Rai Maroah – Six Burmese battalions under the control of Tenasserim Coastal Region Command are extending their area along the Tavoy-Kanchanaburi highway near the site of the Tavoy Deep Sea Port project.
An information officer from Brigade No. 4 of the Karen National Union (KNU) in Tavoy District said about nine battalions, including the newly-arrived battalions, have been in the area since the second week of this month, and the local battalions are moving along the site of the construction project.
“The Burmese troops are extending. Local residents have run to the border from fear at the battalions’ arrival”, said the officer.
The government battalions are attempting to secure a wider area around the project site after the KNU banned the construction of the Tavoy-Kanchanaburi highway near the construction project.
KNU announced that it would not allow construction of the road in September after fighting between the government troops and the KNU’s battalion under Brigade No. 4 erupted at the end of July.
The officer said, “The expansion of battalions also could be to fight the KNU Brigade No. 4, which is also moving in that area, and for security for the project.”
He said that after the battalion arrived at Amoe, War-taw, and Sin-phyu-taing villages in Myittar Sub-Township, the villagers ran from their villages and the battalions brunt their villages.
Naw Zipporrah Sein, Secretary General of the KNU, has explained that the KNU banned the construction of the Tavoy-Kanchanaburi highway due to damage to the environment and forced relocation of villagers, and in the interests of the security of the KNU.
The area surrounding the highway site of Tavoy-Kanchanaburi is territory controlled by KNU, and it contains more than twenty villages. Villagers from eight of the villages were forced to relocate to Thailand as refugees in 1997 due to ongoing battles between KNU and government troops.
The Italian-Thai Development Company has invested about 400 billion baht in the Tavoy Deep Sea Port project.
The Tavoy Deep Sea Port project is planned to include the establishment of a road link from Tavoy (Dawei) to Bangkok, port and heavy industry, ship building and maintenance yards, a petrochemical complex, an oil refinery and gas separation plant, oil and gas tanks, and a combined cycle power plant.
