No compensation for villagers affected by Muse highway
Residents in
northern Shan State’s Muse Township have complained that they did not receive
compensation for damage their homes and shops have incurred as a result of the
expansion of the Mandalay to Muse highway.
The highway
expansion project was headed by the Oriental Highway Company, a former
subsidiary of the Asia World Group. The project undertaken by the firm expanded
the road from two to four lanes. The company was granted permission to expand
the road during the Thein Sein administration by the Ministry of Construction.
Local
residents told SHAN that many houses were damaged by the construction. Every
day hundreds of heavy trucks travel on the newly expanded highway which has
created large cracks in the walls of homes located along the route and damaged
their foundations.
“My shop was
damage because of the construction,” said a resident in Muse Township who
wished to be anonymous. “I have not heard anything about compensation.”
The expansion
of the highway, an important trade link connecting Burma to China, has affected
many households and will continue to do so, the villager told SHAN.
This road is
the main route for border trade between Burma and China. The highway is more
than 280 miles (450 km) long and has 13 toll gates. Asia World, a firm founded
by the late businessman Lo Hsing Han and his son Stephen Law (also known
as Lo Ping Zhong and Tun Myint Naing) recently announced that
it had divested itself of the Oriental Highway Company and several other
subsidiaries. It remains unclear who now controls the Oriental Highway Company
and the other firms offloaded by Asia World.
BY Staff / Shan Herald Agency for News (SHAN)
Tags: Human Rights, News
