The Narinjara News
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NEWS IN ENGLISH
Forced Relocation for Border Fence in Maungdaw
Sai Din Hydropower Project Resumes
Gas and Competition in the
NEWS IN BURMESE
http://www.narinjara.com/burmese.asp
6 Burmese
citizens push back to their homeland after seizing of their properties
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Narinjara News
Maungdaw,
Forced Relocation for Border Fence in Maungdaw
Some families in
"They
ordered us last week to move from the village as our houses are close to the
army godown but they did not instruct on where we have to go," he said.
The
households that have been asked to move are in Ka Yin Chaung Village in
Maungdaw, and have been in the village for generations.
"In
our village there are only ten houses, and among those, three have been ordered
to relocate by army officials from the engineering battalion who came to our
area recently to implement the border fence project," the resident said.
The three
households that have been ordered to move are those of Daw Thit Mu, U Sein Hla,
and U Zaw Chay. All three are Arakanese Buddhist.
A relative
of Daw Thit Mu said, "They do not know where they will be moving because
they are unable to buy plots to build their new houses on because they are poor
families."
According
to local sources, the three families are now facing many problems with the
forced relocation, and have requested help from elders in Maungdaw.
This is the
first time families have been ordered to relocate for the fence construction
along the border, but many lands that are located near the fence site are being
confiscated by the army authorities without compensation.
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Narinjara News
Buthidaung,
Sai Din Hydropower Project Resumes
Construction on the Sai Din hydropower plant in northern
"The project has already started with the help of the
Chinese government, and it is a five-year project set to complete in
2014," he said.
The Sai Din hydropower site is located 30 miles southeast of
Buthidaung, a town in northern
"The project is situated on the Sai Din Waterfall, the
largest waterfall in Arakan, and it is estimated it will have a capacity of 70
megawatts," he added.
Burmese governments in the past, including the U Nu
government, tried to set up a hydropower on the Sai Din Waterfall but were
unsuccessful due to many obstacles.
In 1952,
one foreign engineer was killed by a group from the Burma Communist Party while
he was working on a hydropower project in the area. After the incident, the
government stopped the work on the plant.
In 1988,
soon after the SLORC took power, the government announced that it would set up
a hydropower plant at the waterfall but three years later the project was
postponed for unknown reasons.
The Burmese
military government resumed the project this year after the Arakanese community
blamed the government for their neglect of Arakan's development and the short
2-hour supply of electricity that Arakanese towns receive every day.
The
engineer said, "I'm sure this time the government will set up the power
plant despite previous projects failing, because many materials are arriving at
the construction site and many engineers are working at the site
currently."
The Burmese
military junta announced publicly in January 2009 that the government would
establish two large projects - the Sai Din hydropower plant and a railway route
- in
Many
Arakanese people believe the government announcement is just intended to garner
support for the pro-military government party in the 2010 elections.
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Narinjara
News
The
neighboring country will make a proposal for hiring lands in Arakan State
during the upcoming third meeting of the Bangladesh-Myanmar Joint Trade
Commission scheduled on 7- 8 April in Burma’s new capital Naypyidaw, according
to an official of the Bangladesh Commerce Ministry.
The Joint
Trades Commission was formed with the delegates of both countries in 2003 in
order to facilitate improvement of bilateral trade. Their last meeting was held
in November 2008 in
“We will
raise the issue of leasing land in Rakhine (Arakan) State for ensuring our
country’s food security through agriculture, animal husbandry, poultry and
shrimp farming”, said the official.
Arakan, a
coastal strip in western
Thousands
of Arakanese people, as they said, have been leaving their homeland for
The
official added that the issues of direct banking, letter of credit,
establishing direct waterways and airway transportations, opening border
markets and holding trade exhibitions of both countries would be on the top
agendas in the meeting of the Joint Trade Commission, besides leasing land for
contract farming in Arakan.
“Large scale cross-border smuggling occupies a
significant role in the trades of the two neighbors due to
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Narinjara News
Sittwe,
Gas and Competition in the
By Tun Kyaw
Under the 27 March agreement, a US $1 billion gas pipeline
will tap into
The Shwe gas reserves off the Arakan Coast have attracted
considerable attention following the discovery of deposits at block A-1, in
Shwe and Shwepyu fields, in January 2004, and at block A-3 in Mya field in
April 2005. It has been estimated that the Shwe field holds a gas reserve of
four to six trillion cubic feet, while the Shwepyu and Mya fields have a
combined proved reserve of 5.7 to 10 trillion cubic feet. The finds have
triggered competition between
The roughly
2,000 kilometer pipeline to be constructed from Kyaukpru will carry this gas to
From 2013,
Chinese oil tankers from the
Arakan is
rich in natural resources, including oil and gas, but exploitation by the
Burmese military junta has caused extreme poverty of the Arakanese people.
Moreover, the Arakanese people are very anxious about the monopolization of
their management rights by
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Narinjara
News (NN) was founded by a group of Arakanese in exile in
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