Thread: China starts building Burma pipeline

Myanmar to construct railroad to link deep-sea port with China
October 17, 2010

Myanmar has planned to construct a railroad that will link a deep-sea port, Kyaukphyu, in western Rakhine state with Kunming, southwest of China, the local Weekly Eleven News reported Saturday.

The Kyaukphyu-Kunming railroad, which is part of the Kyaukphyu- Ruili platform project and national railroad network, is targeted to be finished in 2015.

The railroad will pass through Rakhine State, Magway Region, Mandalay Region and Shan State in Myanmar, the report said.

The railroad project is divided into such sections as Kyaukphyu- Eann-Minbu, Minbu-Magway-Mandalay-Lashio-Muse and Muse-Jiegao trans-border railroad.

After the project is implemented, Myanmar's Shan State and China's Yunnan province can be connected directly and the railroad will mainly facilitate the goods flow from China, the report said, adding that Magway and Mandalay regions will then become the main business towns.

Meanwhile, China has also planned to invest in a special industrial zone to be established in Kyaukphyu.

Source: Xinhua

english.people.com.cn

It's a terrible shame that these cruel, rich, selfish bastards are allowed to steal all the profits of their countrys national resources from their own people.

That's enough about Saudi, Oman, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq and Iran, et al.

As for them bloody Burmese military types......

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

The fucking frogs will do anything for money, won't they.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

It's a terrible shame that these cruel, rich, selfish bastards are allowed to steal all the profits of their countrys national resources from their own people.

That's enough about Saudi, Oman, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq and Iran, et al.

As for them bloody Burmese military types......

Get the USA to offer to democratise the country with their military.

Get the the Russians to offer to build the port/pipeline and then take 25 years to do it al la the Iranian nuclear facility.

Get some western bank to finance the deal and bankrupt the country.

The Chinese alternative; design, construct, manage, finance and pay a commission for its use seems a better option.

For the Chinese it gives a shorter, cheaper and less exposed route for its energy needs.

China loans Burma 2.4 billion dollars for gas pipeline project

Rangoon - China has signed a 2.4-billion-dollar loan agreemen twith Burma to finance the construction of a natural gas pipeline between the countries, media reports said Sunday.

The loan was inked between the China Develoment Bank Cooperation and Burma Foreign Investment Bank on November 30 in Napyitaw, the new capital, the Myanmar Times reported.

The pipeline is to run from Rakhine State on the Burmese coast, site of the Kyauk Phyu national gas project, to Yunnan province in southern China.
"The loan will be mainly for the natural gas project in Kyauk Phyu, which involves Myanmar, China, Korea and India, where Burma has 7.3 per cent of the shares," said Jin Honggen, economic and commercial counselor of the Chinese embassy in Rangoon.

He said the loan would help bring speed up construction of the project. Under the Burmar-China gas scheme, India is to help build a new port in Sithwe, Rakhine, to handle gas from offshore reserves and China will construct a 1,000-kilometre pipeline to deliver the gas overland to Yunnan.

"The natural gas from Burma will be used for Yunnan province's industrial requirements and for residential use," Jin told the MyanmarTimes.

Military-run Burma currently exports more than 1 billion cubic feet of gas (28 million cubic metres) a day of natural gas from its two offshore projects in the Gulf of Marthaban to neighbouring Thailand via an underwater and overland pipeline network.

Thailand pays a estimated 2 billion dollars a year for the gas imports.//DPA

nationmultimedia.com

CNPC, Qingdao Port ink deal for Myanmar pipeline
(Reporting by Judy Hua and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Ed Lane)

BEIJING Jan 11 (Reuters) - China's top oil and gas firm CNPC and Qingdao Port Group have signed a framework agreement on operating a wharf for the China-Myanmar crude oil pipeline, media said on Tuesday.

The China Petroleum Daily gave no details on the deal, though it said part of the work on the wharf in Myanmar where the oil will be unloaded had been finished in November.

The pipeline was another important energy import means for China, the report said, adding it was a "golden bridge of friendship between China and Myanmar."

The crude oil pipeline will have a total capacity of 22 million tonnes a year, while an accompanying gas pipeline will have a capacity of 12 billion cubic metre (bcm), said the newspaper, which is run by CNPC.

Both pipelines will start from the Myanmar port of Kyauk Phyu in the western state of Rakhine (also known as Arakan), then head in a northeasterly direction towards the city of Mandalay before arriving in the Chinese border town of Ruili in southwestern Yunnan province.

