"Had its original construction schedule not been derailed by controversy and public condemnation, leading to its suspension in 2011, the Chinese-backed Myitsone Dam hydropower project near the source of the Irrawaddy River in Kachin State would be operational by now as scheduled. It has been eight years since the suspension. Currently, the project site on the bank of the river is mostly deserted. When it was launched on Dec. 21, 2009, the Myanmar Investment Commission estimated total investment in Myitsone Dam would amount to US$4.3 billion (6.54 trillion kyats). The project was in the middle of construction when it was halted in September 2011. Before the suspension, resettlement at the dam site was finished, and site formation, water supply, electricity and transportation facilities had commenced, according to its Chinese developer, State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC), which was known as China Power Investment (CPI) until 2015. Despite recent pressure from China to resume the dam’s construction, anti-dam sentiment is still on the rise among the public. Recently, prominent civil society leaders, environmentalists, writers and artists announced that they would launch a one-dollar campaign to collect money from the public to compensate China in exchange for scrapping the project. The campaign clearly reflects how unpopular the project is among Myanmar people. They don’t like it because the project near the confluence of the Maykha and Malikha rivers, which gives rise to the Irrawaddy River, would destroy the country’s lifeline waterway, which runs through the country from north to south before emptying into the Andaman Sea. For Myanmar people, the river is the source of their identity because the Irrawaddy valley is the cradle of Myanmar civilization. Furthermore, they fear the dam would disrupt the flow of sediment along river, harming agricultural livelihoods. Plus, the dam site is reportedly seismically unstable; a collapse would have the potential to flood an area twice the size of Singapore. It’s interesting to note how such a controversial mega project came into existence. The following is a brief flashback summarizing the development of the Myitsone Dam issue and identifying those involved in the project’s inception at a time when Myanmar was under military rule. Beginnings It all started with the Ministry of Electrical Power’s hydropower project master plan for the upstream Irrawaddy River basin in Kachin State in late 2005. The plan was initially developed with Yunnan Machinery (Equipment) Export & Import Company (YMEC) and Kunming Hydropower Institute of Design. The plan was scrapped when the ministry was reformed in May of the following year as the Ministry of Electric Power-1 (MOEP-1) for generating electrical power and the Ministry of Electric Power-2 for distribution..."