River is already facing reduced flow due to muddy conditions caused by the excessive mining of gold and others minerals upstream.

If the Myitsone hydropower dams are built, “they will block the flow of water upstream of the river, and that will have a huge negative impact on the ecosystem and millions of people downstream,” he said.