Protestors from Salween Watch and Peace for Burma presented evidence of human rights abuses linked to the Ta Sang dam project to the MDX Project Manager in Bangkok on November 20, 2007.
About 20 protestors visited the MDX Plc office on Ratchadapisek Road and presented Mr. Noppol Prapaitrakul, the Ta Sang Project Manager, with a petition listing abuses linked to the project, and demanding that MDX stop investing in the project immediately, signed by over 1,500 affected Shan community members.
Mr. Noppol denied that any abuses had taken place, including forced labour and land confiscation, and insisted that there would be no environmental impacts, and that the flood area would be much smaller than predicted, not impacting the communities in the Keng Kham valley.
However, the activists were able to provide exact details of land confiscation linked to the building of the MDX office in Mong Ton, and challenged Mr. Noppol with the exact project specifications, obtained directly from the dam site, which confirmed that the flood zone would definitely extend beyond Keng Kham along the Nam Parng tributary, displacing thousands.
“The MDX is spinning a web of lies around the Ta Sang project to protect their investment,” said Kher Hseng of Shan Sapawa. “We want to let their shareholders know the true facts about the project so they can pull out before it is too late.”
MDX signed an MoA with the Burmese military regime to build the US$6 billion Ta Sang dam on April 3, 2006, and the ground breaking ceremony for the dam was held on March 30 this year. It was recently reported that the MDX had reduced its stake in the project to 24%, while a Chinese company had increased its stake to 51%.
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Sai Sai
E-Mail:shansapawa
gmail.com
Phone: 66 89755-7354