Earth Rights International and Dawei Development Association (DDA) launched a new report “Communities in the Balance: Local Voices and Prospects for the Dawei SEZ Project” which revealed local concerns on the Dawei SEZ project

11 ธันวาคม 2561

2018 marks 10 years since the Myanmar and Thai governments agreed to establish the Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project.

The Dawei Special Economic Zone is an industrial development project in southern Myanmar. It is one of three SEZs in Myanmar that is designed to attract businesses by lowering environmental regulations, offering tax breaks, and waving minimum wage requirements. If completed, the SEZ will include a deep-sea port, an oil refinery, a steel mill, fertilizer and petrochemical plants, industrial factories and operations, a reservoir and a road connecting Dawei to Kanjanaburi, Thailand. If completed, it would be one of the largest industrial zones in Southeast Asia.

However, the project faced controversy, and the Myanmar government suspended it in 2013, following funding deficits and community opposition.

For example, one farmer in Paradut Village said, “For us local people, our villages, our homes, the places we’ve lived for such a long time—we can’t accept them moving them. Their relocation plan—I’m not sure which area, in their plan, will it be the same as our current life? Or different? And in their relocation site—I’m worried about whether we’ll be able to survive in the way that we’re used to as farmers.”

Recently though, statements from the government and other project proponents have indicated the project might resume soon.

On November 29, 2018, EarthRights International and Dawei Development Association (DDA) launched a new report titled, "Communities in the Balance: Local Voices and Prospects for the Dawei Special Economic Zone Project" and a new video "Women of Dawei, Myanmar" in Myanmar and English languages.

The report and accompanying video lay out facts and experiences from people affected by one of the biggest industrial development projects in Myanmar.

U Bo Bo Aung, Myanmar Campaign Advisor at EarthRights International said, “After 10 years, there are still a lot of problems unsolved and communities have been suffering from uncertainty and worries for a decade. These problems must be solved and remedies must be granted whether the project proceeds or not. Respecting local communities’ views, transparent and just process of compensation and relocation is vital.”

This report documents how villagers living in SEZ project areas understand what the SEZ is, and what it might mean for their lives and livelihoods. Although research on villagers’ perspectives on the Dawei SEZ has been carried out before, no such research has taken place in the years since the project’s suspension. The report presents the diverse ideas, opinions, hopes, and concerns of those whom the SEZ will most directly affect.

Villagers who participated in this research expressed a desire for jobs, infrastructure improvements, and financial compensation, all despite the poor track record that SEZs globally have for job creation for local communities.

In regard to the four key areas of research in this report — information access, livelihoods, employment, and gender — local villagers are calling for:

•Clear, systematic, and equal access to information

•Open, equitable, and fair compensation processes

•No relocation without equal or better quality of life

•Investment in jobs and in infrastructure that benefits villagers themselves

•Cooperation across lines of power, class, age, and gender.

 

U Thant Zin, Director of Dawei Development Association (DDA) gave this warning, “Considering the Dawei project, the important thing for the NLD government to remember is, not to do the same mistake as what the previous one did. Exploring existing values of the region, understand the potentials, think sustainability, listen what Dawei people want and make sure to create an enabling environment for inclusive development process.”

 

(Myanmar Business Today: https://www.mmbiztoday.com/articles/dawei-special-economic-zone-report-reveals-local-concerns )