Narinjara News 29 October 2022
The local residents on Thursday put up vinyl posters asserting that they do not want the deep seaport,built in May Day island under Kyauk Phyutownship of Rakhine State.

The agitators claimed that the port was constructed without the will of locals and it has beenaffecting daily activities of thefishermen.

The letters on posters read, ‘Don't let the deep seaport project poisoning local fishermen’, ‘Stop thedeep seaport project immediately’,‘Immediately stop the project without the consent of local residents’, etc.

Those posters were displayed near May Day island, which is a part of Kyauk Phyu SpecialEconomic Zone.

“The posters have been put up since Thursday morning. I saw a ship there carrying sandbags for theproject. Often the fishing nets are damagedby these ships. Even when I contacted the company but no response was available. The company people are taking advantageof the country's troubled situation and thus oppressing the Rakhine people,” said a local resident.

Center for Peace and Development director, U Tun Kyi, who is monitoring the Kyauk Phyu SpecialEconomic Zone project, informed NarinjaraNews that the protests surfaced as the company went ahead with the project ignoring the localfishermen’s grievances.

“While EAI was engaged in the deep seaport project, the company started the construction activities.Local fishermen are suffering fromthe construction works. They have invested at least Kyats 50,000,00 each in the fishing industry.Now they are losing the business.The company people need to resolve it. If it is not resolved, the problems may arise,”he added.

The deep seaport project agreement was signed by the Burmese government and the CITIC consortium in2018. It is expected to be implementedin four phases. The deep seaport is understood as first phase of the project.

Presently, constructions of docks and piers are going on at the site. A sum of USD 1.3 billion is planned tospend in the ambitious project.