The power station is to be built near Aunden Village in Ye Township, Mon State.
U Mya Than said that on 1st June about 130 people, including members of YSS, The United Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), The National League for Democracy and other society groups went to the project site.
He said: “The majority of local people are Mon. We gave them handouts that educate them [about the power station]. Since the handouts are in both Mon and Burmese they are more effective. The locals are joining us.”
YSS members also distributed handouts in Ye Town and other villages, including Hnee Hnuu, Kuu Ha Taw, Du-ya, Ah-baw, Aunden and Saik-kalay. They were dressed in specially designed T-shirts that said ‘No Coal’ in English on the front and ‘No Coal Power Plant’ in Burmese on the back.
In an interview with IMNA, Mi Seik Sorn, a member of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), said: “We do not accept this project plan. We locals are now in groups, and we will oppose the project. After organizing our group we will join with other groups.”
U Mya Than also said that the 2.7 billion USD project will not only cause harm to those that live in the area but will also affect people throughout Ye Township. His group will continue to oppose the project until it is stopped.
On 25th May 60 people from villages in the Par-lain Mountains who now work in Malaysia held a meeting where they discussed the project. They decided to oppose it and released a statement declaring their opposition.
When IMNA contacted Daw Ni Ni San, the manager of ToyoThai’s coal project she did not respond.
According to the Project Briefing by Toyo Thai, which was also distributed to local people, the project will be completed within 48 months and the power station will start running in June 2018.
The power station is to be built under the Build Operate Transfer (BOT) model. In this case Toyo Thai will operate the power station and take the profits from it for 30 years before handing the power station over to the government.
