Myanmar aims to increase national electricity access

YANGON, May 10 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar is targeting to raise the percentage of national electricity access to the power grid to 55 percent in fiscal year 2020-2021 from the current 44 percent, an official of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy has said.

Permanent Secretary of the ministry U Tin Maung Oo told a press conference in the capital of Nay Pyi Taw late Thursday that the ministry will also strive to increase the percentage of electricity access to up to 75 percent in 2025-2026 and 100 percent in 2030-2031.

He said the ministry has increased the output by 13 percent during the incumbent government's first year in office in 2016 and by 12 percent in the second year of 2017.

Under the National Electrification Plan, he said, the government was able to provide electricity with nine towns including 2,440 villages with 520,000 households within one year, adding that the electrification coverage rate has reached 54 percent with 34,146 villages out of 63,277.

Meanwhile, foreign investment in Myanmar's power sector totaled 21 billion U.S. dollars as of the end of February 2019 ranking the second sectorally after oil and gas since late 1988 when the country started to open to such investment.