From there the pipelines go to Yunnan provincial capital Kunming and eventually on to the cities of Chongqing and Nanning.

CNPC, the parent of PetroChina , said in September it planned to complete the China section of pipelines from the former Burma and a related refinery by 2013, putting the pipeline a year behind schedule. [ID:nTOE68903P]

The projects will help diversify China's energy import routes, cutting its dependence on shipments via the potentially risky Malacca Strait, through which some 80 percent of the country's oil imports now pass. [ID:nTOE60D08W]

China calls this the "Malacca Strait dilemma", fearing that during a conflict, a hostile power could choke off energy supplies that are taken on supertankers through the narrow strait between Malaysia and Indonesia.

af.reuters.com

Zawtika gas project opens temporary base camp
Ko Wild
Tuesday, 01 February 2011

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Zawtika natural gas project, a joint venture by the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) and the state-owned PTTEP Oil Company of Thailand, opened a temporary base camp and office on January 22.


photo : MOGE

The opening ceremony of the administrative offices of the Zawtika project, which is in Block M-9 in the Gulf of Martaban offshore oilfield, was held near Kanbauk village in Yayphyu Township in Tanintharyi Division.

Energy Minister Lun Thi, the CEO of PTTEP, Anon Sirisaengtaksin, and foreign representatives attended, according to The New Light of Myanmar, a state-controlled newspaper. The camp includes residential areas, offices and meeting rooms.

PTTEP controls the oil and gas exploration concessions in M3, M4, M7, M9 and M11 in the Martaban gulf.

Thai Energy Minister Wannarat Chamnukul told The Nation newspaper, the gas reserve in the M9 Block is estimated at 1.4 trillion cubic metres and daily production will be about 300 million cubic feet. Of that, about 240 million cubic feet will be exported to Thailand daily and the remaining 60 million cubic feet will be used in Burma.

Joint production work will start in 2013 and the reserves are expected to produce gas for up to 30 years, according to the joint agreement.

PTTEP is exploring and producing oil and gas in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Burma, Vietnam, Oman, Egypt, Algeria, Bahrain, Australia and New Zealand.

The trade value between Thailand and Burma reached US$ 3.5 billion in 2009-10 fiscal year, a 16 percent increase over the 2008-09 fiscal year, according to official figures. Most of the trade is in the energy sector.

Beginning in 1998, Burmese gas reserves in the Yadana gas fields in the Gulf of Martaban began earning Burma money from foreign oil and gas companies including PTTEP, the French company, Total, and the US company, Chevron. A report by the US-based Earth Rights International in 2010 said that as much as half of the oil and gas earnings were deposited in private accounts in Singapore and China by Burmese generals.

Meanwhile, the junta has just signed a large investment and loan agreement, The New Light of Myanmar reported on January 28. It said a loan agreement with the Export Import Bank of China and the Finance and Revenue Ministry was signed on January 27 to fund construction work on the Naypyidaw International Airport Project Phase 2.

The signing ceremony was attended by SPDC Secretary (1) Thiha Thura Tin Aung Myint Oo, the National Planning and Economic Development Minister Soe Tha and Finance and Revenue Minister Hla Tun.

The loan is part of a package that SPDC Chairman Than Shwe received from Chinese President Hu Jintao during a five-day visit in September 2010, granting Burma a loan of Chinese RMB 30 billion (US$ 4.2 billion) bearing no interest.

China and Burma are cooperating on many energy projects in Burma including hydropower projects and oil and gas pipeline projects which will transport oil and gas from Rakhine State on the western Burmese coast to Yunnan Province in southwest China.

mizzima.com

The game just got serious.

Originally Posted by Mid

It will take 12 million tonnes of crude oil a year into China, roughly 6 percent of China's total imports last year, or about as much as the country imported from Sudan, its fifth largest supplier. There is no exact date for its opening yet. The other pipeline will have capacity to bring 12 billion cubic metres of Myanmar gas every year into China, and is expected to come online within the next two years.

How lucky are the Burmese people eh?

Singapore is not amused. All that oil and gas bypassing Port of Singapore will put a dent in economy. What next? Chinese fund the building of a canal through the Ismuth of Kra. Would put Port of Singapore out of business.

According Arakan Oil Watch (AOW), an independent non-governmental organization that is an active member of the Shwe Gas Movement, the $1.5 billion oil pipeline, carrying 12 million tons of crude oil per year, will travel the 1,100 kilometers from Maday Island to China's Kunming city through central Burma. The natural gas pipeline will run parallel to the oil pipeline and extend even further, from Kunming to Guizhou Province and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, for a total of about 1,700 kilometers. It is expected to transport 12 billion cubic meters of natural gas to China every year.

