Myanmar unhappy of Manipur over failure to supply power
Source: Hueiyen News Service

Imphal, November 01 2013 : Myanmarese authority has made known its displeasure to the Government of Manipur for not giving a positive response to the proposal for purchasing 3 megawatt of power to light up its Tamu township.

The displeasure of Myanmarese authority was made known to a team of Indian delegates who have recently gone to Myanmar to scout for suitable venue for hosting the meeting of Myanmar-India Border Trade Committee, one of the officials who was part of the Indian delegation disclosed to Hueiyen Lanpao.

Despite having enough resources of its own for generating power, Myanmar has not been able to do so for various reasons including financial constraints and long years of administration under Military Junta.

Accordingly, Myanmarese authority had requested the Government of Manipur for purchasing at least 3 megawatt of power for lighting up its border town, Tamu.

Even though there is no problem of power supply in other important cities of Myanmar like Kalemiyo, Mandalay, etc, Myanmarese Government has not been able to ensure power supply even for five minutes in Tamu, which is bordering Manipur.

In such a situation, people in Tamu, either depends on solar energy or diesel generator.

However, as this also could not ensure power supply for at least 12 hours in a day, border trade activities of Myanmar with India through Tamu has remained severely affected, the official pointed out.

According to a reliable source, Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh had actually given not just his commitment but also the approval for selling 3 megawatt of power to Myanmar sometime earlier.

However, as sell or purchase of power is a bilateral matter, the approval from the Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Power, Government of India is essential.

Accordingly, Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh had written to these two Ministries for their approval on selling power to Myanmar.

As a matter of fact, under its foreign policy, the Government of India has been providing fund and other necessary technologies for taking up various developmental projects in Myanmar with an eye on strengthening the bilateral ties with the neighbouring country.

In fact, the Government of India had earlier approved setting up of a power plant at Tamu and a Hyderabad�based power corporation had been entrusted with the task.

However, as this would be a long-term plan, there is every possibility for the Government of India to give its approval to the proposal of Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh for selling 3 megawatt of power to meet the immediate requirement of Tamu.

On the other hand, even though Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh is favour of selling power to Myanmar, the situation of power supply in Manipur is still not enviable.

The main reasons for the pathetic power situation in Manipur is absence of power generating unit of its own and failure of completing the installation of high tension (HT) power line for transmission of electricity from other power corporations outside.

Manipur has not been able to receive its full share of power under the Northeast or Central pools.

Even though the Palatana Thermal Power Plant at Agartala has already been commissioned, Manipur has not yet received its share of the generated power to the optimum.

On top of this, there is no scope for purchasing the required power in Manipur.

The Government of Manipur is keeping the target of completing installation of the 400 KV line from Jiribam to Yurembam by next year.

Once the installation of this HT power line is completed, then the people may expect to enjoy power supply for 20 hours in a day in Manipur.

Until then, the situation of power in Manipur would remain dismal and there is no hope of selling power to Tamu, the source said.

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