The pre-engineering survey for the Burma-China gas pipeline construction on the Arakan Coast began on Monday by Petrol Myanmar and the Korean company Daewoo, said an official report.

The survey areas are located near Rambree Island off the Arakanese coast and surrounding areas of Kyauk Pru, the second largest city in Arakan.

The report said the survey will be completed on February 17 and is being conducted by the surveying ship MV Teknif Putra.

Authorities have banned all crafts, including fishing and rowing boats, from operating in the area on the days the survey is conducted. Vessels have been banned from a four kilometer area during the survey period, said a fishing boat owner from Kyauk Pru.

The Burmese military government started construction of the gas and oil pipeline to Yunnan Province in China from Arakan in September 2009.

Oil from Africa and the Middle East will be transported along the pipeline across central Burma. The pipeline will allow China to reduce the time for oil delivery from the Middle East by cutting out the need for oil tankers to travel through the congested Malacca Straits.

According to a local source, many villages in Madai Island in Kyauk Pru Township were forced to relocate by the junta for construction of the gas pipeline on the island. Similarly, some houses in Than Ban Chaung Ward in Kyauk Pru were also relocated to renovate Kyauk Pru in order to accommodate Chinese ships.

China will invest 1 billion USD in the gas pipeline and 1.5 billion USD in the oil pipeline.