Community leaders confused as President rushes Hakha reconstruction

28 September 2015 — President Thein Sein said during his recent visit to Chin State that new housing for landslide-victims in Hakha would be made ready before winter.

His speech has caused confusion among community leaders as to how the reconstruction would take place on new locations within only a couple of months.

“We are worried that the authorities will take it easy and just build houses without consulting experts in urban-planning, geology and architecture. We really want them to take it seriously and make a step-by-step plan for the reconstruction process,” said Tin, a leading member of the Hakha Rescue Committee.

Thang, a Hakha community leader, said that infrastructural development including roads, water supplies and electricity would have to be done properly and that they wanted them to be well planned and constructed systematically.

According to the State Municipal Department, an estimated budget of 12.6billion kyats would be needed for the five main projects of Hakha reconstruction, which comprise building of new roads, drainage system, retaining walls for steep hillsides and riverbanks and filling up cracks on the ground.

Thla Hre, head of the Department, said: “Collective efforts have to be made to meet the requirements. Only government funds will not be enough. It is very important that each one of us from both inside and outside the country makes contributions towards reconstructing Hakha.”

In August, different teams of experts from the Union government, Japan and Germany  conducted surveys in Hakha, with their findings to be reported in the near future.

Thang said that both the Union and State government took the experts’ findings into consideration when decisions were made regarding the reconstruction of the capital.

Flash floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains in late July brought hundreds of houses, bridges and roads to destruction in Hakha, leaving thousands of residents homeless.#