Maday Island Deep-Sea Port No Boon to Locals

Report: Burma-China pipeline leads to widespread abuses, fuels conflict
Thomas Maung Shwe
Thursday, 31 March 2011

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A new report by the human and legal rights group Earth Rights International alleges frequent and severe abuses have been inflicted on civilians living in the path of twin oil and gas pipelines currently under construction in Burma.


Daewoo International's Burmese headquarters in Rangoon. The Korean firm is the focus of a report by Earth Rights International on the construction of a gas and oil pipeline through Burma to China's Yunnan Province.
Photo: Mizzima

According to the Washington, D.C-based ERI, the building of the pipelines which will carry both oil and gas from Burma’s west coast to China’s Yunnan region has led to widespread land confiscation, forced labor, arbitrary arrest, detention and torture.

The controversial project which is by far the largest and most expensive project in Burma’s booming oil and gas sector is led by a consortium that includes Daewoo International, KOGAS, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), ONGC Videsh, the Gas Authority of India (GAIL), and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE), Burma’s state-owned energy firm.

In addition to two nearly 800 km pipelines built on Burmese soil the multibillion dollar project includes the development of deepwater wells in the Shwe Natural Gas field linked to the Arakan coast with a sub-sea pipeline and a corresponding onshore gas terminal. Also currently under construction is an onshore oil terminal that will enable Yunnan and surrounding regions to obtain the fast delivery of Middle East crude.

According to ERI, the pipeline is extremely unpopular with local residents affected by the project. Matthew Smith, a senior researcher with ERI and one of the co-authors of the report, told Mizzima: ‘Villagers are already bearing the brunt of the projects and are likely to see none of the benefits, and that's the first reason why there's opposition to it. Villagers have lost their land, they've had no effective input into these projects, and most villagers feel completely powerless to the companies and the Burmese authorities’.

ERI said that to make way for the project scores of villagers living along the planned pipeline route have had their land confiscated, receiving little if any compensation. ERI obtained a March 2010 letter sent by Burma’s state-owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise to residents living in the path of the pipeline in Arakan state in which MOGE ordered the villagers to leave their land in just five days.

The letter specifically made reference to a contract MOGE signed with Daewoo International for the pipeline project and commanded the villagers to leave all of their crops behind. The letter made no reference to the villagers receiving compensation for their loss.


Construction material for use on the pipeline stored on uncompensated land in Magway Division in December 2010.
Photo: ERI

Daewoo International, recently purchased by Korean Steel maker Posco, has sought to defend its involvement in the project by pointing to their much vaunted Corporate Social Responsibility program which includes the building of health clinics. ERI noted, however, that a health clinic funded by Daewoo was built in Central Burma in 2009 by local villagers who were ordered by the Burmese Army to assist in the clinic’s constriction. Local residents were not consulted about the health clinic and those forced to build the facility were not compensated.

Smith told Mizzima: ‘Daewoo was initially put on notice years ago about the risk of human rights abuses connected to its presence in Burma. Those warnings, and warnings ever since, appear to have fallen on deaf ears. In 2008, senior executives were told in person by representatives of the Shwe Gas Movement and ERI of the risks involved. There is no evidence the companies involved in these pipelines are taking human rights impacts seriously’.

Smith added, ‘Neither Daewoo nor CNPC have conducted a Human Rights Impact Assessment and to our knowledge neither company has procedures or systems in place to deal with human rights issues’.

The report warns that the pipeline project could lead to violence in Shan State.

According to ERI, there are least 28 battalions already stationed along the pipeline route and the soldiers are likely being financed by the project. ERI reported that contracts between MOGE and the foreign firms state the Burmese Army will be responsible for providing security for the project. The report’s authors are also concerned that the pipeline project will lead the Burmese armed forces to commit further acts of violence in Shan State.

The projected pipeline route in Shan State has recently been the location of fierce fighting between the Burmese armed forces and the 1stBrigade of the Shan State Army North, an ethnic rebel group in a cease-fire agreement with the Burmese regime. The 1st Brigade, unlike its comrades in the 3rd and 7th brigades has refused to join the Burmese government’s proposed Border Guard force.

Smith told Mizzima that if the firms involved in the pipeline project were concerned about human rights and the pipeline’s impact on civilians, ‘They'd postpone the projects immediately and mitigate harms rather than advance into a conflict zone in Shan State’.

