Villagers forced to relocate, provide materials to pave way for road project

March 18, 2009

Tue 17 Mar 2009, Kon Hadae, IMNA

Villagers are being forced to provide construction materials and move their homes to facilitate a road expansion project in southern Mon State. At least four households have been required to relocate or partially dismantle their homes to make room for the road expansion, say local sources.

Every household in Khaw-zar Sub-township is also being required to provide two loads of stones for the project. According to local sources, no one is being compensated for the cost of supplies or even the loss of their homes. Khaw-zar is home to at least 650 households.

The project, which began last month, is being undertaken on the order of Khaw-zar Sub-township Peace and Development Council Chairman Kyaw Moe. According to local sources, Kyaw Moe has said that he would like the town to have a developed main road through its center. The mile-long road is currently made of dirt and barely wide enough for two ox carts to pass abreast of each other.

“We are doing this for the development of the town, so people have to help by giving their labor,” a male source quoted Kyaw Moe to IMNA.

Some villagers are donating substantially more than their labor, however, and have had to destroy their homes to make way for the widening of the road. “Right now, even though the road is only half finished, four or five homes have had to be destroyed,” said the male source. “I do not know how many houses will be destroyed in the future.”

The displaced residents have lost a minimum of 6 million kyat – with one family losing as much as 20 million kyat – continued the man.

Other villagers two busy to go into the countryside to collect stones have been purchasing their quota. According to local sources, one load is costing around 16,000 kyat.

Villagers too poor to pay the fee, however, are finding themselves gathering stones instead of earning much needed income. “If you have no money to buy two loads of stones, you have to go outside the village and gather them until you have two cars full,” said a woman who gathered stones.

“We spend most of our time doing [the authority’s] work,” continued the woman. “We have less time to work our own jobs, so we have many problems for our poor family to survive in the future. But even though we want to remove ourselves from here, we do not dare to leave because we are afraid we will not find any work at all.”

Written by HURFOM · Filed Under News