Thai adviser pitches Salween water plan

  Mizzima News

(Mizzima) – An adviser to Thailand’s prime minister has dusted off a plan to build a dam on the Salween River to solve floods and droughts in Thailand as well as to produce electricity for Thailand.

Salween River at the boundary between Burma and Thailand. Photo: wikipedia

Uthen Chatphinyo, a Pheu Thai member and former chief of the committee overseeing water drainage to the south, said he would propose the plan to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, whose brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin, proposed the plan, according to an article in The Bangkok Post on Monday.

According to a Thai study, water from Salween River bordering Thailand and Burma, could be diverted to the Mae Taeng River in Chiang Mai Province and channeled south.


Uthen said  proposed 7,000-megawatt hydropower plant would be located about 200km down from the controversial Hut Gyi dam on the Salween River.

An 88-km water tunnel would be built from the dam reservoir to divert water to Thailand, the article said.

Thailand is a joint developer of the Hut Gyi dam, which has been suspended following conflicts between the dam developers, minority groups and environmental groups.

The Salween dam plan would allow major dams in Thailand to discharge water ahead of the rainy season without having to worry about possible water shortages in the dry season, Uthen said, noting also the improved political situation in Burma.