A multi-million dollar Indian transport project in Western Myanmar was criticised in a recent report by local civil society groups for lacking transparency and not benefiting local communities.
The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transport
Project is financed by the Indian government and aims to connect Mizoram
State in Northeast India with a deep-sea port at Sittway, Western
Myanmar. The project is seen as a strategic step for building bilateral
trade between the two countries.
The project recently came under fire by
the Kaladan Movement, an alliance of civil society groups, who
highlighted the need for wider transparency and accountability.
“Implementation of the Kaladan Project
should be fully transparent, and should ensure full local consultation
and participation; the benefits of the project go to the least
advantaged communities; and accountability for ALL stakeholders be
involved in the project. Unless and until these essential elements are
fulfilled, the Kaladan Project should be suspended," said the Kaladan
Movement in a press release.
The Kaladan Movement comprises of the
Arakan River Network, Chin Human Rights Organization and Zo Indigenous
Forum, who prepared the report after extensive field research in Chin
and Rakhine States in Myanmar and Mizoram State in India.
The US$214 million project has been
hailed as a cornerstone of India’s “Look East Policy” aiming to expand
India's economic and political influence in Southeast Asia.
Due to be operational by 2015, it was
part of an agreement signed between India and Myanamr 2008 and involves
the construction of a combined inland waterway and highway
transportation system connecting the isolated Northeast India with
important trade routes through the Bay of Bengal.
Furthermore, the project aims to provide
badly needed transportation access in Chin and Arakan states, some of
the most impoverished regions in Myanmar.
However, local communities claim that
there has been a lack of consultation and some have been forcibly
relocated and had their lands confiscated. The project is also
destructive to the local ecosystem and threatens cultural heritage,
according to the Kaladan Movement. Representatives of the project were
unavailable to comment.
“The environmental, social and health
impacts (of the project) need to be analysed and the results should be
informed to the public. If the project is not people-centred, it will
not bring the benefits but tensions between Myanmar and India,” said
Tartwan Zaw, Executive Director of Arakan Rivers Network.
The report listed a number of problems
arising from the lack of transparency, and focuses on the concerns and
hopes of the local people. It also made a series of recommendations for
the project, including the need for participatory decision making with
the public and welfare programs for local communities.
Salai Za Uk Ling, Program Director at Canada-based Chin Human Rights Organization, commented.
“Locals in Paletwa Township in Chin
State weren’t even informed about construction of a highway in their
area. How can they benefit from a project they are not informed? If
there is no transparency and accountability to the public, Kaladan
Project will have to stop.”
source: Eleven Myanmar
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