Local communities feel unsecured about Dawei port project in Myanmar

Luc Citrinot - 30 July 2012, 08:09

Residents in Dawei area are worried about a deep-sea port project, a major infrastructure to improve Myanmar’s economy as well as Thailand’s Central Eastern provinces.

BANGKOK- The development of a deep-sea port in Dawei, near to Thailand’s province of Kanchanaburi along the coast of the Southern Andaman Sea starts to generate worries in the region as the agreement by both Thai and Myanmar governments is perceived as secretive. Following the visit to Bangkok of Myanmar President Thein Sein for the signature of three MoU, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told that the two nations would set up ministerial-level contacts to address issues related to the port of Dawei. The port is not only important for Myanmar’s economy but also for Thailand as it would provide the country’s with the fastest access to the Indian Ocean.

Thailand will be in charge in the project to look at infrastructure, security and logistics in a newly created special economic zone. Opponents to the project speak however of a lack of transparency for the new project, especially as expulsions from local farmers already started to acquire land. Investment into the project is estimated to cost at least US$ 9 billion. Italian-Thai Development, the construction company which received the contract to develop Dawei, is now looking to receive loans from Japan to start. The first part of the project is due to be ready by 2016 and would comprise a highway from the border into Dawei, the sea port as well as basic infrastructure including hotels for business travellers.

Both President Thein Sein and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra also agreed to open three new border crossings – in Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and Kanchanaburi – in addition to three existing checkpoints between the two countries, speeding tourist flows between both countries.

You can find more details about the Dawei Port Project here.

Original Link : http://traveldailynews.asia/news/article/50074?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+TraveldailynewsAsiaLatest+%2528TravelDailyNews.asia+Latest+News%2529

Activists Demand Transparency for Dawei

By LAWI WENG / THE IRRAWADDY| July 26, 2012 | 

 

---

Artist’s impression of how the finished Dawei project will look. (Photo: daweidevelopment.com)

Transparency and accountability are crucial to ensure the Dawei (Tavoy) deep-sea port project in southern Burma does not adversely affect local people or the environment, claim human rights activists.

The US $8.6 billion project has been on shaky ground recently with Naypyidaw blocking a coal-fueled power plant in January and major investor Max Myanmar pulling out earlier this month, but the signing of three memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between Thailand and Burma has put the scheme firmly back on track.

The agreements took place when Burmese President Thein Sein met Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in Bangkok this week, but people living around Dawei have complained that their views are still not being take into account.

“To have transparency and accountability are very important. It is not a matter of national security to let us know what is happening,” Thant Zin, a coordinator for the Dawei Development Association (DDA), told The Irrawaddy at a conference in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, on Thursday.

“Even in our small organization, we let people know what we are doing. The Dawei project is huge and it is going to displace 30,000 people where they build the special economic zone. The government should let us know what is in the agreement.”

Photos of the natural landscape, beaches and wildlife were shown at the conference which was attended by more than 300 people. Activists also posted photos of the devastation caused by the scheme and how much the environment was due to suffer from construction work.

“If our president respects our people, he will not destroy our livelihoods and environment,” said Ko Lay Lwin, another coordinator of DDA. Development should mean helping the prospects of local people first rather setting up a foreign-backed project that will ruin their livelihoods, he added.

Activists said that instead of allowing Italian-Thai Development (ITD), Thailand’s largest construction firm, to build Dawei, the Burmese government should implement a local project instead.

Residents also complained that Dawei is a project which Thailand would not permit on its own soil. The scheme is due to contain a huge petrochemicals center similar to the controversial Map Ta Phut plant, in Thailand’s Rayong Province, which exploded in May claiming 12 lives.

“We feel like Map Ta Phut is a toilet from Thailand that came to settle in our Dawei,” said Ko Lay Lwin.

ITD intends to construct a special economic zone by Nabule village in Dawei as part if the megaproject which involves displacing local people from 50,536 acres of land.

“Without Nabuledaw, there will be no Dawei. This is how the people are feeling,” said Ko Lay Lwin. “If the project forces people to leave their homes, there will be a strong reaction.”

Activists called on the Burmese government to talk directly to local people about the project and warned that tempers were becoming frayed over the unfair compensation being offered by the local authorities for land being used.

“There is no reason to blame local people if some violence came out or they attack the project as the government has no transparency or accountability,” said Thant Zin.

ITD is not offering equal compensation to local people affected by the construction work, according to rights activists. While Karen people on the east side of the project were reportedly paid 300,000 kyat ($340) per rubber tree lost, those who stay on the west side only receive 150,000 kyat ($170).

ITD was first granted a 75-year concession to use land for Dawei in a deal struck with the Burmese government in 2008. Thailand then approved a 33.1 billion baht ($1.1 billion) budget for infrastructure to link up with the project in May.