A senior figure in the Kachin Independence Army, an armed rebel group currently in a tenuous cease-fire with the Burmese regime, told ERI that in areas along the pipeline route in which the rebel group has territory, the Burmese armed forces have forcibly conscripted villagers to join local militias. ERI said that clandestine interviews it conducted confirmed that villagers have been forced to join what are likely pipeline defense militias, an ominous sign that more potential conflict could come.

bnionline.net


Recent Killings Near Gas Pipelines in Burma as Norwegian Government Announces Updated Investments in Companies in Burma's Energy Sector | EarthRights International

Major Chinese & Korean Companies Linked to Rights Abuses in Burma | EarthRights International

earthrights.org

China offers ‘hospitals-for-oil’ deal
FRANCIS WADE
7 April 2011


Burma's Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo attends the opening ceremony of a children's hospital in Rangoon, 13 March
(Reuters)

Beijing has reportedly offered sweeteners to Burma in the form of hospitals if it speeds up work on oil and gas pipelines destined for Yunnan province.

Through the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), Burma could receive $US6 million to build new hospitals and improve its woeful healthcare facilities, the Times of India reported. The deal was mooted during the recent visit to Burma by top Chinese official Jia Qinglin.

Qinglin’s visit was the first by a senior ranking Chinese politician since Premier Wen Jiabao was there in June last year. Observers say it is a statement of Beijing’s outright support for the new Burmese government, as well as an attempt to further boost economic ties between the two countries that saw China inject nearly $US10 billion into the Burmese economy last year alone.

The trans-Burma Shwe pipeline project is one of the country’s largest foreign-funded ventures, and will pump some 15 million cubic metres of gas daily from blocks in the Bay of Bengal to China’s developing Yunnan province.

But China has in the past signalled a lack of confidence in the Burmese authorities’ ability to manage such a massive venture. In December last year it gave $US2.4 billion in loans to its southern neighbour, with speculation that it was aimed largely at speeding up construction of the pipelines. The recent offer of further aid may be an indication that the project is still not going smoothly.

Developments of this magnitude in Burma face a number of hurdles, not least the poor infrastructure and transport routes brought about by decades of economic mismanagement and government incompetence.
There is also the added issue of the volatility of certain parts of the pipeline’s route, most notably the final section in Shan state which runs close territory controlled by the opposition Shan State Army.

How the new government reacts to the offer of aid remains to be seen, given the historic lack of interest with which the country’s rulers have shown in the healthcare sector: Burma’s is ranked among the worst in the world, and the new budget announced last month does little to improve its prospects, allocating healthcare only 1.3 percent of total annual spending.

Critics of both China and Burma may also cry foul of hypocrisy, given allegations by rights groups that the Shwe project has led to the exploitation and abuse of civilians living nearby, as well as forced displacement on a large scale.

A recent report by EarthRights International documented several cases of human rights abuses along the pipeline route, and “numerous instances of land confiscation without adequate compensation”.

The pipeline also remains key to the government’s grip on power, with somewhere in the region of $US30 billion expected to be generated over the three decades after it comes online in 2013.

dvb.no

half of the oil and gas earnings were deposited in private accounts in Singapore and China by Burmese generals.



How many Generals are ther in Myanmar

Too Many



http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/9...0px2005c2u.jpg

Dynamiting for oil pipeline destroys coral reefs: Rakhine Party
Tun Tun
Monday, 16 May 2011

New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burma’s coral reefs and fishery industry near Kyaukphyu in Arakan State are being damaged by dynamiting to create a gas pipeline route, according to the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party (RNDP).

A pipeline to transport oil and natural gas from Kyaukphyu to Yunnan Province in China is now under construction as a joint Burma-China project. The coral reefs were identified as the Ohnkhaungpaunglel and the Natkyauktan reefs, located about three miles north of Kyaukphyu. Each reef is more than one mile long.


A 771-km pipeline that will transport oil and natural gas from Kyaukphyu, Burma, to Yunnan Province in China is expected to be completed in 2013. Photo : SGM

'The residents rely on fishing for a living. If marine creatures are killed, the residents will not be able to catch fish', Ba Shein, a RNDP lawmaker for Kyaukphyu Township, told Mizzima.

A woman in Konechain Village near the Ohnkhaungpaunglel coral reef said, ‘I saw two vessels that were shoveling sand and rocks. The places where they could not shovel, they dynamited’. She estimated that about one-third of the reefs have been damaged.

