Local farmers will grow monsoon rice on the 70,000-arce farmland earlier confiscated for Thilawa Special Economic Zone Project in Thanhlyn township of Yangon, Myanmar, Mya Kyaing, one of the farmers, said.
Thirteen representatives of the farmers from met with Sett Aung,
Deputy Minister for National Planning and Economic Development, to
discuss the issue on May 19.
“About 70,000 acres of our villages were grabbed for the Thilawa
project. As the project hasn’t started yet, we requested the deputy
minister to allow us to grow rice there in this monsoon.
He said we need to get approval from the respective government
departments. But he didn’t say ‘no’. We said we will grow rice this
monsoon,” Mya Kyaing from Alwansut Village in Thilawa.
Farms and lands of Alwansut, Thilawa, Phalan, Tatyarkone, Thidamyine
and Payargone Villages were earlier seized as they are in the project
area of Thilawa Special Economic Zone, which is a joint venture between
Myanmar and Japan.
Thilawa project, which includes a deep sea port construction, was
described by the regional authorities as one of the crucial
infrastructural development project of Yangon city, the commercial hub
and former capital of Myanmar.
“We told the deputy minister to offer us micro-credit loans for
cultivation costs as usual. He said he will make sure everything is in
order. We will grow rice as the project hasn’t started.
When the project starts, we will allow them to seize our lands.
Deputy Minister Sett Aung also pledged to give us fair compensation,” a
farmer from Payargone Village said.
source: Eleven Myanmar
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