However, things have not all gone smoothly as ITD was already thought to be struggling to find financial backing for the 250-square-kilometre complex that was planned to include a deep-sea port, steel mills, refineries, a petrochemical complex and power plants. These financial woes were exacerbated by the loss of Max Myanmar which was due to contribute 25 percent of capital, with 50 percent coming from ITD.

 
Original Link  : http://www.irrawaddy.org/archives/10130

Dawei residents want a seat at the table

Wednesday, 25 July 2012 12:40 Mizzima News 


Residents near the Dawei deep-sea port and special economic zone said they want details of the agreements signed by Burma and Thailand this week, and they want their needs to be taken into account.

Bo Bo Aung of the Dawei Development Association, which has spoken out for residents in land disputes and met with officials backing the Dawei project, called on the governments to provide details of the three memorandums of understanding signed on Monday to reaffirm their economic cooperation on the huge energy and industrial project.

“We do not know about the structures and components of the ministerial-level working group which was appointed by the two countries and which will implement the economic cooperation plans, particularly on achieving progress on the Thai-invested Dawei seaport and economic zone,” Bo Bo Aung told The Bangkok Post, in an article published on Wednesday.

In the past, he said government and company officials have not provided enough consultation and information sharing with local residents, which has caused widespread concern about livelihoods in the agriculture-based region.

He said the two governments and the companies involved in the nearly US$ 60 billion project need to look at the realities of the nearby residents, who would be effected by the more than 200-square-mile project.

Bo Bo Aung said it appeared that the renewed cooperation between the two governments could attract international financial institutions that would soon provide the backing to fund the project. The contractor is Italian-Thai, Thailand’s largest construction company.

“People talk about positive impacts like job opportunities, but the local people here are more skilled in farming than in working at deep-sea ports and industrial estates,” Bo Bo Aung said.

“They should be trained in skills that will enable them to work in the new business environment before imposing the projects on the local people,” he told The Post. 

Original Link : http://www.mizzima.com/business/7597-dawei-residents-want-a-seat-at-the-table.html

Dawei residents worry over port project

• Published: 25/07/2012 at 01:44 AM

Residents in Dawei are worried about a deep-sea port project which Myanmar President Thein Sein has promised to push along.

Coordinator U Bo Bo Aung of the Dawei Development Association urged the Thai and Myanmar governments to disclose details of the three memoranda of understanding they signed on Monday to reaffirm their economic cooperation on the project.
"We do not know about the structures and components of the ministerial-level working group which was appointed by the two countries and which will implement the economic cooperation plans, particularly on achieving progress on the Thai-invested Dawei seaport and economic zone," U Bo Bo Aung said from Dawei.
He said there had not been adequate consultation and information-sharing with local people to keep them up to date on the development and its long-term impact on their livelihoods.
"Also, the project's costs and benefits and explanations on who will win or lose from the deal need to be more transparent," U Bo Bo Aung said.
Soe Aung, of the Forum for Democracy in Burma, doubted whether the projects supported by the MoUs would indeed help the people in the area.
"It is alarming that people's property, including farmland, is being confiscated by the government and its cronies, and people are being forced out of the area without proper compensation and consultation," said the Mae Sot-based activist.
Italian-Thai Development has committed to investing at least 300 billion baht in the first phase of the project, which would provide Thailand with a short cut to the Indian Ocean and Myanmar with a gateway to mainland Southeast Asia and Pacific Ocean trade routes.
The company is leading a consortium, which won the concession to develop the port.
The consortium was dealt a setback earlier this month when its main local partner, Max Myanmar, withdrew after it was unable to come up with its share of the capital.
U Bo Bo Aung said while the two governments' backing of the Dawei project should guarantee that international financial institutions would soon come to Italian-Thai's rescue, he still hoped that his government would also look at realities on the ground.
"People talk about positive impacts like job opportunities, but the local people here are more skilled in farming than in working at deep-sea ports and industrial estates," U Bo Bo Aung said.
"They should be trained in skills that will enable them work in the new business environment before imposing the projects on the local people."
Thein Sein's visit to Thailand was widely reported by the media, although political observers commented that his delegation to Thailand was different than the one he had taken to other countries such as Singapore and China, where he was accompanied by more businessmen.
Thein Sein's visit to Thailand is aimed at strengthening Myanmar's bond with Thailand, its second-largest trading partner after China.
Ko Maung, an Asean expert based in Yangon, said the visit is also important as Thailand is accommodating millions of Myanmar migrant workers and refugees.
The analyst said Thein Sein's ability to deliver political and economic reform in Myanmar was being hampered by unpopular ministers, five or six of who would need to be changed.
"When he returns home, he has to deal with his new vice-president [Myint Swe], who is supported by the wife of former president Than Shwe," he said.
"Thein Sein has several battles to fight [at home] while he makes promises outside the country."


