Monks step in to avert clashes at mine site - Online Burma/Myanmar ...

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Greece
offers
residency
to foreign
investors
ATHENS – Greece will be
offering residence to non-
EU investors purchasing
or renting property
over 250,000 euros
(US$326,000), in a bid to
revive its moribund real
estate industry, officials
said last week.
The initiative, voted into
law by parliament the week
before, comes in response
to strong demand from
Arab, Chinese and Russian
investors, the officials from
the interior ministry and
property groups told a
news conference.
Valid for five years
and open to renewal, the
residence plan follows
similar measures adopted
by Hungary, Spain and
Portugal in the past.
“Finally, the property
market can move out of
its paralysis a little,” said
Stratos Paradias, head of
the confederation of Greek
home owners.
The permits will enable
the holders, their spouses
and children under the
age of 18 to freely travel –
though not work – in the
Schengen area for three
consecutive months at a
time.
The recession gripping
Greece for a sixth straight
year and heavy taxation
has crippled the country’s
construction industry
that was previously one of
pillars of the economy.
– AFP
Former owners
battle Asia World
over Hledan site
Owners say they were promised apartments at
the development by former Yangon commander
By Myat Nyein Aye
THE 24 former owners of a plot of
land now occupied by the Hledan
Center in Kamaryut township are
battling with the developer, Asia
World, to be given apartments and
additional land they say there were
promised.
“Asia World promised us that we
would be given apartments when we
vacated the land in 2003,” said Daw
Cho Cho Mar, one of the formers
owners. “At that time, the company
promised us an apartment in the
building, and told us that it would
take three years to build. But the
construction period was actually 10
years,” she said.
The land covers 1.522 acres and
belonged to 24 owners.
Daw Cho Cho Mar said the
owners had waited for 10 years
for the building to be finished but
‘ We don’t care if Asia
World has lost money
– that’s the company’s
problem.’
Asia World had never offered any
compensation for the delays. She
added that Asia World met owners in
November last year, many of whom
told the company’s representatives
that the delays had cost them
thousands of dollars in rent.
In 2003, the government told
owners of a plan to build the Land
Mark building at Hledan Junction
and asked the owners to vacate. Daw
Cho Cho Mar said the owners were
told the Land Mark building would
be a 28-storey building – and every
owner would be given an apartment
when it was finished.
“At that time, Yangon Region
Commander Myint Swe promised us
that we would not suffer for leaving
our land and said we would be given
an apartment each,” she said. “But
Hledan Center was built instead –
and there are only eight floors.”
Daw May Oo Kyaw, a spokesperson
for Asia World, said the company has
not opened Hledan Center yet and
could not provide any comment until
that happened.
The Department of Human
Settlement and Housing
Development gave 68 apartments
to 49 families that vacated their land
to make way for the building,
U Aung Htun, the department’s
director, said during meeting with
the former owners on November 23,
2012. He added that the other 15
people would have their rents paid
by DHSHD.
However the November meeting
broke down when Asia World officials
and the former owners clashed.
“That meeting had to be
stopped because the Asia World
representatives were just telling us
about their problems,” said Daw Ni
Ni Aung, a former land owner. “We
were so angry because that was the
first meeting we had had with the
company in 10 years and we wanted
to negotiate about the apartments
we were promised.”
Asia World project manager U
Pone Nyunt told the former owners
of the many difficulties the company
had faced during construction and
explained why the building could not
be 28 storeys high.
He said the company expected to
lose from K6 billion to K10 billion on
the project as a result.
Property
April 29 - May 5, 2013
The former owners of the land occupied by Hledan Center are
demanding that Asia World provide apartments they say they were
promised in the development. Pic: Ko Taik
“We just want an apartment that’s
worth the same as our land was,”
said Daw Ni Ni Aung.
“We don’t care if Asia World has
lost money on the project – that’s the
company’s business.
“We have waited 10 years and
it’s time Asia World paid us back
for the years that we’ve had to live
somewhere else and for the company
to compensate us for what we have
lost.
“Where we have lived has always
been temporary, none of us has
viewed these places as our home.”