Under the agreement, IFC and Myanmar, together will commission a country-wide strategic environmental assessment of the hydropower sector.
In addition, IFC will provide policy guidance and training on other important areas, such as environmental flows management, benefit-sharing arrangements, and stakeholder engagement.
The project is funded by World Bank Group, which provides financial assistance to both the public and private sectors to help increase generation capacity, expand the distribution grid, and upgrade power supply facilities in rural as well as urban areas.
Myanmar Department of Electric Power Planning deputy director general U Hein Htet said:"We have an opportunity now to push hydropower development in the right direction. We want hydropower projects in Myanmar to set new standards and to meet good international and industry practices."
The project is expected to support the development of technical guidelines which will address environmental and social risks in hydropower projects in the country.
Myanmar Environmental Conservation Department director general U Nay Aye said: "To develop hydropower sustainably, we need to cultivate the know-how on environmental and social risk management. Over the next two years, we are going to focus on building capacity to ensure the sustainable development of our hydropower sector in the long run."
About 66% of population in Myanmar do not have access to electricity, which has led the government to increase the target of the electrification rate to 50% by 2020 along with the approval of a new electricity law.
Additionally, Myanmar is planning to develop its electricity generation capacity to 100,000MW of hydropower potentials.
Image: Myanmar Government expects to increase the target of electrification rate to 50% by 2020 Photo: courtesy of a454 / freedigitalphotos.
