According to local reports, Saraburi Coal Mining a subsidiary of Ital-Thai that received a 30 year concession by Burmese authorities to export coal from Shan State East’s Mongkok sub-township, Monghsat township, 70km north of Thailand’s Chiangrai border, has begun working on the construction of its project, destroying paddy fields, farms and lands of local villagers.

A source said that “They [the company workers] started clearing the space to construct the buildings and extract mine in mid April. They destroyed all the areas in the project site. Areas that were not designated in their lists were also destroyed as well.”

According to farmers, the coal company paid them THB 20,000 (USD 666.6) per acre rate for compensation. Another resident whose farms were also destroyed said that “But the Burmese authorities just paid us only Kyat 20,000 (USD 20) per acre.”

She added that “With that little money how can we survive in the long time? Some company workers even suggested us to relocate to Thailand if we don’t have a place to stay and survive in our home area. There are lots of jobs for the likes of us there.”

According to Courier Information Services report, the said coal mining project has been protested by people both in Shan State and Thailand since 2009, because of its plan to ship coal from the Mongkok mine through conflict zones inside Shan State and through unaffected areas in northern Thailand to the city of Saraburi in central Thailand where it will be used as fuel in cement factories.

The company was asked by the Burma Army, in exchange for the coal concession, to construct a new route across the border despite the existence of a shorter 100 km route inside Burma’s Tachilek to Thailand’s Maesai.

The road is proposed to be built across Maejok on the Burmese side of the border to Thailand’s Hmong Kaolang village, Mae Fa Luang district. It will be around 60 km inside Burma and at least 90 km inside Thailand until it connects with the national highway at Pasang, between Maesai and Chiangrai, said a village leader in Mae Fa Luang.

The proposed road would be able to transport between 2,000 to 5,000 tonnes of coal per day. The deposit in Mongkok boasts at least 150 million tons of raw coal, one third found to be Grade A. It would take 40 years long to deplete the fields even with 270 ten wheelers working each day to transport.

(Sourced from www.shanland.org)