"Investigator Meets With Thilawa Residents Over JICA Complaint", 22 July 2014

An independent Japanese investigator has met with local communities displaced by the Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to carry out an inquiry into a complaint filed by the villagers over the Japan-backed investment project near Rangoon…[R]esidents filed a formal complaint under the objection procedures of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) over the compensation and relocation of 81 households who had to make way for the first 400-hectare phase of the Thilawa project. Local NGO Thilawa Social Development Group and Japanese NGO Mekong Watch, which are supporting the complaint, said JICA Examiner for Guidelines Sachihiki Harashina visited Rangoon…and met with Thilawa residents, NGOs, representatives of the Rangoon Division government and the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee…