Gunkul Engineering Public Company Ltd of Thailand and China Three Gorges Company agreed to study wind power generation in separate parts of the country, Aung Myo Win, assistant director of the ministry of electric power, told the New Light of Myanmar.

Gunkul Engineering will conduct feasibility studies for the construction of windmills in the Taninthayi region and the Mon, Kayinand Shan states, with a target of producing 2,930 megawatts ofelectricity, he said.

China Three Gorges will do similar studies in the Chin and Rakhinestates, and the Irrawaddy and Yangon regions, aiming to produce 1,102 megawatts.

"Feasibility studies are underway for developing commercial windpower," Aung Myo Win said. "They will push ahead with the business if wind power is found to be economically feasible." Myanmar, under economic sanctions by Western nations during thejunta’s rule of 1988-2010, has carried out political and economic reforms in the past two years under elected President Thein Sein.

Most Western sanctions were dropped last year, but foreign firms claim that a major disincentive for investment in the newly opened economy is the lack of electricity.