The Karen National Union (KNU) told representatives of the Italian-Thai Development Co., Ltd. (ITD) at a meeting on Dec. 28 that it will only allow construction of a new road linking Burma’s Tavoy Special Economic Zone to the Thai border to go ahead after an environmental impact assessment has been carried out.
Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Wednesday, Saw Tah Doh Moo, the secretary of the KNU environmental committee, which met the ITD delegation, said: “They told us they want to do the road project, and we told them they need to complete an assessment first.”
The KNU wants ITD to show how much impact the road project, which passes through KNU-controlled territory, will have on the environment and local communities. The road is being built by ITD as part of the multi-billion-dollar Dawei Development Project, which aims to turn Tavoy into a major transport and manufacturing hub.
“We need an assessment of the environmental impact in order to find the best solution for local people. There is nothing to say if they complete the assessment,” said Saw Tah Doh Moo.
ITD has long sought an opportunity to discuss the road with the KNU, amid concerns about security that could force a suspension of the project unless it receives a green light from the ethnic armed group.
At the meeting, the ITD representatives promised that the company would complete an assessment that is already underway and report its findings to the KNU. The two sides agreed to meet again when the process was completed.
In September, the KNU forced the company to stop work on the road after villagers voiced concerns that that the project would have a negative impact on the environment and that many thousands of local villagers from more than 20 villages would be forcibly evicted from their homes.
Thailand plans to turn Tavoy's deep-sea port into a massive industrial complex that will provide Burma's more economically advanced neighbor with a ready supply of imported energy resources and a new conduit for its exports. The area will be administered as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) under an agreement reached between Burma and Thailand in May 2008.
However, rights groups say the project, which is still in the planning stages, has led to a government policy of land confiscation and forced relocation of local people. Environmentalists have also been strongly opposed to the project, which is expected to inflict major damage to the area's pristine coastline.
ITD is Thailand's largest construction company. The company's chairman, Premchai Karnasuta, told reporters in Bangkok on Dec. 26 that it expects to sign loan agreements in 2012 valued at US $12.5 billion from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation to develop the $60 billion project, which includes a deep-sea port, a 250-square-kilometer light and heavy industrial zone, a 4,000-megawatt coal-fired power plant, and road and railways links to the Thai border.
