Dawei residents seek Thai PM's attention

Myanmar Eleven News/ The Nation 07 October 2014

Dawei Development Group, a group of local residents in Dawei, plans to issue an open letter to Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, urging him to solve conflicts before pushing for the resumption of the project development.

Ye Lin Myint, a member of the group, said today that the open letter would contain controversial issues which need to be solved. The open letter is planned as Dawei development project appeared to be one of the top agenda to be discussed by Thai and Myanmar leaders in Nay Pyi Taw.

"The letter will contain mainly the issues happening in our region in the past few years, which need to be tackled before the project resumes. We don't want the conflicts to escalate," he said, adding that some civil society organisations may join the move.

Prayut is expected to visit the country later this month. The Dawei development project, concessioned to Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD), is expected to resume after the Thai and Myanmar authorities took control of the project late last year. It is considered path of Asean's East-West corridor transport link.

Ye Lin Myint said that one of the ongoing issues is overdue compensation to some farmers whose land was confiscated for the development project.

The industrial development project, which will contain a huge deep-sea port, also causes environmental concerns to local residents. On October 6, they gathered at Summit Parkview Hotel in Yangon to discuss a research on marine resources in Kamuang Thwel creek, which is in the development area. The villagers said that road construction has caused depleting resources in the creek.