Amid armed conflict in Kachin state, China speeding up the dam in Burma

 By Zin Linn

Today state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper accused KIO/KIA of forcibly recruiting villagers in Dawphonyan Sub-Township into their armed forces.

It said that KIO/KIA forced local people to join them, and otherwise they are not allowed to live in the villages. The ethnic armed group proclaims that one man from each household in lower Tarsai Village, upper Tarsai Village, Teinmakyaing Village and Mongma Village in Dawphonyan Sub-Township must join KIO/KIA.

Such act of KIO/KIA shows that they prove a total disregard for the wishes of the local people wishing for peace and undermined the stability of Kachin State, and security and socio-economy of the rural people, the government media said.

However, Salang Kaba Lar Nan, Joint General Secretary-2 of the KIO, dismissed the government newspaper’s accusation as baseless since those villages are under the government’s administration. Moreover, members of the KIO/KIA join up the group at their will, he said.

Meanwhile, China is speeding up the construction of the Irrawaddy dam although the armed conflict still going on in Kachin State, quoting an urgent August-31-dated statement released by the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG), the Kachin News Group said.

The Myitsone dam is being constructed by workers of the state-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) and the Burma-Asia World Company, plus 700 additional construction workers from the Chinese state-owned Sino-hydro Corporation, Ms. Ah Nan, spokesperson for the KDNG said.

In October 2009, the Thailand-based Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG) published a report – “Resisting the flood” – highlighting the implementation of the Myitsone dam project on the Irrawaddy River. The report demanded to stop the project sponsored by the China Power Investment Corporation (CPI), the main investor and contractor.

The dam project creates unwelcome impacts like social, environmental, livelihood, cultural and security problems for tens of thousands of people around the dam location and downstream of the dam. The report states that more than 15,000 people in 60 villages around the dam sites are being forcibly relocated without proper resettlement plans being drawn up by the Burmese military regime. They lost their means of livelihood such as farming, fishing and collection of non-timber forest products.

Besides, over 150,000 people in Kachin’s capital Myitkyina, 27 miles downstream of the dam, will have to live under the constant threat of floods from the dam if there is an earthquake. The dam is less than 100 kilometers from a major fault line in an earthquake-prone area, warned the KDNG report.
More Chinese construction machinery and materials are being transported to the Myitsone Dam site by 12-wheel trucks on the Myitkyina-Kambaiti Road, referring local eyewitnesses of border town Kambaiti, KNG reported.

After a new military conflict started between the Burmese Army and the KIA in June, in Kachin State, the KIA post along the Myitkyina-Kambaiti route banned trucks loaded with construction materials and equipment, according to truck drivers on that road. The KIA also damaged the key bridges on the road using mines. Part of the Stilwell Road (also called Ledo) was reconstructed in 2006, at a cost of 97 million Yuan (US$15.2) by Chinese companies from Yunnan province.

The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), the political wing of the KIA, sent an open letter to Chinese President, Hu Jintao, in March, urging a halt to the Irrawaddy Myitson Dam construction because it will lead civil war in the country.

According to the KDNG statement, the Chinese communist government has refused the KIO request.

With the help of the KDNG, Kachin ethnic people around the world have protested by sending an appeal letter with many signatures via the Chinese Embassies in five cities such as Bangkok, London, New Delhi, Singapore and Wellington addressed to Premier Wen Jiabao. They made a fervent appeal in March 2010 to stop the Myitsone Hydropower project in Kachin State.

The 500 foot dam has been under construction at the confluence (Myitsone) of the Mali Hka River and N’Mai Hka River, 27 miles north of the Kachin capital, Myitkyina, beginning in December, 2009, and it will cost 3.6 billion dollars.

Most of the 6000 MW of electricity produced will be sold to China.

In a statement issued on 11 August, Burma’s Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi said the dam endangers the flow of the Irrawaddy River, which she described as “the most significant geographical feature of the country.”

“We believe that, taking into account the interests of both countries, both governments would hope to avoid consequences which might jeopardize lives and homes,” Suu Kyi emphasized. “To safeguard the Irrawaddy is to save from harm our economy and our environment, as well as to protect our cultural heritage,” she added.

Source : http://asiancorrespondent.com/author/uzinlinn/