Investment in energy urgent: development bank
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Reforming Myanmar "urgently" needs to attract investments to its energy sector, which has left three-quarters of the population in the dark, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said yesterday.
In a report released at the World Economic Forum, being held for the first time in Myanmar, the ADB identified Myanmar’s energy sector as one of the most pressing economic challenges for the country which is on the cusp of rapid growth.
The report said that nearly three-quarters of Myanmar’s population of 60 million lack access to electricity.
In rural areas, where 70 per cent of the population lives, the average rate of electrification is 16 per cent, limiting access to health services, jobs and economic development, it said.
Myanmar has abundant natural gas reserves, which earn the country an estimated US$2.5 billion a year from exports to Thailand. Yet its installed electricity generating capacity is only 3,361megawatts, compared with Thailand’s 26,000 MW, according to ADBdata.
“To develop the country’s rapidly growing electricity demand, expand rural energy access and ensure environmental stability, Myanmar urgently needs to attract investments by improving regulatory frameworks, promoting public-private partnerships and undertaking crucial sector reforms,” said Stephen Groff, ADB vice president.
The country was run by military dictatorships between 1962 and 2010, and the target of economic sanctions by Western democracies for two decades that were lifted last year.
With its abundant natural resources, the country’s re-emergence on the world stage has drawn interest from international aid agencies and foreign investors.
