Lack of Transparency Persists in Foreign Direct Investment Projects

July 21, 2014

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) continues to negatively impact local people as their rights are ignored. An unidentified Chinese investment company has initiated and implemented stone extraction and road construction in Ain Din village, Ye Township while ignoring residents’ protests and failing to consider how their activity will affect local residents.

Ain Din residents, whose families have lived in the area for decades, are suffering effects of air pollution and damage to their garden and farm land due to stone extraction and road construction. Villagers are dissatisfied that authorities and foreign investment companies did not seek local approval before initiating the stone extraction project, nor did they explain social and environmental impacts the project would inflict on the area.

For the past six months, the Chinese investment company has been crushing and transporting stone from a 326 meter rock mountain located 20 kilometers from Ye Town. After reaching an agreement with Ye authorities, the Chinese company bought land located near the mountain without explaining details of the project to the local landowners, leaving residents feeling disrespected and misdirected.

“When the Chinese came to buy the land, they gave a fair price,” explained a young man whose uncle had sold land to the company, “Most landowners thought they (the investment company) bought the land to invest for cultivation. Later, two bulldozers and trucks arrived here. Two Chinese citizens and two Burmese men have started to crush the stone. Landowners realized it (the project) was stone extraction only after they saw the company’s activities.

“They extract the stone the whole day with noisy sound,” he continues, “The environment is covered with dust. The worst thing is that the truck is traveling all day; it’s dangerous for the children. We also have no rights to know what the company is doing. The authorities and the company should have discussed and reached an agreement with the local people before they started their project. We don’t believe in the authorities anymore. Now, we submitted this issue to Dawei district of the New Mon State Party (NMSP). The NMSP visited here to observe, and they said they will stop the company from extracting the stone.”

After receiving letters of appeal from Ain Din residents concerning the stone extraction project, NMSP Dawei District department Chairman Nai Bayar Lal met with members of the investment company to stop any work that affects local people. With help of the NMSP, residents of Ye Township have applied pressure to stop the company.

Residents are demanding their rights be recognized now, in order to set a precedent for future FDI projects in the area.

“Without transparency and agreement, we don’t want to allow any foreign investment company to work in our area; it’s our right. If we are not able to stop this small project of stone extraction, how can we stop [a] huge project like [the] Ain Din coal power plant project? We know that it’s not easy to get rid [of] the company that the government supports, that is why we approached the NMSP to stop the company. As Nai Mon Saw New [and Chairman Nai Bayar Lal worked] to stop the [project], the company temporarily interrupted carrying the stone,” said a young man who works for a social network in Ain Din Village.

Although the project was temporarily interrupted, bulldozers and other materials have been left at the project site and local residents suspect that the company will soon begin their work again.

The same unidentified Chinese company is engaged a similar project of stone extract and road construction in Ma Kyi Village, southern Ye Town, Ye Township, which also lacks transparency with local residents. Due to many obstacles and protests from villagers, the company stopped working for three months.

Then in June, the Chinese company pretended to be a different company and convinced Ma Kyi Village residents to allow stone extraction in a Ma Kyi mountain that is the size of 20 acres.

According to Ma Kyi villager Nai Tun Myint, 44, “This Chinese company was very clever. They operated stone extraction at two places of Ye Township. They suspended their work due to [protest] against them, [then] they pretended [to be] a different company coming from Rangoon to collect opinion of the local people again. We appreciate that they came to ask [for] local agreement, however, they should [have done] this from the start. Most villagers did not agree with the company about stone extraction. We have [a] beautiful environment and weather because of this mountain. We don’t want to allow any company which only looks for their own benefit.”

Residents are glad that the NMSP has not initiated any investment deals without first consulting the local people, but worry about the possibility that foreign investment companies may engage armed groups in corruption.

“We are pleased that the NMSP did not operate any investment without reaching agreement with local people, however, we got to see that foreign investment companies visited the local area with huge amounts of money and bribed authorities and ceasefire armed groups. Government authorities were already involved, [but] we don’t want ceasefire armed groups and ethnic armed groups, who protect us, [to be] used by the company. If the company is able to convince them, our area will become a place that is not good for hunting and living [sic],” stated Nai Win, 34, an activist working for an environmental and ecosystem maintenance group from Ye Township.

Although the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) works to ensure transparency in resource extraction projects by use of domestic and international law that government and investors must adhere to, there is no transparency in the Ain Din stone extraction project, and it is evident that local residents feel that neither authorities nor investment companies care about their rights. Corruption between company members and authorities, along with a lack of transparency with the public leave local residents to bear the suffering.

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News