Dawei Project

For the first time in decades, farmers in Dawei Township held a demonstration in Dawei City in an attempt get back farmlands returned to them that were confiscated by the former military regime. Ko Tun Tun Win, a farmer who led the demonstration accused local government officials of implementing development projects on confiscated farmlands without informing or negotiating with owner…

The Karen National Union (KNU) in Southern Burma has suspended a coalmine from operating in the Pawklo area, east of Dawei. The KNU stopped the mine after listening to the demands local villagers made to the political organisations district leaders. The KNU Mergui-Tavoy District 16th Congress that finished on the 19 October decided that the coal mine in Tha Nay…

A local rights group, the Tavoyan Women’s Union (TWU), releases video it claims shows how Thai and Burmese developers of the Dawei deap-sea mega project are abusing villagers’ rights. The video purports to show how the beauty of the Tavoyan coast is being destroyed by the massive port and industrial zone that has been in the planning since 2008. After…

Japan joined a meeting between Thailand and Burma to discuss how to kick-start the Dawei $60 billion mega project in southern Burma. It was the first time the three countries had met to discuss Japan’s role as a potential investor in the massive Dawei project that includes, a deep-sea port, industrial zone, rail and road links to Thailand, power plants…

Villagers angry with a Thai company for not paying them ‘promised compensation’ have stopped vehicles from delivering supplies to the $60 billion Dawei project in southern Burma. Villagers from Kaw Htee Lor (Thebyutchaung) east of Dawei, in Southern Burma blockaded the road to protest against the Italian-Thai Development Company (ITD) for refusing to pay compensation for properties damaged caused by…

Local people affected by the construction of Thailand’s and Burma’s Dawei-Kanchanaburi road link in Southern Burma have rejected to be involved in a ‘public consultative meeting’ to approve the last stage of an environmental impact assessment report. A villager from Kaw Htee Klo (Tha Byut Chaung) told Karen News that surveyors from the Environmental Research Institute of Chulalongkorn University headed…

Government authorities have applied pressure to 30 villagers in Cha Khan village who have refused to relocate, to make way for the construction of the Dawei deep-sea port. The villagers are refusing to move until they are given what they think is fair compensation. According to local people,the 30 villagers from Cha Khan Village in Htein Gyi tract, Tenasserim Division…

Villagers in the Nabule area will be forced to leave their homes, in April, to make way for construction work related to the mega-project, the $60 billion Dawei deep-sea port project. Residents of Mu Do village in Nabule area, Tenasserim Division, will be have to leave their homes before the annual Water Festival [Atar Thingyan], on April 13. The Italian-Thai…

Cha Khan villagers in Nabule area of Yephyu Township, Tenasserim Division who had their homes bulldozed by the Italian-Thai Development Company (ITD) to make way for the Dawei deep-sea project are facing difficulties to make a living. Local sources said villagers from Cha Khan were force to leave their homes to make way for construction work related to the Dawei…

The Italian-Thai Development Company (ITD) bulldozed the homes of Cha Khan residents’ in Yephyu Township, Tenasserim Division, to make way for the Dawei deep-sea project. Speaking to Karen News, a Cha Khan villager said. “At the end of January, the ITD Company bulldozers began clearing Cha Khan village. Now, only 15 houses are left. The land owner victims have no…