Kachin News Group

Relocation has been ordered for the first 500 households in the Myitsone dam project site in Irrawaddy River in Burma’s northern Kachin State during the inaugural ceremony for construction on December 21, said participants.

Burmese military officers attending the inaugural ceremony also mentioned that each household to be relocated will be provided a one-time grant such as a sack of milled-rice and a viss of edible oil (1 Viss = 1.6 Kilograms) soon, according to residents of the dam site who were forced to attend the ceremony.

Burma-Asia World Company, the contractor of the dam will construct the homes for the 500 households, who will be relocated. The new village is earmarked between Chyinghkrang village and Lungga Zup village, about 20 miles north of Kachin’s capital Myitkyina.

However, till  now the owners of 500 houses in the predicted flood zones of the dam are yet to be informed officially by the authorities, said villagers in Tang Hpre, the village in the dam’s flood zone at the confluence (Myitsone in Burmese) of Irrawaddy River, 27 miles north of Myitkyina.

According to the report “Damming the Irrawaddy” released in December, 2007 by Thailand-based Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG), about 15,000 people in over 60 villages in the periphery of the dam site will be relocated if the dam becomes a reality.

Under the agreement between Burma and China, the Myitsone dam is being implemented by Asia World Company and China state-owned China Power Investment Corporation (CPI).

Earlier, the two companies planned to generate a total of 3,600 MW of electricity. However it is now estimated to generate up to 6,000 MW of power said Chinese CPI’s officials during the inaugural ceremony on Monday.

The CPI plans to construct two huge dams side by side in Lahpe, 22 miles north of Myitkyina.

Those who attended the meeting said, the officials of the two companies also said they will employ 80,000 labourers in the dam project--- 40,000 labourers  will be Burmese from lower Burma and another half will be from China.

Now, about 2000 Chinese labourers and hundreds of Asia World Company’s workers are working in the dam site, said local people.

Those who attended the inaugural ceremony included the Burmese junta’s Minister of Electric Power No. 1 Col Zaw Min, Minister of Post, Communication and Telegraphs Brig-Gen Thein Zaw, top officials from CPI and Asia World Company and senior officials from China’s Yunnan province, said local participants.

Over a hundred civilians and government school teachers were forced to wear logos issued by Military Affairs Security (MAS) and compelled to attend the ceremony, said participants.

According to local eyewitnesses, more Burmese soldiers and policemen have been deployed around the dam project site since the inaugural ceremony.