Wong Aung, one of the organizers of the Shwe Gas Campaign, a nongovernmental group, warned that if there is no coral reef, large waves from the Bay of Bengal could harm the villages and could seriously erode the shore.

The gas pipeline, scheduled to be completed in 2013, will transport oil and natural gas from Daewoo International Corporation’s offshore gas fields and oil from the Middle East to China. At a length of 771 km, it will pass through Arakan State, Magway Region, Mandalay Region and Shan State.


The joint China-Burma pipeline project will include a deep water seaport and a refinery complex now under construction.
Photo : SGM

The section of the pipeline from the offshore field to Kyaukphyu is about 30 miles long and the authorities are expected to place restrictions on fishing in the area for security reasons, Ba Shein said.

‘Our party will bring up this issue in Parliament when we a get chance’, he said. “We will also appeal to the authorities at the relevant ministries’. The next session of Parliament is expected to be in early 2012, say observers.

mizzima.com

Following recent military-rigged elections in Burma, the pace of foreign investments, particularly in the natural resource sector, is increasing. Burma’s military government is allowing China to build pipelines across the country which will drain Burma of its massive natural gas reserves, dashing hopes of economic development. Building the pipelines and extracting the gas are fuelling further conflicts and abuses: battles between armed groups and the government have broken out near the pipeline route and land confiscation and forced labor has started in project areas. Despite great risks, communities are standing up and voicing their concerns and opposition.

http://www.shwe.org/wp-content/uploa...b-Verstoin.pdf

shwe.org

Government Officials Take Chinese Pipeline Compensation
11/6/2011

Kyauk Pru: Government officials in Kyaukpru in western Burma’s Arakan State have taken the compensation offered to local residents for whose lands were confiscated to make way for the corridor of the Chinese gas pipeline.

The construction of Chinese gas pipeline now reaches at Kyauk Pru Township in Arakan.

A resident of Kapaingchaung Village in Kyaukpru Township who received compensation for his lands confiscated for the pipeline told Narinjara in a telephone interview that the payment of the compensation has been altered by third parties, including government officials.

“Our villagers here are now quite busy receiving compensation. However most of them have not got the full amount owed due to exploitation by government officials. There are also some villagers who did not receive any compensation for their lands”, said the villager.

“So, some of the villagers have to go to court, and others to the land registration office to claim the compensation owed. The village administrator himself has gone to Kyaukpru for this matter so please contact him.”

U Tin Phay, an MP of the regional government from Kyaukpru, also said that the responsible departmental officials have exploited the villagers and taken the compensation owed to them.

“The officials include an assistant director and a clerk of the land registration department and the village administrator." said U Thin Phay.

“They have cut 1 million Kyat from the compensation of 4 million Kyat offered to U Maung Than Kyi, 1.5 million Kyat from 3.5 million Kyat to Daw Ma Win Nu, 5 lakhs Kyat from 1.5 million Kyat to Daw Ma Kyaw Thein, 1.5 million Kyat from 5.7 million Kyat to U Kyaw Thein and 4 lakhs Kyat from 1.25 million Kyat to Daw Khin Win Tin respectively.”

He said 24 villagers from Kapaingchaung Village have been compensated for the lands lost to the pipelines, but 23 of them have come to the RNDP’s Kyaukpru branch office to lodge complaints providing their own signatures and written accounts of their particular stories because the officials forcibly and unofficially cut their compensations.

“We also know from the villagers from the Kapaingchaung Village and other villages through which the pipelines will cross that the responsible officials have threatened them not to complain to their management or they will confiscate or stop all compensations for them”, said U Tin Phay.

“But the villagers are continuing to come to our office”, he added.

The pipeline that comes from the sea to export gas from the Shwe offshore gas reservoir to China has already arrived in Kapaingchaung Village, situated 10 mile east of Kyaukpru main town. It is also learnt that the authorities have already confiscated necessary lands owned by the 26 villagers from the Kyaukkhamaung Village for the pipeline, but no compensation has been offered to the villagers yet.

narinjara.com

Burma Army fights KIO to secure Shwe pipeline route in Shan State
Wednesday, 28 December 2011


A Chinese pipeline truck headed to Burmese border town Muse from Chinese border town Jegao.

For the fourth consecutive day parts of Northern Shan State saw heavy fighting between the Burmese army and troops from the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), along the proposed route of the Shwe gas pipeline project.

