Villagers call for compensation for Namjim Industrial Zone land losses

Villagers call for compensation for Namjim Industrial Zone land losses

Villagers in Myanmar’s Kachin state are calling for compensation for farmland lost to a Chinese-backed development project, for which authorities have pledged to pay only for destroyed crops, RFA reported.

Farmers displaced by the planned Namjim Industrial Zone say that proposed compensation will support them for only a few months. Launched in May 2018 as a joint venture between Kachin state and China’s Yunnan Tengchong Heng Yong Investment Company, the Namjim Industrial Zone is expected to cost more than U.S. $400 million and include factories producing farm equipment, finished wood products, and electronics.

Speaking to RFA, Kachin state Land Record Department director Than Lwin said that farmers growing crops on project land will be compensated only for their crops, as the land they work is now listed as unoccupied or fallow.

More news from Mizzima
April 25, 2026
Myanmar’s newly installed government remains overwhelmingly dominated by military figures and...
April 24, 2026
The “Proof of Life” campaign officially launched on 21 April, as an international effort to...
April 23, 2026
In the early hours of 20 April, the Myanmar military junta launched a targeted airstrike on Oo...
April 22, 2026
The Karen Peace Support Network (KPSN) and the Salween Peace Park Governing Committee released a...