Local sources have confirmed that the Green Land City housing project being implemented in Pathein is actually a scheme that illegally seizes agricultural lands to benefit military and civilian officials. Although the project was suspended during the previous NLD government for being illegal, the military council has been aggressively pushing forward with its implementation in violation of existing laws since the military coup.
The project is being led by Aung Min, who is the brother of former military government’s Director General of Housing U Ah Kyaw, in collaboration with Aye Kyaw, a core member of the USDP party. They have been proceeding with the project by bribing officials with land plots, including 10 plots to Ayeyarwady Region Chief Minister Tin Maung Win and 5 plots to Security and Border Affairs Minister Colonel Moe Min Naing, along with various other military and civilian officials. The project claims to include apartments, condominiums, single houses, shopping centers, sports facilities, hospitals, clinics and schools, but construction work has already begun without obtaining proper permits for converting agricultural land for other uses.
According to local sources, buyers of plots in the Green Land City project can construct houses without requiring official permits. Work has already begun on fencing, land filling and house construction in the plots specifically allocated to military and administrative officials. The project, which was previously halted by the NLD government in 2018 for bypassing legal procedures and regulations regarding land use conversion, is now being expedited under military council oversight despite lacking proper agricultural land conversion permits. This demonstrates how the military council is enabling illegal development projects that benefit its officials while disregarding established laws and regulations meant to protect agricultural lands.