Since December 25th KIO troops have resisted a sustained Burmese army advance near Namtu and Nam Kham (or Nam Hkam), two towns that lie in the path of the twin oil and gas pipelines.

The proposed pipeline route cuts directly through territory controlled by the 4th brigade of Kachin Independence Army's (KIA) 8th battalion. Earlier this year the Burmese army fought against the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) to seize territory the group controlled that also lies along the path of the pipelines.

When completed the Shwe gas project will send oil and natural gas from Burma's Arakan coast to China's southern Yunnan province. The twin pipelines are expected to give Burma's central government significantly large annual royalties.

Burmese army alleged to use chemical agents against KIO

Du Zawng, an officer from the the KIA's 4th brigade told the Kachin News Group (KNG) on Wednesday that over the past 24 hours the Burmese army has again used an unknown chemical weapon against the Kachin resistance.



Du Zawng reported that more than 10 KIA soldiers near Kutkhai in Northern Shan State became ill after coming in contact with a strong chemical smell that accompanied a series of mortar shell fired by the Burmese side. After inhaling the fumes the affected troops began to vomit uncontrollably and some became unconsciousness.

The Burmese army has reportedly repeatedly used chemical agents against the Kachin resistance after fighting broke out between the two sides in June this year. Due to the remote location of the fighting it remains unclear what chemicals the Burmese army has been using.

kachinnews.com

Global protests target Burma pipeline
HANNA HINDSTROM
1 March 2012


The Shwe pipeline seen cutting through countryside close to the town of Hsipaw in northern Shan state
(Steph Ferry)

Activists across the globe today held coordinated protests against the Chinese-led Shwe Gas project in Burma, which they claim has led to widespread displacement, human rights abuses and environmental degradation.

Protesters in 20 countries across rallied outside the embassies of China, Burma, India and South Korea, whose companies are major investors in the project, and handed over letters calling for the suspension of activities pending the resolution of social and environmental concerns.

The highly lucrative venture that begins off the Arakan coast in western Burma has led to the confiscation of thousands of acres of land across the breadth of Burma in order to create a “security corridor” adjacent to the pipeline. The livelihoods of local fishermen in Arakan state’s Kyaukphyu, where a port is being built, have also been destroyed as a direct consequence of the offshore infrastructure developments, say campaigners.

“Militarisation has been heightened along the pipeline corridor, causing internal displacement and sparking new resentment against the Shwe Gas Project and other natural resource exploitation projects like it,” the campaign group Shwe Gas Movement said in an open letter to President Thein Sein.

The project will be Burma’s largest ever gas development, with total revenues expected to reach $US29 billion over 30 years. But activists warn that none of the proceeds will reach local communities.

“Under the current unaccountable structure, gas monies from the project will only feed corruption and not benefit the people,” said Wong Aung from the Shwe Gas Movement.

The group is calling for sustainable natural resource development, which can simultaneously secure the country’s energy needs while respecting the rights of locals through a process of free, prior and informed consent.

“We believe that Burma’s natural resources have the potential to spur the national economy without harming local communities.”

The gas will be extracted from offshore blocs in the Bay of Bengal and exported directly to China, but locals are demanding a 24-hour supply of electricity from the new power source. Seventy-five percent of the Burmese population are still unable to access to the national electricity grid.

Compensation has been given by the government to farmers in northern Shan state whose land was confiscated for the pipeline, but locals in Namkham township have complained that less than half of the $15,900 allotted for each acre of land has so far been awarded.

In September last year, President Thein Sein suspended the development of the controversial Myitsone Dam project, in a move that has been welcomed by campaigners. More recently, the government withdrew plans for a coal-fired power plant in Tavoy after intense pushback from civil society groups.

Sustainable resource development continues to be one of the key challenges for Burma in its transition from a military state to a democratic union. Its vast gas and mineral wealth has the potential to lift the poor nation out of poverty, but remains largely controlled by the military.

Since Thein Sein came into office last year, reports of forced evictions and land grabbing for resource development projects have continued unabated. Critics even suggest these could increase in the wake of ceasefires being signed with ethnic minority rebels in resource rich areas like Karen state, which are being eyed by investors keen to exploit energy reserves.

dvb.no

China’s charity role along Burmese pipelines route praised
Wednesday, 29 February 2012

China’s role in the creation of the Sino-Burma oil and natural gas pipelines was praised by Burma’s vice president this week, particularly China’s charity contributions in the project areas.


Pipes along the route of the trans-Burma Shwe gas pipeline project which will transport gas and oil to Yunnan Province in China.
Photo: Mizzima

Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo praised China’s cooperation with Burma while touring Kyaukphyu on Made Island in Rakhine State with Chinese and local officials, according to an article by the Xinhua news agency published this week.

Tin Aung Myint Oo thanked the Chinese companies for donating cash and material for health and education projects along the pipeline route.

Zhang Jialin, president of the South-East Asia Crude Oil Pipeline (SEAOP), briefed Tin Aung Myint Oo on the progress of the oil and natural gas pipeline project and the China National Petroleum Corporation’s (CNPC) charity undertakings in the project areas. The CNPC funds the pipeline project.

He said in 2011, related companies donated a total of US$ 4 million to build 45 schools and 24 hospitals and clinics, while also improving the healthcare environment for 800,000 people. He said the charity work also involved digging “tube” wells that provide water for 2,490 people, according to Xinhua.

Made Island, situated in western Burma in Rakhine State, is the starting point for the crude oil pipeline. The starting point for the natural gas pipeline is on Ramree on the west coast.

The oil and natural gas pipelines run parallel through Burma and enter into China at Ruili, Yunnan Province.

The crude oil pipeline extends onshore 771 kilometers, while the natural gas pipeline stretches 793 kilometers.

Tin Aung Myint Oo stressed China’s continued support for people along the pipeline area.

He also said that the project would consider providing support for Rakhine State's electric power network to relieve a regional power shortage.

mizzima.com

Fund Collected from Locals for Construction of Schools and Clinics Donated by China-Myanmar Oil Pipeline Project
Monday, 21 May 2012

Money is being forcibly collected from locals in Kyauk Pru Township, Arakan State, in order to construct schools and clinics donated by the China-Myanmar Oil Pipeline Project, U Thanda Maung, a concerned person from the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party told Narinjara.



“The people who reported the case are from Krone Zway Village Tract. They are facing financial difficulty due to the forceful money collection for the schools and clinics donated by the oil pipeline project,” he said.

A school and clinic, sponsored by the oil pipeline project, are being built in Krone Zway Village and a committee of 7 persons has also been formed, including the village headman and the abbot who sits in the village monastery.

“They collect 5,000 kyat per household for the school and clinics. It’s 3,000 kyat for the poor and the widows. It’s compulsory. They say, if you don’t want to pay, leave the village,” said a villager from Krone Zway on the condition of anonymity.

When asked why the money is being collected when the school and clinics are being sponsored by the China-Myanmar Oil Pipeline project, the committee answered that the money donated by the project is not sufficient for the construction, the villagers reported.

Krone Zway Village Tract exists in No. 7 Myo Chaung Kwan in Kyauk Pru Township and has around 400 to 500 households.

“It’s a big village. This is not the first time they have collected money. Recently, they collected 2,500 kyat per household for brick baking. This kind of repeated money collection has infuriated the villagers and they requested our party and MP U Ba Shin to intervene. So, U Ba Shin has gone out to investigate the case,” said U Thanda Maung.

Narinjara has attempted to contact U Ba Shin several times but has received an operator message that his phone is turned off.

The donated school an clinic in question are being built by Zayar Aung Construction Co. Ltd. and the committee of seven was also organized in negotiation with the company. The monk from the committee is said to be dissatisfied with the villagers for electing the Rakhine Nationalities Development Party in the 2010 election, as he is a supporter of the USDP.

“It is so difficult to discuss things as the village head monk is on the committee. But we can’t bear it anymore, they are collecting too much money unfairly. We have reported the case to the respective authorities, let’s see what is going to happen,” said the villager.

The company is also reportedly using bad bricks and bad wood, while collecting money from the villagers and posting a signboard that reads, “Donated by the China-Myanmar Oil Pipeline Project,” which has made the villagers indignant.

bnionline.net

Originally Posted by Mid

“It is so difficult to discuss things as the village head monk is on the committee. But we can’t bear it anymore, they are collecting too much money unfairly. We have reported the case to the respective authorities, let’s see what is going to happen,” said the villager.

Lets hope they aren't the same village committee!

Report illustrates displacement along Shwe Gas Pipeline
Friday, 09 November 2012

The Ta’ang Students and Youth Organization (TSYO) released its report “Pipeline Nightmare” on November 7 depicting how the Shwe Gas and Oil pipeline project has forced thousands of ethnic Palaung villagers to flee their homes.



