A new hydroelectric dam is being planned on the Nampaw river, Muse township, northern Shan State, according to a news source.

The planned dam will be constructed by Great Hor Kham Public Company Limited. Construction will start in October 2015 and will take three years.

The company has said that the electricity produced by the Nampaw dam will be used in Muse township and will not be sold to China, according to Sai Kao, a Muse resident. People have not yet staged any protest, as the dam construction is quite far from the town.

On May 1, the company team held a discussion with local communities about the impacts of the project. They explained that the dam would flood about 594 acres of land, including 115 acres of the stream area, and 479 acres on both sides of the stream.

“There are about 60 acres of rice fields in the area where the dam will be built. But these fields were destroyed when the river last flooded. Now that villagers have heard that there will be a dam built, they are not bothering to cultivate the fields anymore,” said Sai Lek, a youth in Muse.

The company is planning to conduct an environmental impact assessment, which will be presented to township and district level officials of the Department of Environmental Conservation and Forestry. They say they will not construct the dam without approval.

A source close to the company has said that more than 2,000 agar-wood trees, 400 rubber trees and uncultivated land will be damaged by the dam. Therefore the company is planning to provide compensation at the rate of 35,000 kyats for each agar-wood tree, and 45,000 kyats for each rubber tree.