Residents in Mandalay fear BRI land confiscation

11 October 2019
Residents in Mandalay fear BRI land confiscation
Aerial views of Mandalay. Photo: Aung Ko Oo/Mizzima

Residents of central Myanmar's Mandalay region said Thursday that they are increasingly fearful of forced property confiscation lost farmland in areas slated for the construction of a high-speed railway running from Kunming in southwestern China to their city under the massive Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), RFA reported.

Two state-owned companies — Myanmar Railways and China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co. Ltd. — signed a memorandum of understanding a year ago to conduct a feasibility study for the Muse-Mandalay line, a key part of the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC) under the BRI that is expected to boost trade between the two countries.

The CMEC entails a central road and rail transport infrastructure from southwestern China’s Yunnan province through Muse and Mandalay to the town of Khaukphyu in western Myanmar's Rakhine state, where a major seaport and special economic zone are scheduled for construction.