Land dispute halts construction of oxygen plant in Ramree  

By DMG 31 Aug 2021

DMG Newsroom
31 August 2021, Ramree 

Construction work on an oxygen plant in Ramree town, Arakan State, was suspended on Tuesday due to objections over use of the land on which the facility is located. 

U Tun Tun Oo, a member of the Covid-19 prevention and control committee in Ramree town, said: “An owner of the land objects to the construction of the plant on the land. We have learnt it through Facebook. The owner’s objection might reach the authorities, but we have not received it yet.” 

The land has been used to park ambulances of the Rammar Waddy social welfare association since 2012, U Tun Tun Oo said. 

“When we formed the social welfare association, we opened a temporary office and two ambulances parked there,” he explained. “We did it according to the verbal order of a state minister. He told us that he gave compensation to the owner of the land and the land use was under the management of the government. So, we have planned to apply for a grant for the land after we registered our association.” 

U Myint Lwin said the land is owned by his ethnic Kaman grandfather U Ba San. Until 2012, two houses that were built on the land had been lived in by multiple generations of the family, he added.  

All of the family members had to relocate to Yangon as their houses were burnt down during the inter-communal conflict that wracked Arakan State in 2012. But the family has arranged to live there once again and does not have plans to sell or transfer ownership of the land to anyone, the family said in an August 28 complaint filed with the United League of Arakan/Arakan Army (ULA/AA). 

The complaint was sent through the mobile app Telegram in line with the ULA/AA’s recent offer to mediate legal disputes via a parallel justice system, which it said it was setting up in Arakan State. 

“We have not sent the complaint to other authorities. We have currently submitted a complaint to the AA because they have their legal office in Arakan State and they have established peace with the government at the moment. And, they invited people to seek justice through their judiciary department,” U Myint Lwin said. 

He said the AA has responded to him, confirming receipt of his complaint.  

The oxygen plant slated for construction on the disputed land in Ramree town was planned to have a production capacity of 40 40-litre cylinders per day. 

Several townships in Arakan State have built or are seeking to build oxygen plants amid a surge in coronavirus infections statewide over recent months. 

Severe cases of Covid-19, a respiratory disease, are often treated with oxygen therapy, and O₂ demand has outpaced supply for much of the pandemic’s ongoing third wave, which began in late May.