The Burma Army has insisted that Saraburi, a subsidiary of Ital-Thai, should construct a 150 km road through a rebel-active territory, despite the existence of a shorter 100 km route inside Burma, in exchange for a coal concession, according to sources. The announcement came at a public hearing in Chiangrai’s Mae Fa Luang district on Thursday, May 21.
The company official said at the meeting of some 200 villagers in Ban Hintaek, formerly the stronghold of late Mong Tai Army (MTA) leader Khun Sa, that the firm had pointed out that with improvement on the existing road inside Burma, the coal trucks would be able to reach the highway in Maesai, opposite Burma’s Tachilek.
In contrast, the proposed road through the area operated by the anti-Naypyitaw, Shan State Army (SSA) “South” would be 60 kms inside Burma, but at least 90 kms inside Thailand, until it connects with the national highway at Pasang.
The Manager Online, January 23, quoted Somchai Rungsakhorn, Mae Fa Luang District Chief, as saying that the area on the Thai side was part of the National Park.
The firm official, whose first name is Samphan, also said that the SSA’s Kengtung Force, commanded by Lt-Col Gawnzeun, whose main base Loi Gawwan, is located east of the proposed road, was yet to be approached on the matter. “That is the trouble,” commented a villager. “Who is going to be responsible for our safety if the rebels are unhappy about the road project?”
The Burma Army, has since 1997, made several unsuccessful attempts to seize the base. The attack in 2001 by junta troops from positions well inside Thai soil had ignited a brief confrontation between the two countries.
Maejok, on the Burmese side of the border, has also for long been known as a transit point for drugs. An SSA column on February 8, 2002, had seized and destroyed some 500,000 speed pills there, an incident covered by Thai TV Channel 7, which had won a prize.
The deposit in Mongkok, Monghsat Township, boasts at least 150 million tons of raw coal, one third of it Grade A. With 200 ten wheelers working each day to transport it, it would take 40 years to deplete the coal fields there, according to a Saraburi official. SHAN made its first report on the project on January 27.
According to a border security officer, the construction may not happen too soon. “Even with the consent of the local populace, it would take months for the project to take off, because many government departments are involved, including the forestry department and the National Security Council (NSC),” he said.
