Burmese military junta authorities have confiscated many acres of land from local farmers in Taungbro Yar on the western border to build border trade zones and a dam, said a community leader in the area.

"Every body can see many small red flags hoisted on sticks in the areas in Taungbro Yar because the authorities are surveying the land for the trade zones," he said.

There are 150 acres of land, including farm and grazing land, that have been confiscated so far, but the government is yet to pay any compensation to the landowners, a local official source said.

"The Burmese authorities do not usually compensate owners of confiscated lands because in Burma all land technically belongs to the state," the community leader said.

Most of the landowners in the area are Muslims and have had no recourse to complain to the higher authorities about the land confiscations.

A team of senior officials led by General Khin Zaw of the Defense Ministry and Brigadier-General Tin Naing Thein, Minister of Commerce, visited the area on Saturday to inspect the stretch for the construction of trade zones and the friendship road with Bangladesh.

A businessman in Maungdaw said, "Minister Tin Naing Thein offered businessmen in Maungdaw the opportunity to buy a plot of land with a building on it inside the trade zone for 17.5 million Kyat. The authorities have plans to sell the buildings to the companies after the construction."

At the meeting, Tin Naing Thein also told businessmen that the government has plans to construct many godowns in the trade zone and that these will also be sold to promote border trade with Bangladesh.

Some companies in Maungdaw agreed to buy the proposed buildings in the trade zone in the hope of doing business with Bangladesh.

The authorities will also construct a dam in Taungbro Yar and survey for the project is currently underway.

A government clerk in Maungdaw said that a survey team led by San Pyi, Director of the Arakan State Survey Department, is currently surveying the land where the dam will be constructed.

The new border trade zones are intended to promote business between Bangladesh and Burma and benefit local residents by improving the economy. But local residents are already suffering from the impact of this plan by having their lands and livelihoods snatched without compensation.