House owners that refused to take compensation offered during an expansion of the Samon Tal airport in the Arakan State’s Manaung were threatened with lawsuits by company heads if they didn’t vacate their properties. Some monasteries and homes within the airport expansion area have already been demolished.
“We can’t say anything. The ordination hall was demolished yesterday. They have demolished four buildings. The authorities are doing it,” said Sayadaw U Seitta of Myat Manchaung monastery. He told Narinjara News that authorities promised to rebuild but nothing has started yet.
U Phyu Thee, a house owner that has refused to move, said: “Our yard is over one acre wide, including the house. They gave 5.1 million kyats for this. You can’t even buy a plot of land with that money in the current market. U Tun Kyi from Manaung Township Sein Lann So Pyay Yay Company told us yesterday that we will be sued if we don’t take the money.”
Other home owners that have refused the low compensation that is being offered are also staying put.
U Tin Nu said: “We have been threatened with a lawsuit for squatting on farmlands because we didn’t take the compensation. If they want to sue us, let them do it. We will only relocate after receiving sufficient compensation for the land where we have been living for many generations.”
He was offered 8.2 million kyats for two separate land plots.
Due to numerous complaints the Thein Sein government suspended the airport expansion on Dec. 12, 2015 for review by the incoming government. Yet, on 2 April, a day after the new government took office, bulldozers destroyed homes and monasteries.
