Rural Residents Forced to Pay for Infrastructure Development

April 25, 2014

Residents of Ah Sin Village face hardship as they are forced to pay for local road construction. As rural development expands, local people are experiencing the heavy burden of paying for expanding infrastructure from their own pockets.

A three mile-long concrete road between Ah Sin Village and Ah State Village, Ye Township, Mon State is to be constructed this year. Construction costs are estimated at 100 million kyat, with the government supporting 50 million kyat, and local Ye businessman, U Kalar Kyi, who is amongst the wealthiest members of the community, having pledged to support the remaining costs to complete the project.

Households located along either side of the main road have been informed that they must create concrete plots from the land in front of their houses that reaches to the road. Residents must pay for the construction themselves, which will cost each household between 50,000-200,000 kyat.

One 55 year-old woman living in Ah Sin Village explains that she has difficulty finding the means to pay for the construction, because she has only a betel nut plantation as her sole source of income. Most local betel nut plantation owners keep their betel nut for years after drying it; they do not sell unless they can receive a high price. The betel nut harvest has just ended, so the Ah Sin resident does not want to sell her betel nut yet, if possible.

“We are plantation workers”, she says, “So we just have betel nut. We just started to keep the betel nut, so we do not want to sell it. We have to pay 50,000 kyat at the end of this month for road construction. Our house was asked to pay 50,000 kyat per month; [in total] they charged us 150,000 kyat for the construction.”

The resident continues to explain that each house was told to pay a different amount, anywhere between 50,000-500,000 kyat. U Kalar Kyi has taken responsibility to pay for the implementation of the road construction, but he has also asked every household to contribute. Local people do not have the means to pay the amount demanded all at once, so U Kalar Kyi has given the residents three months to pay; each house is permitted to pay 50,000 kyat per month.

Many Ah Sin residents have complained about the costs imposed on them. They feel the project was not related to the local people, and that the government must take responsibility for any infrastructure. Residents have also voiced that they do not want to sell their properties, if possible.

“Those who live in huts face worse [hardships] than [others]”, says the Ah Sin resident, “Because they are also demanded to pay 50,000 kyat, though they are living in a broken hut,”

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News