'Myanmar dam not an eco threat'

BEIJING - A senior Chinese executive involved in Myanmar's halted Myitsone hydropower project on Monday refuted claims by green NGOs that the dam poses a serious threat to the environment.

According to local media, Myanmar President Thien Sein has suspended work on the plant in the country's northern Kachin State over concerns the dam will inundate an area roughly the size of Singapore, submerging dozens of villages and displacing at least 10,000 people.

The project is the largest of several dams planned for the upper reaches of the Irrawaddy River.