When the Snowy Mountain Engineering Corporation (SMEC) of Australia had a meeting with locals to survey their opinions at a community religious hall on 6 April people demonstrated their displeasure by leaving the meeting, said local residents.

Ceremony to Pray for the Salween River

Nan Kham one of the participants in meeting said that the company tried to explain the environmental and social impacts of the project, but left the locals dissatisfied and unconvinced.

 She said: “The company (SMEC) came and told us we will only get 10 percent of the electricity. What about the rest of the electricity? When local people asked them [this and other] questions they could not answer. That is why the people left the meeting before 2pm.”

A Mong Ton Town political party leader said that there was no transparency from the company and that there is very tight security near the dam project.

After the meeting between SMEC and the local residents a two-point statement was issued by the local people. The statement said that companies and the government should wait two or three years until [there is no fighting and] the area is stable [before they start projects in the area].

People Hold Signs Opposing the Dam Project

The statement also said that the residents of Mong Ton reject the construction of a hydropower project on the upper Salween River [near Mong Ton] because it will mean that pagodas, towns and houses in the upper Salween area will be inundated and destroyed.

Also, on the morning of 6 April about 100 residents attended a ceremony at a community religious hall to pray for the health of the Salween River before the meeting with SMEC, according to Sai Lwe a Mong Ton resident

 He said: “As we welcome in the New Year as the old year goes we pray for the health of the Salween and for the people of Shan State to be kept safe from dangers. We Mong Ton residents do not accept and agree to the dam construction. We openly reject it. Our respected and valued heritages will be destroyed and the dam will cause hardship and poverty to a majority of the Shan people.”

Australian based SMEC has been hired by the government and construction companies to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and a Social Impact Assessment (SIA) for the Mong Ton hydropower dam project planned for the Salween River between Mong Pan Township in Southern Shan State and Mong Ton Township in Eastern Shan State.

Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI