Villagers Complain of Shwe Gas's Waste to CM

                Kyauk Pru: Local villagers from Waksan Village under Ohndaw Group in Kyaukpru Township in western Burma's Arakan State have lodged a written complaint with the state's chief minister about excrement and rubbish from workers on the Shwe Gas Project being dumped into the creek near their village.

"We, 65 village elders, signed a written complaint about the matter and sent it to the state CM U Hla Maung Tin on 14 June, as the township and district level authorities did not take any action on the matter after we complained to them," said one of the complainants.

However, he added that the state authority is reluctant to take action on the matter as well.

He said that the human waste from the construction site for the gas refinement plant near Goonshin Village, six miles from Kyaukpru Town, is being brought by vehicle and dumped into their village's creek, on which they depend for the livelihoods.

"There are more than 400 workers including Malaysia, Korea, India, and Singapore constructing the factory and their excrement and rubbish is being brought by vehicle and carelessly dumped into the creek nearby our village, and that has caused not only damage to the environment in our area, but also a great deal of trouble for our livelihoods. Most of our villagers are dependent on the creek for our farming and fishing," he said.

The villagers are said to have protested by going to the construction site of the factory on 21 January, 2011, to stop its careless dumping into their creek. Company officers promised to stop it, but have still been continuing to dump waste into the creek.

They said the company, known as PSC, is mainly responsible for dumping wasted from the factory into the nearby creek, and it has been continuing to do so every day using vehicles bearing plate number 3(Ga)8475. In addition to Waksan, Goonshin, Ohntaw, and Konebaung Villages near the factory site have been affected by the unmanaged waste dumping.

"Now our area is full of garbage being carelessly thrown away by the factory and they are scattering everywhere along the Rangoon - Kyaukpru road, and also in our farmland. It is very difficult for us to till our land for cultivation," said a villager from Goonshin.

The gas purifying factory is a component of the Shwe Gas Project and is being constructed by Korean's Daewoo for refinement of gas produced from Arakan's sea for export to China through the pipeline.

Local residents said they have been suffering from various troubles ever since the gas project started in their area, without getting any benefit from the project.

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