"Chinese-backed Megaprojects in Myanmar Continue to Raise Ire of Residents", 14 December 2017

Myanmar activists and the leader of the country's Catholic Church...hit out at two controversial Chinese-operated infrastructure megaprojects that they say have caused environmental damage and...land expropriations without adequate compensation.

The large project run by China's Wanbao Mining Copper Ltd. Company and Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd. (UMEHL), a Myanmar army-owned conglomerate, has come under fire by local residents and farmers who have long protested the company's land takeovers in the area.

Naw Ohn Hla, head of the Committee to Protect Mount Letpadaung...said..."the farmlands have been destroyed, and farmers can't grow good crops and can't farm on time," he said.

The company said that it had offered the farmers money, but that they refused to accept it.

Myitsone Dam project

...The leader of Myanmar's Catholic Church told residents...that all citizens should object to the Chinese-financed Myitsone Dam, a massive hydroelectric power development project at the confluence of the Mali and N'mai rivers which form the source of the Irrawaddy River.

The controversial...dam was suspended...over its enormous flooding area and environmental impacts....

Cardinal Charles Maung Bo told Catholic congregants...that...the dam project...could destroy the economy and social fabric of the community.