Kaladan Project update.
Narinjara and BNI Online reported on December 12, 2011 that the Arakan Liberation Army, or ALA, has recently clashed with a Burmese army unit in a confrontation on the frontlines in Paletwa Township in southern Chin State in Burma, said a spokesperson for the ALA. The ALA is the armed wing of the Arakan Liberation Party that is based in the triangle border area of Burma, Bangladesh, and India. The recent clash was the latest and seventh event between the ALA and the Burmese army in 2011, and over ten soldiers, including officers, have been killed, with several others injured in the Burmese army. Only one soldier from the ALA was killed in the clashes, and a number of soldiers were injured. However, no independent confirmation of casualties in the Burmese army is yet available. Continue reading
Narinjara dated November 4, 2011 reported that residents in Sittwe, the capital of western Burma’s Arakan State, complaint about the construction of an Indian-owned port that is harming many people, due to the large volume of sands that have blown away from the site, near the Sittwe general hospital. According to the people, dust and sand is being blown away from the construction site of the port and has been greatly troubling patients in the hospital, as well as polluting the environment and air of the town. Undisciplined drivers of heavy vehicles that carry the sand from the beach for landfills in the site have damaged the roads in the town as well. A student from Sittwe University also said the natural beauty of Point Beach, the public recreation place in the town has also been destroyed by the construction. “Now Point Beach is potted, and is not beautiful like before”, said the student. She said the port construction has not only destroyed the natural beauty of the Point beach, but also polluted the whole town with the sands from the beach, but the authorities are turning a blind eye to the work. According to residents, the people who suffer from some respiratory diseases are being badly affected by the pollution caused by the port construction in their town. U Aung Mra Kyaw, an MP of the Arakan State Parliament and the President of the Sittwe Branch of the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party, said he submitted a note of the problems to the regional government. The port is being constructed by the India’s Essar Company, and is a major component of the ‘Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project’ that was proposed by the Indian government under a framework agreement with the Burmese military regime in 2008 to ease the movement of goods into land locked areas. Continue reading
Narinjara wrote in their article titled Government Officials Take Chinese Pipeline Compensation dated November 6, 2011 that the government officials in Kyaukpru in western Burma’s Arakan State have taken the compensation offered to local residents for whose lands were confiscated to make way for the corridor of the Chinese gas pipeline. A resident of Kapaingchaung Village in Kyaukpru Township who received compensation for his lands confiscated for the pipeline told Narinjara in a telephone interview that the payment of the compensation has been altered by third parties, including government officials. He said 24 villagers from Kapaingchaung Village have been compensated for the lands lost to the pipelines, but 23 of them have come to the RNDP’s Kyaukpru branch office to lodge complaints providing their own signatures and written accounts of their particular stories because the officials forcibly and unofficially cut their compensations. “We also know from the villagers from the Kapaingchaung Village and other villages through which the pipelines will cross that the responsible officials have threatened them not to complain to their management or they will confiscate or stop all compensations for them”, said U Tin Phay. The pipeline that comes from the sea to export gas from the Shwe offshore gas reservoir to China has already arrived in Kapaingchaung Village, situated 10 mile east of Kyaukpru main town. It is also learnt that the authorities have already confiscated necessary lands owned by the 26 villagers from the Kyaukkhamaung Village for the pipeline, but no compensation has been offered to the villagers yet. Continue reading
A further US $500 million pledged by India for Burma’s infrastructure development, but at what the environmental and social cost? 1st November 2011
Burmese President U Thein-Sein met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India during a State visit to India from 12-15 October 2011, to discuss among other things the two countries’ growing cooperation on energy and trade.
The Prime Minister of India and President of Burma discussed the energy sector and agreed to enhance cooperation particularly in the area of oil and natural gas. Burma agreed to encourage further investments by Indian companies in the oil and natural gas industries. The Prime Minister of India in turn promised Burma US $500 million credit for infrastructure projects. The new credit comes on top of US $300 million credit extended from India last year.
Tom Wright gave his analysis in the Wall Street Journal dated Oct, 11, 2011 after the Myanmar President Thein Sein visited India with a large delegation of ministers. He said India has been slower than China to develop infrastructure in Myanmar and to benefit from its natural resources but appears to want to redress the balance. Last week, India announced it was lending $500 million to Myanmar to help develop projects, including irrigation works. In a briefing, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said it finally was serious about plans to develop Myanmar’s Sittwe port in western Rakhine state. India agreed to finance and carry out the $110-million project in 2008 but has so far failed to deliver on its promise. An Indian company, Essar Group, recently began work on the port and dredging the Kaladan River, and plans to complete the job by 2013, the ministry said last week.
