Myanmar: Company Accused of Bribing, Misleading Locals to Build Coal-Fired Power Plant

Myanmar: Company Accused of Bribing, Misleading Locals to Build Coal-Fired
Power Plant

Questions were raised in the Rangoon Division parliament about an unnamed
company using underhanded methods to induce locals of Zweba Kone village, in
semi-rural Kyauktan Township on the outer fringes of the city, to consent to
the building of a coal-fired power plant.

Daw Thet Thet Mu, the lawmaker representing Kyauktan Constituency-2 for the
National League for Democracy, told the divisional legislature on Tuesday
that the company's efforts to bribe and mislead locals-apparently carried
out under the radar of local authorities-had been going on since early
March.

She said that there were serious concerns over the likely impact of the
power plant on the environment and rural livelihoods in the village, and
asked whether the Rangoon Division government would allow it to proceed.

Speaking with the Irrawaddy, Daw Thet Thet Mu refused to name the company,
purportedly because the project is at a very early stage, but said that she
had not recognized the name; the companies' delegates spotted in the
locality were Indian and Chinese, she claimed, adding to suspicion that it
is foreign-owned.

Daw Thet Thet Mu told the legislature that the company had recently donated
4.5 million kyats (US$3,560) for fresh water excavation in the village.
During the donation ceremony, 150 villagers were asked to lend their
signatures to paper forms written in English signaling their support for the
power plant. Although most of the villagers could not understand English,
some unwittingly signed the consent forms, she said.

She added that that "the company's representatives convinced the villagers
that they would share 2 percent of the power plant's profits with them," and
that they would construct a new bridge linking Kyauktan with Thanlyin
Township, allowing easier access to the city.

She said that more educated villagers had expressed deep worry that the
power plant may pollute the soil, air and water in the village, ruining the
farmland on which the villagers depend.

The Divisional Minister of Electricity, Industry and Transport Daw Nilar
Kyaw responded on behalf of the Rangoon Division government, saying they
would not allow the coal-fired power plant to go ahead.

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Ref:
http://www.irrawaddy.com/burma/company-accused-of-bribing-misleading-locals-
to-build-coal-fired-power-plant.html

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John Diecker
APT Consulting Group Co., Ltd.

www.aptthailand.com