Thailand's power supply cuts to Myanmar affecting people, hospitals and schools

Thailand’s electricity supply withdrawal from the Tachileik border township in Myanmar is expected to affect about 7,500 homes, five hospitals, 45 schools, 65 temples and 15 army camps, said Natkhanet Charasveesirikul, manager of Provincial Electricity Authority’s (PEA) Mae Sai office.

He said that there are about 200 emergency patients in hospitals there, who depend on ventilators, and it will take at least three days for Myanmar’s engineers to source an alternative supply from Laos.

The PEA cut power to five locations in Myanmar at 9am today, including two in Tachileik. Refined oil supplies to Tachileik were also suspended.

Many motorists and motorcyclists have been flocking to petrol stations in Tachileik, for fear that petrol supplies will now dry up. Dozens of tankers are now parked at the Mae Sai border crossing and the drivers have been told that they are not allowed to transport the petrol they contain to Myanmar.

Each month, petrol worth about 400 million baht was being delivered to Myanmar through Tachileik.

Tak’s Governor Chucheep Pongchai urged Thai people living close to the border remain calm and not to be overly concerned about any consequences of the power cuts.

He disclosed that almost 100% of the electricity in Myawaddy came from Thailand, adding that the cuts will affect about 70,000 Myanmar citizens in the townships, as well as about 100,000 other people, of various nationalities, but mostly Chinese.

Well-informed border sources say that some people in Payathonzu township, opposite the Three Pagoda Pass in Thailand’s Kanchanaburi province, have been buying generators as a backup measure.

The sources also say that Thai border forces have increased the monitoring of the border passes, to prevent the smuggling of generators and petrol into Myanmar.