The government has awarded timber rights to a company in Chin state, but locals - most of which are extremely poor - won’t be seeing any of the profits. Chin state is the poorest state in Burma. It’s estimated that 74-percent of the population live in abject poverty.
Residents requested benefits from the profits that Manau Phyu Shin AK company derives from the teak from Lepo village tract in Kanpalet Township. The company has refused to give them anything, saying the government already gave them money.
“We told the concerned authority that we don’t like that the company is taking all the wood and not giving any of the profit to the local people. But they told us that we had already received poverty aid of one-thousand lakh (1000,000 Kyat),” said a local that didn’t want their name used.
Many feel that the money the government gave them the money as a payoff for selling the company all the valuable teak wood in their area.
“It is not fair. It is akin to deceiving us. It cannot help to alleviate poverty and it just boils down to a dirty trick,” said a member of Parliament of Chin state that wished to remain anonymous.
An estimated 4,000 to 10,000 tons of teak wood is expected to be harvested from the area in the next year.
Meanwhile allegations are circulating that some of the employees of the company are related to Tu Yah Aung serving as a MP in the Kanpalet constituency.
