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| Residents at a meeting in Ka Lone Htar village Saturday, November 10 oppose a plan to build a reservoir along Thlaiya Creek. (Supplied) |
U Tin Maung Swe, chairman of the Support Group for the Deep Sea Port and Special Economic Zone, said the top priority of the project’s backers was the desire of residents in the area.
“We discussed the proposed Ka Lone Htar Reservoir with villagers in the area but we won’t do it without their agreement. They don’t support it so we will think how we can build it in another place that has been proposed by the villagers,” U Tin Maung Swe told The Myanmar Times by phone on Tuesday.
Ko Ye Lin Myint, a member of the Dawei Development Association (DDA), said he welcomed the pledge from U Tin Maung Swe but was still not convinced.
“We understand that he’s not the decision maker and also he cannot give any concrete promise about the project. We think the company and government authorities are still trying to implement the reservoir here and now they are agitating the villagers and trying to destroy unity by persuading them with money,” he said.
Local authorities and official from Italian-Thai Development Co Ltd (ITD), the Thai company behind the project, attempted to “force” residents of Ka Lone Htar village to move as soon as Vice President U Nyan Tun signed a memorandum of understanding to accelerate the Dawei project with the Thai government on in Bangkok on November 7.
On November 10, Pyithu Hluttaw representative for Ye Phyu township, U Shwe Than, general secretary of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) for the township, U Aung Myo, and representatives from ITD the government came to Ka Lone Htar and discussed the move with villages on November 10.
However, the villagers said at the meeting that they are opposed to the plan to the build a reservoir along Thlaiya Creek, greeting the delegation with signs reading “No Dam” and “No Relocation”.
“They said they came to discuss with us about moving because our village has caused their project to be delayed. They said they want to continue to build [the reservoir] and are ready to relocate us to another place but we don’t want to move anywhere else. We let them know our feelings very clearly,” said Sayardaw U Pyin Nyar Wun Tha from Ka Lone Htar monastery.
Ka Lone Htar is about 10 kilometers from the Ye-Dawei road and has 182 households, more than 1000 residents and about 9000 acres of arable land. Villagers make a reasonable income from betel nut, cashew nut, rubber and other crops and also find precious metals in Thlaiya Creek.
The plan to move the village was only announced on October 22, and about 65 residents have agreed to move if adequate compensation is given.
While the village was not originally among those planned for relocation, it was later added to the list by developers when they realised they need to have a sufficient supply of fresh water to support the Dawei project.
The creation of the proposed reservoir would flood the area where the village currently stands.
“Developers and U Tin Maung Swe … told us several times to sign a statement saying that we have reached an agreement to move to another place with reasonable compensation in 2011. But we have not accepted anything and instead we object to this project,” said Sayardaw U Pyin Nyar Wun Tha.
The sayardaw said the villagers don’t believe that the developer will give adequate compensation.
“The villagers have heard a lot of news about the company not giving enough compensation to people relocated in other areas. For example, the company is implementing a road project linking Dawei and Kanchanaburi [in Thailand] but some people who live along that road have not got compensation yet,” he said.
Instead, Ka Lone Htar residents have proposed moving the reservoir project to the Heinzal area about 30 kilometres from Ka Lone Htar, where few people live.
More than 300 villagers sent an objection letter over the project to relevant government departments and President U Thein Sein on November 2 and have also been lobbying in Thailand.
“We explain our situation about Ka Lone Htar reservoir to members of parliament in Thailand and discussed with them how to take action against Thai companies if they violate human rights in our country. But they said it is difficult to hold Thai companies accountable according to their law if they violate the law outside their country,” said Ko Ye Lin Myint.
