YANGON, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- A stake driving ceremony has been held in Manaung township, Myanmar's Rakhine stake to build a solar power plant which can supply 24-hour electricity to more than 1,000 households, Myanmar News Agency reported Sunday.

The first-phase project was launched on Saturday by the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, Rakhine state government and the POSCO Daewoo Corporation of South Korea with the attendance of Rakhine State Chief Minister U Nyi Pu.

The 2.5 million-U.S. dollar project, funded by the South Korean company under its corporate social responsibility scheme, is targeted to be completed by May 2019, Minister of Electricity and Energy U Win Khaing was quoted as saying.

More loan is being sought to implement the second phase of the project, which is a diesel and energy saving hybrid system to supply power to 49,000 more households in 57 villages in the township.

The third phase is to supply power to the remaining villages in Manaung township.