The report claims that the government expanded 26 nearby military camps to increase pressure on armed ethnic groups and safeguard the pipeline area and its Chinese workers during construction. Clashes between the armed groups and the government army frequently triggered the villagers’ displacement.

The gas and oil pipeline passes through the Palaung region where government troops, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), Shan State Army – North (SSA-N), and Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) are regularly active. The entire route traverses 21 townships from the Bay of Bengal in Burma’s western Arakan State to China’s southwestern Yunnan Province.

“There are over a thousand locals remaining in makeshift camps in the Mantong area. According to our latest data collection, there are also about 3,000 IDPs [internally displaced people] in the Kutkaung area. But that is not included in this report,” said TSYO general secretary Mai Aung Ko.

The project has reportedly resulted in a range of severe human rights abuses, including land seizure, forced labor, forced porter duty, torture, and sexual violence.

According to the report, although project authorities maintain that compensation is provided in cases of land confiscation, only a small number of displaced villagers received full compensation, while others were given nothing at all.

“Only those who live close to army families and can speak Chinese are compensated, but still not a lot,” said Mai Aung Ko.

The project’s A1 and A3 blocks are estimated to hold 4.5 – 7.7 trillion cubic meters, and once completed, the project is projected to earn the Burmese government USD 29 billion from sales to China over the next three decades, according to the Shwe Gas Movement Group.

The report is based on field research conducted from October to December 2010, May to July 2011, and January to March 2012. Interviews were held with 53 Palaung villagers from six townships, namely Naung Cho, Kyauk Mae, Thi Paw, Namtu, Mantong, and Namkham in Ta’ang (Palaung) region, according to Mai Aung Ko.

The TSYO report stated that in Shan State of northern Burma alone, 65 to 70 percent of the project is completed, and the entire project is scheduled to conclude in December 2013.

bnionline.net

Originally Posted by Mid

The Ta’ang Students and Youth Organization (TSYO) released its report “Pipeline Nightmare”

http://www.burmalibrary.org/docs14/P...are-en-red.pdf

I am sure the democratically elected Myanmar government will spend the trillions of Kyat paid for this pipeline on their people's needs.

Chinese predict June opening for Burma pipeline
Monday, 21 January 2013

The trans-Burma oil and gas pipelines are expected to be completed on May 30, according to Chinese contractor Gao Jianguo, the head of the project under the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), according to a report on Monday by the Chinese national news agency, Xinhua.


The 1,100-km Shwe gas pipeline should be ready to begin operations in June, says the head contractor.
(Photo: Shwe Gas)

“Barring insurmountable barriers, the oil and gas pipelines could begin operating in early June,” Gao is quoted as saying.

The contractor confirmed that the main parts of the Shwe Gas pipeline in Burma have been finished, while those in Chinese territory will be completed this month. The pipelines will then undergo pressure tests and a drying process in February, he said.

The 1,100-km-long oil and natural gas pipelines run from the port of Kyaukphyu in Burma’s Rakhine State and enter China at Ruili in Yunnan Province. They will transfer shipments of crude oil from the Middle East to southern China.

Meanwhile, Xinhua also reported on Monday that a Chinese trade delegation led by Vice Commerce Minister Chen Jian has met with Burmese officials in Burma for trade talks.

Chen is quoted as saying that discussions centered on ways to expand Burma’s agricultural exports to China, as well as addressing the “barriers” to Chinese companies investing in Burma.

The report noted that “several Chinese-funded projects, including a hydropower station and a copper mine, have been abruptly halted or suspended” in recent years.

Chen urged the respective Chinese companies to work towards resolving difficulties, Xinhua said.

In a recent interview with Mizzima, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Rangoon, Gao Mingbo, said, “Speaking from the point of view of the Chinese companies, when such a giant investment is swept aside it is difficult to accept. After all, there is a contract to honor.”

He emphasized that he believed the Chinese investments in question will benefit the people of Burma.

In September 2011, Burmese President Thein Sein announced a suspension of the controversial Myitsone Dam project, which is located on the confluence of the Irrawaddy River in Kachin State, and which has been partly financed by the China Power Investment Corporation.

Another major Chinese-backed project, the Monywa copper mine in Sagaing Division, is also in jeopardy of being closed down following an incident on November 29 when riot police cracked down on protesters, including dozens of Buddhist monks, who oppose the project on environmental grounds.

An investigation commission, chaired by Burmese pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, has been tasked with investigating whether the project will be profitable for the state and for the people, and whether it should be allowed to continue.

The commission is due to submit its report to the President before January 31, 2013.

mizzima.com