Kayah State is aiming big when it comes to electrification. A local minister said plans are in the works to bring light to every house in the state within three years.
It’s a tall order when almost one-third of the state’s population still lacks electricity.
But Kayah State’s Minister of Road, Communication and Electricity U Khin Maung Phyu told the Kantarawaddy Times that more equitable power distribution from the nation’s largest hydropower dam could go a long way to remedying the situation.
“The entire state will receive electricity by 2020-21,” he said.
His goal is even more ambitious than the government’s 2015 National Electrification Plan, which targets universal electrification by 2030.
“About 70% of Kayah State receives electricity so there’s only 30% to go. The remaining 30% of the population is not currently connected to the national power grid,” U Khin Maung Phyu said.
According to the minister, K54 billion will be spent to hook up Kayah State’s remaining off-grid houses. The largest share of the funds, K34 billion, will come from the Union budget, while another K20 billion will come from the state budget.
Kayah State is home to Myanmar’s biggest and oldest hydropower project, Lawpita, which was built in the 1950s. But most of the electricity generated at the Lawpita plant is allocated to the rest of the country, leaving much of Kayah, including the area in the vicinity of the plant, in the dark. Lawpita generated about a fifth of the nation’s energy supply in 2014.
U Khin Maung Phyu believes that with more power substations, Kayah State can be fully connected.
