Thaukyekhat – 2 Hydropower Dam and Current Situation of Htone Bo Villagers

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The Thaukyekhat – 2 Hydropower Dam is located on the bank of the Thaukyekhat Stream, 14 miles east of Taungoo, Bago Division, Burma/Myanmar. It is a concrete dam, 1,253 feet wide and 308 feet high. Its projected capacity is 604 million kilowatt hours, according to the Myanmar Ministry of Electrical Power No.1. The hydro-power dam projects were initially started by the former Burma military government. But as the government couldn’t continue the construction, the Asian World Company stepped in and took over the dam projects in November 2007. According sources from Karen News (http://karennews.org), in 2006, 73 families from Htone Bo village had to move out of their village to make way for the dam projects. As of today, a total of 93 families have been relocated. For their losses, the villagers want the company to pay them compensation. The villagers have demanded 7 – 8 million kyat per family from the company. However, the company doesn’t want to pay this amount because there are so many families needing compensation. They want to pay only 1.5 million. The former village chief demanded that the company build a library, a clinic, a road, and a bridge for the community, as well as provide water and electricity. He also said that the company should build a church and a school, and also pay the requested compensation. The company has complied with most of these demands, apart from the compensation. The villagers also submitted a letter to the parliament, calling for the Farmland Investigation Commission to investigate the problem. However, so far no action has been taken. Since “it will take a long time, wait” is what the villagers always been told, they are losing their faith that they will ever receive this compensation. “If they want to give us compensation, then let them give it to us. If they don’t want to, then what can we do, right? It is in their hands. We will only get it when they are willing to pay. This is very hard,” said by Htone Bo villager.