The Burmese government and the dam construction company hired SMEC to carry out the social impact assessment (SIA) and the environmental impact assessment (EIA) field surveys for Mongton Dam (also known as the Tar San Dam).

Forty five people from SMEC carried out the survey in the villages of Nar-Kaung-Mu, Mine-Han, Kong-Sar and Hway-Aot in Mine-Han village-tract in Ponpakyin Township, Eastern Shan State on 21 May.

Sai Sai from Hway-Aot Village said: “Local residents from Mel-Kin and Mauk-Salee villages were given a packet of snacks and a shoulder bag, they were then forced to sign [a document that gave] their approval. Because the company told villagers they must sign they signed. The company did not properly explain the project to villagers so they did not understand about the project.”

The SIA survey team arrived in Hway-Aot Village on 21 May and said they would inspect the planned sites for electricity pylons as they took the electricity through the village-tract on its way to Thailand.

A member of the survey team said: “We will go and study the villages that are hard to access with transportation and affected by the project. Though we intended to carry out the survey in four villages, including Htet-Lwe-Kham Village we could not get there because they did not show up on our GPS. When we told the authorities that we wanted to go see the Wa people living in the Hway-Aot area they did not let us go for security reasons. But the Wa village heads told us that they will not reject [the project].”

However, the survey group did not explain the positive and negative impacts of the dam construction to the villagers. And they even told youth groups from Mongton and Ponparkyin townships that villagers would not be affected by negative Impacts said Yein Naunt from a Mongton based youth group.

He said: “When we met with them we asked them what would be the good and bad effects of this project not just in this area, but in the whole area of the project and to explain them to us before we answer their questions, so they gave us company brochures and explained the project to us. When the villagers had learnt about the project they wanted to ask them [the survey team] questions but they told them they could not answer any questions.

The survey team is now travelling to Mongsat, Mongpyin, and Kunheing townships.

Some village heads said that maybe they should accept the dam project because it is important for their villages to get electricity.

But, the survey team has told locals that they cannot guarantee how much electricity they would get.

When SMEC arrived in Mongton Township they had preliminary meetings with local people to discuss the EIA and the SIA for the dam project. Following those meetings local people protested against and rejected the dam construction project.

Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI