Despite having been promised to be paid compensation congruent with current market prices by March, farmers whose lands were used for road construction have yet to be compensated.
“Late last month, we [farmers] whose lands were taken were invited for a meeting in Chaungzone [Town]. We were told we would receive compensation for all lands and farmers’ crops in the 3rd month (March), but no exact date was given,” said local farmer Daw Moe Moe.
Local [Moulmein and] Chaungzone farmers are deeply worried about looming difficulties they will face if they are not provided with compensation. Farmers will not be able to purchase farmland to replace lands that have been taken for road construction if they are not provided just compensation.
“I already provided my signature two weeks ago, but have not yet been compensated. We depend on farming for our living, but we are worried that we cannot buy new farmland as we have not been given compensation. We went for a meeting, as invited, and when we got there we were persuaded [to give up our lands] by the administrator. We then gave our signatures, but we haven’t been told anything [about compensation],” said U Kyan Taing Aung, a Kanyut Village farmer who lost more than one acre of farmland to road construction.
Lands acquired for road construction included farmland, house plots and rubber plantations. Landowners were told they would receive current market price for all lands, a condition the residents accepted.
On February 27th, the Department of Moulmein District Construction announced that 20 million kyat will be provided per acre of land, which may be either farmland or housing plot. In regards to reimbursement for crops, the department announced 20,000 kyat will be compensated per Tin of beans, 30,000 kyat per sap-producing rubber tree, and 35,000 kyat per rubber tree older than 10 years.
“To pave the road, we took 100 ft. of farmland and only 60 ft. of village land. A lot of gardens are included in the 60 ft.; so reduced to 55 ft. instead, of land taken through the village. The farmers were told that they would receive compensation this month, so that is why they agreed to sell their lands,” said Kanyut Village Administrator U Thant Htay.
Original plans were to construct the road to run across the middle of the village but, due to opposition from villagers, the road was moved to the entrance of the village.
Construction on the road approaching the [Moulmein to] Bluekyun Bridge construction site has been going on for over a week now, according to staff from the Road Construction Project.
According to state-run media, a total of 6,591,672 kyat will be provided in compensation to local landowners whose lands are used for the new road. This compensation will include 5,754,000 kyat for 19.2 acres of seasonal crop, 2,980,000 kyat for three housing plots, 3,272,720 kyat for 0.09 acres of garden land, 46,780,000 kyat for 23.4 acres of farmland, and 20,730,000 kyat for rubber trees.
The Moulmein-Bluekyun Bridge will be the third bridge built over the Salween (Thanlwin) river. A ceremony was held in the second week of February when construction began, and the bridge project is estimated to take two and half years to complete.
