7 May 2010: In the run up to the elections in Burma, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) officials in Falam township are into constructing their party office at an estimated cost of Kyat 1000 lakhs in the township in Chin state western Burma.

The funds for constructing the building were sanctioned by the military brass in Naypyitaw, capital of Burma last month.

“Senior military officers’ sanctioned Kyat 1000 lakhs to construct the party office last month,” said Mr. Ngun Lal, who is an USDA party nominee for contesting the elections from in Falam Township.

“The office is coming up on a vacant plot of the township cooperative society office under the guidance of Mr. Kawl Luai, Chairman of the USDA Falam township. The office building will have two floors and the ground floor will house a shop. The building is coming up in the middle of the town,” said a local.

The cooperative society office in Falam township was burnt in 2003, but there was no attempt to reconstruct it.

The USDA office in Falam township is now located in a private rented house but after the organization converted to a political party for the election, the authorities immediately began constructing a new building in the heart of the Falam town.

Similarly, during the time of the Burma Socialist Party (BSP) the authorities had inaugurated the National United Party office for the 1990 general elections in Burma.

There are no newly constructed offices of the USDA in other townships in Chin state.