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Imagining Dawei

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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.

Election over Troubled Waters: Why Benefit Sharing over the Salween is Important for Myanmar

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Minority groups, which make up 40 percent of Myanmar’s population and are represented by their own political parties, have not been under effective state control since Myanmar’s independence 67 years ago. Despite the ceasefire agreement, fighting between ethnic armed groups and the Myanmar Armed Forces has continued in several states. One of their grievances is the damming of the Salween river in their controlled territories. Proper accommodation of the interests of minority groups in this matter is crucial for ensuring that a peaceful post-election period and transition towards true democracy.

Petition in opposition to Thailand National Mining policy submitted

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A group of villagers are demanding the government cancel its policy of giving out Special Prospecting Licences throughout Thailand to boost gold mining. People who have been affected by the gold mining business agreed and set up a civil society group which aims to reform gold mining business and policy. The primary goal of the group is to reform the national policy on gold mining, including changing business ownership to Thai national only, business transparency, which will provide maximum benefit to the country and Thai people.

Krabi power plant ‘will have little environmental impact’

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THE COAL-FIRED power plant and coal transport pier planned for Krabi province will have only a small environmental impact on the area, according to some researchers. A study of possible effects from the power plant and Klong Rua coal transport pier was funded by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat). The findings were disclosed at a press conference hosted by the Institute for Population and Social Research and Egat at Mahidol University on Monday.

Perennial dam project threatens locals’ way of life

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“The forest is our main source of food year round. Our lives are tied to it,” said Mr Pan, 57, also the head of a two-century-old village located in the forest of Ob Khan National Park’s Mae Khan River basin. But this lifestyle based on nature is under threat. The villagers have lived with anxiety for 20 years under the shadow of a dam construction project that has been dusted off by successive prime ministers despite the villagers’ protests.

Vietnamese plea to Thailand: Don’t divert the Mekong

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Thailand Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha voiced plans to use water from the Mekong and Salween rivers to fill dams that have run low because of drought and poor water management. But the PM’s remarks have caused shockwaves in the Mekong Delta, which would be directly affected if such a project was to go ahead.

People’s demand to cancel PDP 2015 and start a new transparent process

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As a result of the recent endorsement of Thailand’s Power Development Plan B.C. 2015-2036 (PDP 2015) which is leading to the construction of power plants with capacity of 57,459 megawatts in the next 20 years signifying the security necessary of the country’s electricity, there were several irregularities found after the examination of the content of the plan. The key concern is that the PDP in 2015 will also lead to the unnecessary construction of the power plant investment. Not only this investment will not be beneficial but will instead incur long-term financial burdens to consumers with more than 6.7 billion baht.

Higher PPP investment limit urged

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The Thai government hopes to ease its public debt burden by luring the private sector to invest more in multibillion-baht infrastructure projects, especially in telecommunications and transport, through public-private partnerships (PPPs).