Foreign investment in the power sector has reached USD 1 billion over the first four months of the fiscal year, official data shows.

The investments came from foreign companies working with the government and local partners to develop power plants, transmission lines and other infrastructure. According to data from the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA), power is currently Myanmar’s top sector for foreign investment.

Much of that investment has come from China and Hong Kong, and more is on the way. As recently as February, Hong Kong’s VPower Group agreed to invest USD 800 million in three new power plants. In January, Power China Company met with the Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE) to discuss potential solar contracts. In December, Hong Kong-listed CNTIC Vpower Company announced plans to invest over USD 500 million in two different electricity generation, supply and sale projects in the Yangon Region and Rakhine State.

In 2015, Myanmar developed a master plan that aims to supply 100 percent of its population with power by 2030. The details of the plan are continually updating as the sector develops, however estimates at the time called for around USD 30 billion of new investment. Myanmar, however, is not waiting on its domestic infrastructure to begin filling its short term power supply gaps. Last month, MOEE said it may begin buying power directly from China, and in August the government awarded five emergency tenders to generate power with imported liquid natural gas, four of which went to VPower Group.