"Freezing licenses is a critical first step towards wresting control from the elites who have plundered the country's jade riches for so many years, with total disregard for the environmental and social cost," said Tsa Ji, General Secretary of
KDNG. "Now a new approach to licensing is needed - one which puts local people and the environment first."
The Kachin Development and Networking Group (
KDNG) has warned publicly that the Myitsone dam construction is going to displace 15,000 neighboring Kachin natives and millions of people living downstream of the dam construction location because of inundation.