China asked to
listen to the people to make BRI “people-centered”
Press Release
October 28, 2020
MANILA – Eight
national and Asian regional organizations based in the Philippines,
Indonesia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka on Wednesday asked
China to listen to the voices of the people in communities most
directly affected by Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects.
In a virtual press
conference, leaders of the organizations said appropriate
consultations with the local communities transformed by the BRI
projects would maximize social benefits, minimize investment risks,
and make the BRI truly “people-centered.”
A new book chronicling the
effects of the BRI projects in the Philippines, Indonesia,
Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka turns the spotlight on the views
of people affected by the BRI projects. The book was launched during
the virtual press conference.
“Numerous books, studies,
and research papers have been produced by governments, companies,
economists, and investors about the BRI. The voices from the most
important community, however, have not been heard,” Lidy Nacpil,
coordinator of the Asian People’s Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD),
said during the launch of “Belt and Road through My Village.”
The “Belt and Road through
My Village,” co-produced by eight non-governmental organizations, is
a collection of interviews with over 100 villagers who live on sites
where BRI projects are being undertaken.
China’s total investments
in countries where BRI projects are ongoing reached USD 117.31
billion, according to the 2019 China Outbound Direct Investment
Statistical Report released recently by China’s Ministry of
Commerce, the National Statistics Bureau, and the State
Administration of Foreign Exchange.
As of end-2019, over
27,500 Chinese investors have established 44,000 direct investment
enterprises in 188 countries and regions where BRI projects are
located.
“The lives of billions of
people in these 188 countries are being affected directly and
indirectly, positively and negatively, and their lives are changed
forever,” Nacpil said.
The book project was led
by the People of Asia for Climate Solutions (PACS) and APMDD, and
supported by Asia Comms Lab, Philippine Movement for Climate Justice
(PMCJ), Indonesia’s Koalisi Rakyat untuk Hak Atas Air (KruHA:
People's Coalition for the Right to Water), Coastal Livelihood and
Environmental Action Network (CLEAN) in Bangladesh, the Pakistan
Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC), and the Centre for Environmental
Justice (CEJ) in Sri Lanka.
The book covered seven
major BRI projects. They are the Kaliwa Dam in the Philippines, the
Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Rail in Indonesia, the Barisal 350 MW
Coal Power Plant in Bangladesh, the Bahawalpur Solar Power Park and
Sahiwal Coal-Fired Power Plant in Pakistan, the Colombo Port City
and the Colombo Highways in Sri Lanka. The total population being
affected by these seven projects alone stands at more than 15
million.
Based on the interviews,
renewable energy and road construction are among the most welcomed
projects, while lack of communication and transparency, especially
with communities on the sites of the projects, unfair employment
practices, and social and environmental impacts are among the most
frequently raised complaints.
The following are
snapshots of the stories and quotes in the book:
Philippines: the Kaliwa Dam Project
Water crisis is a serious
challenge for the growing population in Metro Manila.
Mike Santos, a barangay
official from Barangka Drive, Mandaluyong City, said they had to
mobilize fire trucks to distribute water to residents. Santos said
even with the emergency water distribution, “residents were easily
angered despite our efforts because they were getting impatient over
the situation.”
The Kaliwa Dam is part of
the New Centennial Water Source projects to provide new water
sources for Metro Manila and other nearby provinces. The project
involves the construction of a 600 million liter-per-day (mld)
capacity dam (73m high) and a conveyance tunnel that has a capacity
of 2,400 mld (27.70km long, 4m diameter, around 200m deep).
Around 300 indigenous
people will be displaced from their ancestral lands when the
construction begins. Once completed, the project will inundate a
large part of Barangay Daraitan in Rizal and several areas,
including Barangay Pagsangahan and Barangay Magsaysay in Quezon
Province. Residents of indigenous communities living along the
Kaliwa River said they were not fully informed nor consulted about
the project. “We remain clueless about the proposed dam,” Maria
Clara Dullas, 39, a resident of Daraitan, in Rizal province near
Metro Manila, said. “The Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage
Systems has not reached out to residents of Daraitan to explain its
possible impacts on the community,” she said.
Indonesia: the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Rail
Talking about the Jakarta-Bandung
High-Speed Railway, 23-year-old student Nissa Nurmauluddiana said:
"I think this is positive because there will be many transportation
options to Jakarta, especially now, Bandung people who work in
Jakarta or Jakarta people who are on business to Bandung always run
out of train tickets.”
The project was envisioned
to be completed in 2019, but was delayed due to problems related to
land acquisition and compensation to villagers and local workers.
