A new documentary film premiering in Rangoon this weekend offers a view into the social upheaval and dislocation caused by the Myitsone Dam project in Kachin State.
Produced over four years, including months embedded in the now largely abandoned Tang Hpre village in the dam’s catchment area, Dams, Drugs and Democracy charts community opposition to the dam before and after President Thein Sein announced the controversial megaproject’s suspension in 2011.
The Dawei Special Economic Zone has been championed by both the Myanmar and Thai governments as a promising industrial development for Myanmar, yet there have been difficulties getting the project off the ground.
According to the agreement, the initial phase of the project must be carried out on the 7-square-kilometre land allotted for the special zone, and 65 percent of construction must be completed within three years from the signing date. In the meantime, Italian-Thai Development has been building infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water supplies and buildings.
The Dawei Special Economic Zone (DSEZ) is a major industrial project and deep sea port now at an initial phase of construction located in Taninthayri Region, Myanmar. The original plan, led by the Thai construction company Ital-Thai since 2008, was for a US$ 50 billion project that entailed a 250 kilometer square industrial zone. However, by 2012 the project was in deep trouble as it failed to attract investment and was challenged by civil society groups concerned about impact on local livelihoods and the environment, as well as the overall decision-making process around the project.
Farmland at this time of the year — the beginning of harvesting season — was once filled with produce waiting to be harvested.
But since the government announced the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Tak earlier this year, Mr Sombat said farmers such as himself have been afraid to invest in farming as they have no idea if they will have to leave their land.
In its first weekend of public screenings, the documentary Dams, Drugs and Democracy The Struggle for Resources in Kachin State, Myanmar has enjoyed full houses and surging interest in the controversy it presents – the Myitsone Dam project at the head of the Ayeyarwady River.
The development by the Thai government of a special economic zone at Mae Sot, which is intended to improve trade and communications between Thailand and Myanmar, could have devastating consequences for local inhabitants.
The fallout from the Great Fall in financial markets, equities and currencies is ricocheting through the regional economy and beginning to exact a toll – initially among badly-run companies and poorly-managed government institutions.
A report released on October 5 details human rights violations committed by the Myanmar government in the development of the Upper Paunglaung Dam project in southwest Shan State.
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), Land in Our Hands (LIOH) and Kayan New Generation Youth (KNGY) jointly published the report which found that households were subject to forced displacement by the government, experienced an increase in poverty and reported food security issues, water shortages, mental health issues and suicides.
Across the open door of the immigration office, a black dog sleeps, his ears twitching. It is a slow day at the border, under the tropical afternoon sun.
There is a lone white concrete marker at Dawei’s Kilometre Zero, where storms come ashore from the Andaman Sea and where the long, unpaved road to Thailand begins.
There is little now auguring that the white marker will one day be at the centre of Dawei special economic zone (SEZ), a mammoth project more than one-quarter the size of Singapore. In its entirety it will cost billions of dollars to build, potentially creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and generating up to 5 percent of Myanmar’s GDP.
