If the Burmese government and foreign investors have their way, the Hatgyi Dam will soon be generating 1,200 Mega Watts of electricity for Thailand and a revenue stream for the military regime. However, Karen farmers on the Salaween River, in eastern Burma, say the project will generate serious environmental damage in the form of flooding as well as continued human rights abuses, ruining their livelihoods. 

“We don’t want any dams in our area,” said Saw Kyaw Phoe (not his real name) from Mae Par Village, on the upper part of the construction site.
“If the dam is built, our village, the whole area, including our paddy farms and our gardens will be flooded. I, myself, will have no place to live,” he said.

Saw Kyaw Phoe and his family used to grow fruit, tobacco, peas, beans, chili and other vegetables on the banks of the Salaween, when the river was low in the summer.

However, he has moved to Mae Par village where the Burmese Army and the Border Guard Force (BGF) do not patrol. He left his village in December 2010 because the government troops forced him every day to show the way to the KNLA camp and to carry their equipment and food rations.

“We depend on the Salaween River for irrigation of our farms, but this Hatgyi Dam will destroy our lives,” he told the Karen Information Center in a recent interview. 

The Hatgyi Dam is one of five dams being constructed on the Salaween River by the Burmese government and Thai, Chinese and Indian companies. All the power will be sold to the foreign investors.

The construction site is located in the Myaing Gyi Ngu area, in Hlaing Bwe Township, in Karen State, opposite to Mae Hongsong Province, in Thailand. If the Hatgyi Dam is finished, some villages in Thailand and over twenty Karen villages in Burma will be under water, requiring the relocation of 2,000 Karen on both sides of the river.

The villagers are asking the foreign investors to stop the construction to save their livelihoods, according to Saw Kyaw Phoe.

The Myanmar Ministry of Electricity, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) and Sino-hydro Corporation, of China, signed an agreement to construct the Hatgyi Dam in 2006. 

EGAT is a Thai government owned company which has built dams since 1964.
EGAT pulled out of the project after a staff member was shot in September 2007. The killer has not been identified. However, EGAT started construction again in 2008. 

The thirty-three meter high dam will require an estimated one billion dollars of investment to complete. 

The Burma Rivers Network (BRN) said the junta will sell the electricity generated by the project to Thailand. 

The BRN also said the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and the Burmese military often exchange gunfire fight around the Hatgyi Dam construction area, because the Burmese Army increased its patrols there after the construction project was approved. 

Human rights groups are concerned Karen villagers will have to flee from their homes to avoid the fighting.

That was the case in 2009, when the Burmese Army and the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) attacked the KNLA in the Hatgyi Dam construction area, in Hlaing Bwe Township. As a result, 4,000 Karen people fled from their villages. 

After the election in 2010, Burmese Army and BGF battalions have patrolled the area.

“They (the military junta) think if there are no KNLA forces in this area they can construct the dam. People will be forced to flee and many will be forced to work (as porters carrying army supplies) if more battalions of the Burma Army patrol in the area,” according to Naw Paw Gay, from the Karen River Watch.

“Foreign countries should not invest in the dam construction because it is a war zone and the presence of the Burmese troops will lead to more human rights abuses,” she added.

On 08 February 2011, the Karen National Union (the political wing of the KNLA) issued a statement that Burma is still unstable politically. Therefore, it’s not a good time to invest in the dam projects in Burma. So, the KNU is also calling on foreign companies to stop the Hatgyi Dam construction in Karen State.

“When the Burmese Army and government controlled Border guard Force attack the KNLA forces, they force villagers to carry their food ration and ammunitions and to lead Burmese troops through land mined areas. Our villagers have faced many difficulties and dangers. Even though we are afraid of stepping on landmines, we have to carry their things and go with them to the front line. Our situation will get worse if the dam is finished because there will be more Burmese troops in the area to protect the dam,” Saw Kyaw Phoe said. 

“We are human beings. The foreign investors should sympathize with the problems this dam construction is bringing to our lives. I am asking them to stop the dam construction,” he said.