The total investment is estimated to be USD $5.5 billion. About
124,000 villagers have been affected by the construction of the
railway.
According to KRuHA, which
works closely with the local communities, some people protesting the
land acquisition have been beaten and arrested. They are gravely
concerned about reports of incidents of human rights abuses.
Silvi Febrianti, a college
student from Gempolsari village in Bandung said: “until now, I have
not heard any news from the government about our land compensation
money. It’s not clear enough when we will get it, and how much we
will receive. I want to move as soon as possible.”
Bangladesh: the Barisal 350 MW Coal Power Plant
Maliha Hossain, 38, a
business woman, talked about the importance of electricity to her
online business and to Dhaka. “In Dhaka city, there is an unlimited
number of food courts and recreational activities, if electricity
stops working, everything stops. This is a matter of great
satisfaction. But for the last three years or more, we have been
getting an uninterrupted electricity supply.”
However, she also voiced
her worries about possible air pollution from the coal-fired power
plant project.
The Barisal coal-fired
power plant project is expected to begin operations in 2022. The
entire project will require 300 acres of land and the government is
expected to buy power from this plant for a period of 25 years,
according to the agreement. The project site is surrounded by land
reserved for wildlife and fish sanctuaries. Villagers said they were
forced to evacuate the land to give way for the project.
Abdul Malek Mosulli, 96,
from Taltoli, is one of the hundreds of villagers who lost his
house. “Local villagers protested, but police brought charges
against innocent young men,” he said.
Now the village is visibly
divided into two parts: the high land acquired for the power plant
and low land where the villagers relocated. With the recent floods,
the relocation site has been underwater for months. There is no
drinking water and no fish to catch. The residents are jobless. A
number of people have become laborers at the plant site.
Pakistan: Bahawalpur Solar Power Park and Sahiwal Coal-Fired Power
Plant
“Our lands have gone from
zero to hero since the Quad-i-Azam Solar Power Park project was
initiated in the area,” Muhammad Iqbal, 62, a counselor in Chak
6-BC, one of the villages close to the solar power park in
Bahawalpur, said.
The Quaid-i-Azam Solar is
a 100 MW solar plant spanning 200 hectares of desert land, and
Sahiwal Coal-Fired Power Plant, encompassing 690 hectares of fertile
land, has an installed capacity of 1320 megawatts.
In a different village,
Noman Bhatti, 40, was not happy with the Sahiwal Coal-fired Power
Plant. “I’m still at a loss to understand why the most fertile land
in the Punjab province has been selected to commission such an
anti-agriculture project,” Bhatti said. “We, the affected community,
had approached the court of law to resist installation of the plant
here. Some officials managed to blackmail most of the plaintiffs in
the name of National Interest.”
Sri Lanka: The Colombo Port City and Colombo Highways
In 2019, China and Sri
Lanka signed an agreement to further fund and build the Central
Expressway Project (CEP).
Tharushika Wickramasinghe,
25, talked about how she had changed her mind about highways near
her house after experiencing the new conveniences: “I would like to
see more highways coming up in the country and want the Chinese to
help the Sri Lankan government to build more expressways.”
The Colombo Port City was
proposed in early 2012 by the China Harbour Engineering Corporation
as the site for constructing the Colombo International Financial
City. The project is expected to be completed by 2041 and will be on
a 99-year lease.
Aruna Roshantha Fernando,
a 49-year old fisherman, raised questions about it: “I don’t think
Sri Lanka needs such a big city port in Colombo. Only the rich
people will benefit from this project. What happens to poor people
like us who earn a living by the resources of the sea?”
“People-to-people
connectivity is supposed to be the ultimate vision for BRI,
alongside policy connectivity, infrastructure connectivity, trade
connectivity, and financial connectivity,” Xiaojun Wang, executive
director of PACS, said.
All the testimonials are
presented in the book in the native languages of the villagers, and
have been translated into English and Chinese for international and
Chinese audiences.
At the 75th Session of the
United Nations General Assembly in September 2020, President Xi
Jinping called on all major countries to act with leadership. “They
should provide more global public goods, take up their due
responsibilities and live up to people's expectations.” This was a
continuation of his call for China and host countries “to act on the
principles of high standard, people-centered and sustainable
development” at the 2nd Belt and Road Forum in Beijing in April
2019.
“In order to achieve true
‘people-centered’ vision for the BRI, China must work with host
country governments and be more proactive in reaching out to the
communities to be affected,” Wang concluded. “Only when these voices
are heard, will social, environmental, political and financial risks
be minimized, and will real benefits and welfare improvements be
shared by all involved.”