Shops, homes to be cleared for Sittwe-Palinpyin road expansion 

By DMG 28 Dec 2021

DMG Newsroom
28 December 2021, Sittwe 

Houses and shops in five villages are slated for removal as part of plans to widen the Sittwe-Palinpyin road in Bumay village-tract, Sittwe Township, said U Hla Thein, spokesperson for the Arakan State Administration Council. 

The structures — in the villages of Letmachay, Gawlawdy, Darpaing, Hmansi and Thetkaypyin — are in the footprint of a planned 50-foot expansion on both sides of the existing road, he said, adding that the government has conveyed its intentions and ordered the clearance of buildings too close to the road. 

“Piles have been erected to demarcate the area for widening the road. Teams will force people to remove houses and shops from the road area. I cannot say exactly when the road construction work will start,” he told DMG. 

Most residents on the affected Sittwe-Palinpyin road sections are Muslims, and the state government must handle the matter carefully to minimise the risk of communal conflict when the houses and shops are removed, he added. 

U San Mya Kyaw, administrator of the Bumay village-tract, said the Department of Roads and Bridges has instructed him to ensure that there are no shops or houses within 50 feet of the existing road on either side of the sections to be widened. 

He said more than 500 houses and shops from five villages are included in the road expansion zone. 

A resident of Bulay village-tract who asked for anonymity noted that some of the buildings slated for clearance are shophouses, meaning both a residence and business will be affected in the case of some removals.  

At the same time, residents have said that traffic congestion is frequent along stretches of the Sittwe-Palinpyin road that are narrow and in poor condition.