A report by the Shan Human Rights Foundation
Communities in over 60 villages have lost lands and houses due to construction of access roads and other infrastructure for the first dam on the Salween River in Burma, at Kunlong in northern Shan State.
Since 2012, Asia World Company has been constructing a new 100-kilometer highway from Hsenwi through Kunlong to the Chinese border. Not only have villagers lost houses, lands and crops without compensation, but road construction has caused flooding, soil run-off into farmlands, contamination of water sources, and disruption of day-to-day village life.
Villagers in the area have been given no information about the impacts of the dam, a joint venture between the Burmese government and a Chinese company, Hanenergy Holding Group, who will operate the project, exporting 1,200 (86%) of the 1,400 megawatts produced to China. Asia World is carrying out construction of the 100 meter tall dam, slated for completion in 2018, at a cost of US$1.4 billion.
Kunlong villagers downstream of the dam, who rely on the Salween for their livelihoods, are worried about unpredictable water levels, and the danger of the dam breaking in this earthquake prone area. They also fear increased Burmese troop deployment to guard the dam. Kunlong is already heavily militarized, with five battalions and a military operations command stationed along the Salween river bank opposite the town, on land seized from local villagers.
The heavy Burmese military presence is due to Kunlong’s strategic location between contested ethnic areas. It adjoins the Kokang and Wa self-administrative regions, and Kutkhai township, where attacks continue by the Burma Army against Kachin and Palaung armed groups, causing ongoing displacement west of the planned dam. There has been tightened security at Kunlong since December 17, 2013, when a bomb exploded near the town, killing five people, including two Asia World workers and a Burmese soldier.
The Shan Human Rights Foundation urges an immediate halt to construction of the Kunlong dam and related infrastructure, as the project lacks transparency, violates local people’s rights, and is taking place in an area of active conflict. By going ahead with this massive project before a political settlement has been reached with the ethnic groups about control over natural resources, the Burmese government also risks derailing the peace process.