Wednesday, 25 January 2012 22:21 Ko Wild
The vice president met with a number of the homeowners and told them the giant energy project in southern Burma will create better social and economic conditions for the country, according to state-run newspapers.
Government officials said 23,120 people from 3,984 homes in 18 villages will be relocated. A total of more than 100,000 acres of agricultural land including rubber plantations, cashew plantations, coconut palm plantations and palm plantations will be lost in the relocation project.
Earlier authorities said the compensation for the owners of the plantations would depend on the type of plantation; now the authorities have agreed to give a maximum of 2 million kyat per one acre as compensation, according to Tin Maung Swe, a project official.
The state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported that the vice president called for government officials to assist the relocated villagers in the process. More than 20 officials including ministers and deputy ministers, and the chairman of the Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited that is carrying out the project accompanied the vice president.
Earlier, residents said that 21 villages would be relocated. Some smaller villages were combined with larger ones, so the number is now 18, residents’ said.
During the vice president’s trip he met with monks and villagers from seven villages at the Leshaung village monastery.
“All Tin Aung Myint Oo did was tell us we had to move. He told the monks that the government will work for the villagers to achieve a better future and will make the country more developed,” a resident who attended the meeting told Mizzima.
The village heads of a number of area villages told the officials they would be ready to move.
The exact time when the villagers will be relocated is not yet known, because the government is still working on replacement homes and infrastructure, sources said.
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