Earth Rights International reported on their website dated Sept 30, 2001 that the recent fighting between the Burmese Army and the KIA and SSA has occurred in areas where large-scale natural resource and infrastructure projects are under development. It’s including the controversial Myitsone Dam in Kachin State and the multi-billion dollar Shwe Onshore Natural Gas and Burma-China Crude Oil Pipelines in northern Shan State. This recent fighting between the Burmese army and the KIA in Shan State is occurring adjacent to the planned route for the Shwe Onshore Natural Gas and Burma-China Crude Oil Pipelines. The recent offensive has been led by Major-General Aung Kyaw Zaw, commander of Northeastern Shan State Regional Command. The offensive appears to have the goal of driving the KIA Brigade 4 out of Shan State near areas it controls along the China border. The current fighting calls into question the ability of the Chinese led Shwe Onshore Natural Gas and Burma-China Crude Oil Pipelines to continue construction in northern Shan State. Before fighting broke out this past week, the KIA and SSA had indicated that they had no plans to disrupt the projects. SSA Major Sai Hla told the Irrawaddy Magazine in an August 2011 article that the SSA has “no plans to start attacking the pipeline project, but would do if they think it has been harming local people and the Shan community.” A KIA spokesman told the Irrawaddy on September 26 that, “the government may claim that its military objective is to establish security in current conflict areas where China’s pipeline will pass through. But we are not against the pipeline construction project, regarding which we talked with the government about shared security arrangements.” However, the recent fighting may have changed the KIA’S position on the pipelines. The spokesman continued, “But now, in this kind of situation, we can say that any hope for this pipeline construction has finished.”
The ‘Consultation on Kaladan Multi-Modal Transport Project’ was organized by the Zo Indigenous Forum – a locally registered rights group concerned with the rights of indigenous people – in Mizoram’s capital Aizawl on Thursday, September 17, 2011. It featured keynote remarks by Pu C. Ramhluna, Member of the Legislative Assembly of Mizoram from the opposition Mizo National Front party. He represents a constituency in the Lai Autonomous District that will be affected by the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transport Project. Also present were leading members of the ruling Mizoram Pradesh Congress Party and other local activists who participated in the plenary discussion on pros and cons of the project. Drawing from examples from other places in India where development projects have resulted in serious negative consequences for local livelihood and the environment, the legislator said that any development project should be geared towards benefit for the people. “It should be done in a way that is beneficial for both government and the people,” he said.(ChinLandGuardian).
Reuters said that the pipeline project is an Economic security threat for Myanmar. It is as well a risky investment as they report the news to comment on the report established by Shwe Gas Movement “Sold Out”. It said that the movement group asked the investors to think twice about investing in Myanmar’s energy sector because of festering political conflicts with the country’s armed ethnic groups. The decision to build the pipelines close to the rebellious border states of Kachin and Shan presented a high risk of protracted conflict and severing of energy supplies as armed conflict can break out at any time, posing enormous risks to foreign investments. Narinjara emphasized the human rights violation cases reported from the document “Sold Out” on their news, it said in their news that despite protest and resentments, the energy-hungry China has advanced construction of a trans-Burma oil and gas pipelines project. Local people are losing their land and fishing grounds because of the project. They are also being discriminated in the compensation process. Workers are getting very low payment and the women are facing unequal wages and even vulnerability to the growing sex industry around the project. Resentment against the so-called Shwe project is growing and communities are beginning to stand up against abuses and exploitation. Despite threats and risk of arrest, farmers and local residents are sending complaints to local authorities. Laborers are striking for better pay and working conditions and women running households are demanding electricity.
While progress on the construction of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Project remains hampered by the rainy season weather, the effect of foreign projects is taking its toll. Narinjara News reports that property in the regions surrounding the port of Kyaukpru, where foreign activity associated with foreign development initiatives (such as the Kaladan Multi-Modal Project) is centered, has risen. Speaking to Narinjara, a local resident discusses the price change and the impact this has: “The property prices in our area are now skyrocketing because of the increased number of foreigners in our area. The foreigners pay whatever price is necessary to get a property in our area” (Price of Properties in Arakan’s Economic Hubs Skyrocketing Due to Foreign Influence, August 18, 2011, Narinjara News).
Following a month of inactivity on the construction of the Shwe Gas Pipeline, due to a flare up of violence, The China National Petroleum Company (CNPC), conducted a ceremony as the commencement of welding began on the Burmese section of the pipeline (all previous construction had to date been conducted on the Chinese side of the border). (Ceremony Held for Controversial Pipeline, August 22, 2011, Democratic Voice of Burma).
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