Each pipe is 2 meters in diameter and 10 meters in length. One BE truck can carry up to 5 pipes. The transport fee is 1 million kyat ($1,333) per truckload.

“However, if a pipe is damaged, you are required to repay Y 70,000 ($9,000),” said a source quoting a truck driver.

Townships the pipelines will pass through are Nawngkhio, Kyaukme, Hsipaw, Namtu, Mantong and Namkham on the Sino-Burma border.

Confiscation of land where pipelines pass through meanwhile continues. “They would run up pennants in fields designated for the pipeline and pay compensation to the village headman concerned,” said an informed source. “During the transfer of the money from the company to the Burmese authorities and to the village headmen, a considerable amount gets lost and the villagers get only a paltry in the end.”

Sold Out: Launch of China pipeline project unleashes abuse across Burma, a report by Shwe Gas Movement released last week has charged Chinese companies, especially China National Petroleum Corporation, with unaccountability. The company has countered the reports as an “imagined picture (made up by) Myanmar activists and media.”