Many acres of lands, orange orchards and houses near Northern Shan State’s Muse 105 miles trade zone on the Sino-Burma border were seized by local junta authorities on March 1, local sources alleged.
The confiscated lands and houses belonged to villagers from Talong, Manniu, Maw Tawnglong, Hoteung and Manka villages located on the way to a Chinese border town.
The authorities had said the land owners will receive Kyat 3,000(US$ 3) per acre as compensation. However, villagers are yet to receive the money, a villager in Muse said.
The seizure was believed to have been made for some kind of project. Because the space used were over 1,000 yards in width and four miles in length.
“Flags are being set up all around the seized areas now,” he said.
Some believe that it is meant for a railroad project, while others said it was for an airport terminal.
China and Burma had an agreement to construct a new railway network that will connect Lashio with the Chinese border town Ruili. Now, the Chinese side is reported to have finished constructing the road to Baoshan, 300 km from Muse. It is expected to reach Muse in 2012, according to a border watcher from the Sino-Burma border.
The Burma side is to start from Lashio to Muse and will be 170 km long. The current railway ends in Lashio.
The junta is planning to construct nine other new railway network projects to link south with north and east with west of the country, according to the New Light of Myanmar.
