Myanmar Peace Watch said it wants all such projects to be halted until the process to achieve peace between the government and armed ethnic groups is successful.

The group’s call, in a report released at a news conference in Yangon on October 28, came as the United Nationalities Federal Council was hosting a meeting at Laiza to discuss strategy ahead of talks with the government on a nationwide ceasefire.

The report said ethnic minorities achieved little in terms of profit share and other benefits from development projects in their respective regions.

It also said that projects regarded by the government as essential for national development must give ethnic minorities in the affected areas priority in terms of benefits.

“The residents [in affected areas] do not gain much from economic development projects,” said U Win Aung, the director of the Shwe Gas Movement, a member of the alliance.

“Projects with the potential to create conflict, such as those involving land grabbing, should be postponed,” U Win Aung told Mizzima.

The report, prepared by Myanmar Peace Watch and Burma News International, explored the consequences of the peacemaking efforts and investment since the transition period began.

The report noted that non-government organizations and non-state armed groups had also called for the suspension of economic projects in conflict-affected areas.

It said any discussion about implementing development projects should include the mutual benefits they will bring to the residents of affected areas and armed groups as well as the government.

“When it comes to implementing economic development projects, I hope they will be organized by the government, armed groups, businesspeople and NGOs for the development and welfare of affected residents,” said Daw Nang Phawt Gil, from Burma News International.

The report also called on the government to quickly implement the recommendations of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and said the military should reduce its role in the Myanmar Economic Corporation and the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd.

The EITI is an international standard for transparency in the oil and gas and mining sectors.

The report said non-state armed groups should ensure in negotiations with the government that the projects are implemented transparently and that they directly benefit the residents of affected areas, including those living in poverty.

U Win Aung told the news conference that Kayah and Rakhine states and Tanintharyi Region did not receive any share of the profit from such big projects as the Shwe natural gas field, the Lawpita hydroelectricity project profit and the Yadanar and Yetagun oil and offshore gas fields in the Gulf of Mottama.

Most of the gas from the two fields in the Gulf of Mottamais exported to Thailand where it is used to generate electricity and gas from the Shwe field is piped to China to produce power in southwestern Yunnan province.

“The areas where the natural gas and oil projects have been implemented do not get enough electricity and the rate of development there is much slower compared to Yangon, Mandala and Naypyitaw,” said U Naw Ka Su Mon, chief editor of the Free Mon State News Agency.

He said that while the 2008 constitution stipulated that profits from development projects must be shared between the government and ethnic minority regions it did not specify the ratio and this had been a cause of conflict.

The report said a resolution to the issue that took into account the interests and needs of ethnic minorities would be a win-win situation for all stakeholders, including the government, the military, non-state armed groups, the business sector and civil society.  

Well-known newspaper columnist U Hla Maung said he was against calls for a halt to development projects. “It is no good for both sides,” he said.

“The central government should only take the appropriate share of the profit from the projects and allow the ethnic people to manage the rest,” U Hla Maung said, adding that the issue should be included on the agenda for the forthcoming talks on a national ceasefire.