Kachin Catholics gather and pray for a halt to the Irrawaddy Dam project
ICC Note: Burma Christians protest the creation of a new dam that will destroy traditional Kachin area
2/25/10 Burma (Kachin News Group) – Hundreds of ethnic Kachin Roman Catholic Church followers gathered today at the construction site of the hydropower project on the Irrawaddy River, in Burma’s northern Kachin State, on the annual Feast of the historic Virgin Mary Grotto and prayed that the project would be stopped, local devotees said.
Kachin Roman Catholic devotees prayed for stopping Irrawaddy Myitsone dam project in Kachin State, Northern Burma. Photo: Kachin News Group.
The prayer service was held in the Kachin Roman Catholic Church called, Our Lady Queen of Heaven Church, in Tang Hpre village, the construction site of hydropower project, 27 miles north of Kachin State’s capital Myitkyina.
The Myitsone hydropower project has been opposed by all Kachin people because they say it will be destroy the environment in this historically and culturally significant Kachin area, valued for its beauty and as a tourist destination.
The financial and technical support for the dam project is being provided by the state-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), the Burmese junta’s Ministry of Electric Power No. 1 and Burma-Asia World Company.
The project will produce 6000 MW of electricity, to be sold to neighboring China, according to dam watchdog groups.
