development project

UHM Development Co., Ltd has won a tender on June 21 to build an international standard shopping mall (plaza) in the Karen State’s capital Hpa-an. “Our company, which received the highest mark, has been selected. We believe our company was selected because we consider the needs of Hpa-an residents, how useful it (the shopping mall) will be for them and…

Total will install overhead power transmission lines across two townships in the Karen State to transmit power from the LNG (liquefied natural gas) power plant in Kanbauk area of Yebyu Township in the Tanintharyi Region to a 500 kV substation in the Bago Region, according to project officials. The project officials met with local residents in Kan Thar Oo Hall…

Local residents of Lun Nya Village have demanded Chit Linn Myaing Company to withdraw the rock quarry project at the Lun Nya Mountain in Hpa-an Township, Karen State after the company has produced rocks from all permitted amount of suds even though the project duration is not over. The local residents made the demand to Col Saw Chit Thu from…

Thirty-six environmental civil society organizations (CSOs) issued a joint statement on February 20 to express deep concerns over the government’s plans to resume the Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which has been suspended since U Thein Sein Administration, in November 2013. U Bo Bo Aung, Spokesperson for the CSOs’ statement, said the governments of Burma, Thailand, and Japan and the…

The Karen National Union (KNU) demanded negotiations with the union government over the plan to resume the construction of a two-lane highway connecting Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ), which has been suspended during U Thein Sein Administration in 2013, and the Thai border. The KNU issued a statement on February 1 in response to the government’s announcement on December 2,…

Local residents have blocked a road near Lun-Nya Village in Hpa-an Township, Karen State since January 3, due to damages caused by the vehicles from the quarries. Saw Khite Khite, head of the Lun-Nya Mountain Environmental Conservation Committee, said the farmers built the road for easier access to their farms. Now they erected pillars in the middle of the road…

Villagers from the Lun Nya Mountain area sent a petition to the Karen State Chief Minister on November 22 to protest companies quarrying rock on Lun Nya Mountain, in Hpa-an township, Karen State. Saw Khite Khite, director at Lun Nya Mountain’s Environment Conservation Committee, said that the purpose of the petition was to get the state government to take legal…

The 62nd Annual Karen State Day ceremony opened in Hpa-An on 7 November. The event, which will run until 11 November, includes a fair with games and food vendors, Karen cultural displays, and various competitions such as traditional dance, badminton, boxing, and cane-ball. The event started with a speech by the Karen State Chief Minister Nan Khin Htwe Myint, in…

Karen State Chief Minister Nan Khin Htwe Myint met for the first time with local residents opposing a coal-fired power plant at a public consultation on October 14. Around 1,500 people attended the discussion, which was held in Hpa An township’s Sasana Rama Wut Gyi monastery, including state government officials, experts, and residents from Ta Dar U, Kyauk Ta Lone,…

Karen State is open for business and ready for investment to pave the way for development, participants at a recent “Business for Peace” forum heard. The state’s Minister of Planning, Finance and Municipal Affairs U Than Naing said the state is now stable and brimming with business prospects that the government, in collaboration with ethnic armed organizations, is eager to…