Members of the Karen ethnic minority living in the vicinity of this road project are not only forced to provide labor for its construction but also to finance it. Over the past five years, Burmese military authorities have extorted an estimated 50,000,000 Kyat (50,000 $US) from Karen civilians in Township “X” for the road’s construction, thus earning the project the ignominious title “the 50,000,000 Kyat road” among the local population.

(Source: Free Burma Rangers, 2003)