Villagers protest urban development project near Mandalay

Residents of a village threatened by a major development project in Mandalay’s Amarapura Township protested last Saturday against encroachment on their property, according to local sources. The protest took place during a ceremony held to consecrate a new Dhamma hall donated to the village monastery by the project’s developer, Mandalay Business Capital City Development Ltd (MBCCD), the sources said. The company is owned by Maung Weik, a businessman with close ties to Myanmar’s military junta. The protesters, from the village of Shan Kalay Kyun, demanded that the company stop filling their land, reopen the old village access road, and reinstate their cemetery, according to a woman who took part in the demonstration. Around 35 people joined the protest, the woman told Myanmar Now. “Most people were afraid, so only a small group went. They didn’t let us enter the monastery compound, so we walked around the village to protest,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The protesters were later approached by police, who said they would arrange a meeting with the relevant officials, the woman added. However, when the group went to the monastery, its gate was closed. MBCCD reportedly began filling in land slated for use in the Amarapura Urban Development project late last year, including farmland still in use. “They keep filling in land right next to the village. Our peanut fields were filled before we could harvest our crops. We still own this land. Now everyone is discussing what to do,” said a local landowner.Farmers say they have come under growing pressure from the company to give up their land for the 1.3 trillion kyat (US$360 million) project, which covers an area of around 2,500 acres between Mandalay’s Ring Road and the Ayeyarwady River. Residents of Shan Kalay Kyun hold a protest against the Amarapura Urban Development Project on January 11 (Supplied) Originally approved in December 2017, when Myanmar’s ousted ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), was still in power, the project is set to be implemented over a 10-year period. According to sources close to MBCCD, the company has been negotiating with landowners to purchase their properties or exchange them for urban plots since the project’s inception. The Amarapura Urban Project Support Committee, which is handling the negotiations, said in a notice dated November 13 that the company is paying 150 million kyat ($70,000) per acre for land in the project area with Form-7 certificates, and 60 million kyat ($30,000) per acre for alluvial land without certificates. The committee claimed that over 75 percent of the project area has been acquired through land purchases and urban plot exchanges. MBCCD’s owner, Maung Weik, is a controversial figure who was imprisoned on drug-related charges in 2008 under former dictator Than Shwe. Following his release in 2014, during the quasi-civilian Thein Sein administration, he attempted to secure construction projects by collaborating with former military generals who served as the chief ministers of Yangon and Mandalay regions. After the military seized power in 2021, Maung Weik helped the newly installed regime fabricate corruption charges against NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi by claiming that he had paid her a total of $550,000 in bribes during her tenure as state counsellor. He was also instrumental in laying similar charges against Dr. Zaw Myint Maung, the NLD vice chair who also served as chief minister of Mandalay Region until his ouster in February 2021. Maung Weik is believed to have been detained by the regime from February 3, 2021, to June 29, 2023. Immediately upon his release, he attended a donation ceremony for a pagoda built by junta chief Min Aung Hlaing.

Villagers protest urban development project near Mandalay

The protesters demanded an immediate halt to encroachment on their lands by a company owned by a businessman linked to Myanmar’s military junta

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