A loan of US$60M has been given by India to Myanmar to help fund construction of the Thahtay Chaung (or “Creek”) hydropower project.
The funds were made available via a Line of Credit (LoC) agreement between the governments. India is channelling the LoC to the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank through the use of the Export-Import Bank of India, which is the vehicle it uses to support foreign industrial activity.
The Thahtay Chaung project is to have an installed capacity of 100MW. The early data on the project, from two to three years ago, indicated that the power plant would be built to hold four 25MW units. However, earlier this year official sources said that the plant would be equipped with three 37.5MW units.
Thahtay Chaung is being built almost 20km north east of Thandwe in Rakhine state, the region is will supply electricity to as well as the hotel sector at Ngapali Beach, according to official sources.
According to the exim bank, the LoC is the first it has made to a hydropower project in Myanmar. Previously, funds of a third the amount were made available for a hydropower scheme in Rwanda.