Villagers call for compensation for Namjim Industrial Zone land losses

19 December 2019
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.