Original Link :  http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/304104/dawei-residents-worry-over-port-project

Thailand, Myanmar agree to support Dawei economic zone

(Reuters) - Thai and Myanmar leaders on Monday offered a much-needed lift to the multi-billion dollar Dawei port and industrial zone in southern Myanmar that has been struggling to find private investors.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Myanmar President Thein Sein told a joint news conference they had agreed to connect the strategically located Dawei Economic Zone with industrial areas along Thailand's eastern seaboard, including the Laem Chabang deep sea port.
But they gave few details except to say ministers from both sides would start regular meetings from August.
The $50 billion project led by Italian-Thai Development Pcl in southern Myanmar could be one of the most important projects for the country whose young quasi-civilian government is eager to revive a battered economy by attracting foreign investment previously held back by years of sanctions.
It was the first time the two governments have said they would together support the $50 billion project led by Italian-Thai Development Pcl.
The two leaders said they had agreed to connect the new zone, with its deep sea port, with industrial areas along Thailand's eastern seaboard, including the Laem Chabang port.
However, they did not say what level of support they would give the 250 sq km (97 sq mile) Dawei complex, a private initiative with plans to include steel mills, refineries, a petrochemical complex and power plants.
The deep-sea port, which would cost $2.5 billion and is due for completion in 2018, would bring in goods to be transported by rail or road from the Indian Ocean along a corridor that runs past Bangkok to its eastern seaboard.
The goods could either be used in Thai industrial estates there or shipped onwards to third countries, having bypassed the long and congested shipping lane through the Malacca Strait.
Ital-Thai president, Premchai Karnasuta, recently told Reuters he was in talks with companies from Japan and planned to build gas, coal-fired and hydropower plants after Myanmar's government scrapped a planned 4,000 megawatt coal-fired plant on environmental grounds.
Through its Dawei Development Company, Ital-Thai is in a rush to find new partners after Max Myanmar, owned by tycoon Zaw Zaw, decided to reduce its 25 percent stake in Dawei.
(Reporting by Martin Petty; Editing by Alan Raybould and Jonathan Thatcher)

Original Link:  http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/23/thailand-myanmar-idUSL4E8IN32A20120723?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=rbssIndustryMaterialsUtilitiesNews&rpc=401

Thein Sein, Yingluck focus on Dawei project

Monday, 23 July 2012 11:52 Mizzima News 

Burmese President Thein Sein quickly got down to business in Thailand during his three-day visit that started on Sunday, immediately visiting a huge Thai port and industrial zone south of Bangkok.

Burmese President Thein Sein, seated right, visits Laem Chabang deep seaport in Chonburi Province in Thailand on Sunday, July 22, 2012, while on a three-day visit to Thailand to discuss economic development projects. Photo: MJA

The Laem Chabang Port and Laem Chabang Industrial Estate in eastern Chon Buri is similar to Burma’s planned Dawei deep-sea port and industrial zone southeast of Rangoon, which will be largely developed by Thai companies.

During his visit, Thein Sein will meet with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on ways to develop the Dawei project and a planned transportation corridor connecting to Thailand.

Yingluck told The Nation newspaper that economic cooperation between Thailand and Burma, particularly the joint development of the Dawei port project and the link to the Laem Chabang port, would be a top priority in their discussions.

The two countries will sign three Memorandums of Understanding on development.

A Thai official said the Dawei-Laem Chabang link will benefit Thailand by shifting transportation from road to railways, which will reduce logistics costs and increase productivity by cutting travel time from Laem Chabang to India's Chennai from six to three days.

The initial investment in Dawei has been estimated at US$ 8.6 billion. Estimats of the total cost are up to $60 billion. The project includes refineries, power plants and shipping facilities designed to make Burma a key hub in transporting good into Southeast Asia and China.

A Thai official told The Bangkok Post that Thein Sein made the right decision when he postponed his trip to Thailand earlier this month because his visit might have received less attention, coming as it did at the same time as a visit by Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to Thailand.

The two governments will now have more time to discuss important issues, he said.

“President Thein Sein is the key person whom the international community should support to move reform and national reconciliation in Myanmar ahead,” the official told the Bangkok Post.

“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is important, of course, as the symbol of democracy in the country, but President Thein Sein is the person responsible for reform.”

Original Page:  http://www.mizzima.com/business/7575-thein-sein-yingluck-focus-on-dawei-project.html

The collective voices of local people from The Dawei Special Economic zone

 

The collective  voices of local people from The  Dawei Special Economic zone

About Dawei Project Watch

Dawei Project Watch (DPW) is a group of social activists and human rights workers working and travelling in the various areas of southern Burma.  They are young ethnic Karen, Mon and Tavoyan activists involved in community development, civic education, and human rights documentation for their own people. 

They are currently preparing to monitor the imminent and massive Dawei deep-water port industrial project to protect their people, help them seek justice, and challenge the project.
 [Download PDF Version of DaWei Profect(Eng)]