8 Jan 2016

Rakhine State locals are lodging complaints with a Kyaukphyu special economic zone (SEZ) committee…according to a local NGO group, after a consortium led by Chinese firm CITIC won two tenders to develop the controversial project…

The selection of a consortium led by a Chinese firm has done nothing to soothe local concerns. Some Rakhine locals have pointed to CITIC’s nationality as yet another concern. Several Chinese firms or projects involving Chinese companies have under fire from local protestors…

But Rakhine people told The Myanmar Times that a larger concern was that the CITI-led-consortium will have a 70-year lease on the land, which can be extended.

[U Tun Kyi, secretary of Kyaukphyu Regional Development Association, a local NGO said], “…I want to raise questions about plans for the long-term interests of locals. We’ll wait and see how the committee responds, and if it doesn’t have a plan we’ll demand one.”…