Singapore’s Sembcorp Industries has suspended operations at its 225 MW power plant in central Myanmar’s Mandalay region because of “escalating civil unrest” after pro-democracy insurgents opened up a new front in their war against junta forces in the area.
“Sembcorp’s priority is to ensure the safety of its employees,” the company said in a statement on Monday, adding that it had informed Myanmar’s Energy Ministry of the suspension of operations at the plant in Myingyan.
“Security measures are in place to safeguard the plant in the meantime and relevant stakeholders are being notified,” it said. “Sembcorp will look to resume operations at the plant as soon as reasonably practicable once conditions are safe.”
The gas-fired Myingyan Independent Power Plant is about 100 km (62 miles) southwest of Mandalay city.
On Saturday, militias operating under the civilian shadow National Unity Government, which opposes Myanmar’s junta, launched operations in three new townships in Mandalay region, including Myingyan.
The groups, called People’s Defense Forces, or PDFs, have captured dozens of junta positions, including major towns like Singu and Mogoke, across the region in partnership with larger ethnic minority insurgent forces.
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Sembcorp Industries is backed by the Singapore government-owned investment firm Temasek. Its US$300 million Myingyan operation is one of the largest independent gas-fired plants in Myanmar, employing more than 70 workers and supplying electricity to five million people.
The plant, built under an agreement with the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, began supplying electricity in 2018.
The Sembcorp Myingyan Power Company agreed to run the plant for 22 years, before transferring it to the Myanmar government, with Sembcorp saying it would “help to play a key role in meeting the country’s growing demand for electricity.”
Sembcorp announced it was shuttering the plant after PDF forces launched attacks in the Taungtha Natogyi and Myingyan townships on Saturday, including an attack on a junta base only about six kilometers (four miles) from the power plant.
More power cuts expected
The company did not say exactly when it suspended operations but the Yangon Electricity Supply Corporation said Sembcorp’s plant and another nearby one ceased operations at around noon on Tuesday. It warned of reduced power supplies.
Radio Free Asia called Mandalay region’s junta spokesperson Thein Htay for more information, but he did not answer by the time of publication.
A former Myingyan member of parliament for the ousted National League for Democracy told RFA that power cuts could be expected.
“Now that Sembcorp has been suspended, the amount of power supplied nationwide will be significantly reduced,” said Aung Myo Lat.
“There may be more power cuts than before and the electricity may decrease a lot. That’s just something else we’ll have to deal with.”
Myanmar’s economy has been in crisis since the military overthrew an elected government in 2021, with electricity and petrol shortages among the problems the population is grappling with.
While ethnic minority insurgents have promised to protect Chinese investments, the fighting in the Mandalay region this week has been near a natural gas and oil pipeline running from Myanmar’s coast across the country into China.
PDF forces are battling the military in Madaya, Thabeikkyin, Patheingyi, Myingyan, Taungtha and Natogyi townships in the Mandalay region, according to the PDF groups.
Translated by RFA Burmese. Edited by Kiana Duncan and Mike Firn.