Dawei Project

A group of environmental activists rode bikes from Rangoon to Dawei to show their support to the estimated 23,000 villagers about to be evicted to make way for the controversial $63 billion Dawei development project planned for the region. Lwin Lwin from Tavoyan Voice, a community based group spoke to Karen News. “14 people including a Tavoyan woman from the…

Villagers in the east of Dawei, Southern Burma are protesting the building of a dam that will destroy their villages and force them to be relocated. More than 400 villagers from five villages from east of Tavoy, in southern Burma gathered in their village and held a prayers service. The villagers, both Buddhist and Christians prayed for the Htee Ler…

Hsa Keh village is a small fishing community – nothing more than a line of small bamboo houses with leaf roofing. Under a clear sky, three small wooden fishing boats glide onto the beach. A peaceful scene that now has a dark development cloud hanging over the villagers. Hsa Keh village is in Na Bu Le area, west of Dawei…

Villagers at a public meeting attended by government ministers, political organisations, community groups and developers called for new impact assessments to be carried out on the Dawei Special Economic Zone. Villagers from Ka Loat Hta made their request at a special meeting at Dawei Town Hall on December 5th. More than 300 people attended the meeting that was organized by…

Tavoyan people in Southern Burma, who will be evicted from their homes to make way for a deep sea port and industrial zone deny claims by the project developer, the Italian-Thai Development Company, that most of the people have already been relocated out of the area. Premchai Karnasuta, the managing director of ITD, told regional media that the relocation of…

The Karen National Union stopped the Italian-Thai Development Company after one of its bulldozers ‘cleared’ an ancient pagoda near the Karen village of Myitta while constructing the Dawei-Kanchanaburi highway east of Dawei, Tenasserim Division. Villagers believe the Italian-Thai Development Company bulldozer may have accidently destroyed the pagoda that was obscured by bushland. A Myitta villager reported the destruction of the…

Villagers living in the area of the Dawei deep-sea port, part of a mega development project worth USD$60 billion that is planned for southern Burma, claim it is making it hard for them to now make a living. Villagers in the Nabule area of Yebyu Township claim that they have lost farming lands and are now unable to grow seasonal…

The local people in Ka Moe Thway area, Tavoy (Dawei) town, in southern Burma have called for the Thai government to not to build dirty industry near their homes. On September 20, around 200 villagers, who live along the Dawei-Kanchanaburi road, constructed by the Thai Italian-Thai Development Company, gathered in Kaw Htee Lor village to pray for a stop to…

Villagers from Yay Phyu Township in Tanintharyi Region claim that heavy trucks used by the Italian-Thai Development Company for the Dawei Project are damaging village roads. Villagers claim the constant flow of heavy trucks from the Italian-Thai Development Company using local roads in the Na Bu Leh, Mu Du and Nyaung Pin Seik villages are destroying the roads, but company…

The regions biggest development investment will threaten local livelihoods, cause environmental risks, and could displace thousands of locals, according to a Thai non-government organisation. A Thai based environmental advocacy organisation, The Foundation for Ecological Recovery (FER), has raised concerns regarding the Italian-Thai Development Public Company’s construction of a large deep seaport and industrial complex at Dawei, in southern Burma and…