"Since January, residents of Namjim Village northwest of the Kachin State capital Myitkyina have witnessed a number of Chinese workers bustling around the area. Around 10 kilometers from the village, just across the Namkoi River, Chinese workers have been conducting a ground survey for a project site. The road connecting Namjim Village to the project site is very rocky and at some points extremely narrow. The location of this project is not near the China-Myanmar border where Chinese investors usually prefer to carry out their investment projects. Now, however, a Chinese company has announced grand plans to build the massive Myitkyina Economic Development Zone (MEDZ) on approximately 4,700 acres of land along the historic Ledo Road. The Ledo Road was built during World War II to enable the Western allies to deliver supplies to China and thus aid the war effort against Japanese forces. It was an overland connection between Ledo in India’s Assam and Kunming in China’s Yunnan Province. Experts say China has chosen the area strategically, with an ultimate aim to link it with India as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. The Yunnan Tengchong Heng Yong Investment Company (YTHIC) and the Myitkyina Economic Development Zone Committee (MEDZC), formed by Kachin State government, are expected to invest a combined total of more than US$400 million in the MEDZ which is to include nearly 500 factories and 5,000 buildings at the project site located 25 kilometers from Myitkyina. Strategic importance Currently, Kachin State is home to a number of China-backed investments ranging from hydropower to mining to agriculture. But the MEDZ was one of the lesser-known China-backed projects to be planned for the state—that was until Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Hong Liang’s visit to the site area in late December 2018. The Chinese ambassador said the economic zone will be a crucial part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which is being implemented under the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor agreement. The initiative is President Xi’s grand vision to create a network of trade routes from China to Europe passing through Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia. Unveiled in 2013, the BRI aims to ultimately encompass nearly 70 countries and two-thirds of the world’s population. As well as the MEDZ, both Myanmar and China have planned to construct another $5-million “economic cooperation zone” as part of the BRI plan in Kanpiketi, a town in Kachin State’s Special Region 1, which is under the control of a militia group called the New Democratic Army-Kachin. The MEDZ investors signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in May 2018. The Chinese company, YTHYIC, is owned by the Yunnan Baoshan Hengyi Group and Tengchong Border Economic Cooperation Zone, a company based in Baoshan, Yunnan. The former’s company chairperson met several ministers in Naypyitaw last year to discuss the construction of the economic development zone in detail. According to the MoU viewed by the Irrawaddy, both sides will collaborate to draw up a master plan, to calculate the estimate cost, rules and regulations, the share ratio and other framework details based on the project investment procedures. Moreover, YTHIC and the state government have agreed to establish a joint venture company to implement the zone —a collaboration between YTHIC and the government-affiliated company. Both sides also agreed that YTHIC would cover expenses such as feasibility studies and the environmental impact assessment (EIA). Later, the joint venture company must pay back all expenses to the YTHIC...."