Construction workers from Thailand are building two big factories in Hukawng (Hugawng) Valley in Burma's northern Kachin State under the supervision of Rangoon-based Yuzana Company owned by U Htay Myint.

Over 40 Thai construction workers are into building the factories. The buildings are being constructed in exactly the same-style as those in Thailand, said Tsa Ji, who has watched the construction and is a general secretary of the Kachin Development Networking Group (KDNG).

The two factory buildings are being built on Yuzana Company's land beside the Ledo or Stilwell Road between Bangkok village and Warazup village. The stretch was purchased from the Burmese junta in 2006 without consulting native Kachin landlords, said locals.

People are yet to figure out what will be produced in the two factories. But the company is mainly growing Chinese cassava plants along with sugar cane and paddy on a small scale in the new fields which were created by clearing forests by the company over the past three years, according to residents of Hukawng Valley.

Tsa Ji said the two factories would cost millions of US dollars and are likely to manufacture products related to Cassava plants and sugar cane for export.

Presently, over a thousand workers of the company, mainly Burmans from lower Burma are working on crop plantation. The company is constructing uniform workers' quarters of 80 feet x 60 feet for tens of thousands of incoming workers, said eyewitnesses.

The Yuzana Company is also reconstructing the Ledo Road with sandstones from Namti to Danai (Tanai) by hiring Chinese bridge engineers, local people added.

The young Burman tycoon U Htay Myint who owns Yuzana Company is close to businessman and son of the junta’s No. 2 strongman Srn-Gen Maung Aye.

Kachins of Hukawng Valley have been appealing to stop the confiscation of their land in the valley by Yuzana Company and the Burmese ruling junta but neither is paying any heed, said sources.