An employee works at Thaketa gas-fired combined cycle power plant in Yangon, Myanmar, March 17, 2018. A China-Myanmar joint venture Thaketa gas-fired combined cycle power plant was inaugurated in Yangon on Saturday. (Xinhua/U Aung)

YANGON, March 17 (Xinhua) -- A China- Myanmar joint venture Thaketa gas-fired combined cycle power plant was inaugurated in Yangon on Saturday.

U Kyaw Win, union minister for the Ministry for Planning and Finance and chairman of the Myanmar Investment Commission, said that the project symbolizes an important step forward toward close cooperation between the two countries.

He expressed his belief that the operation of the power plant would ease the electricity shortage Yangon region is facing.

Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Hong Liang said that the successful construction and operation of the power plant signifies new progress on cooperation in the sector of electricity and clean energy between the two countries.

With a capacity of 106 megawatts, the plant lies in Thaketa township, 16 km east of Yangon and 25.6 km away from the Thilawa Special Economic Zone.

The project is jointly invested by U Energy Thaketa Power Co., Ltd, China's Union Resources and Engineering Co., Ltd (UREC) and Myanmar's Ministry of Electricity and Power.