Residents of two villages in Yangon region’s Twante township met with representatives of a nearby fertilizer factory and government officials last week to demand the closure of the foul-smelling plant.

The meeting took place on December 29, but ended without reaching a solution to the problem. The village residents said they would take the matter to the regional government as their next step.

The Shwe Nagar fertilizer factory has been opposed by people living in the nearby villages of Kan Pat Yoe and Htan Ta Pin since it was opened on the Twante-Maubin road in mid-2019.

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During the two-hour meeting, which took place at a monastery in Kan Pat Yoe, the villagers complained that the factory wasn’t just fouling the air, but also polluting the water.

They said they had reported to various government departments that effluent from the factory was killing fish in a nearby stream and changing the colour of a lake in Kan Pat Yoe.

“More than 200 households from two villages are opposed to the factory. We have over 200 signatures,” Ye Win Htut, a resident of Kan Pat Yoe, told Myanmar Now. 

“We’ll be sending official letters to different ministries and departments to show our opposition to this factory,” he added.

Kan Pat Yoe has around 300 households and Htan Ta Pin about half that number.

At last week’s meeting, local residents asked the factory to suspend its operations until it could install a biofilter system to control the odour. However, the factory continued to operate as usual.

“In studies, there’s no mention of the smell of amino acids having harmful effects, but of course there are some effects after a certain period,” said Aung Thin, a consultant for the Shwe Ngar fertilizer factory 

Local resident Tin Ohn, 71, complained that the smell from the factory made her dizzy and short of breath. “The stench is very foul. It immediately gives me a headache every time the factory is operating,” she said.

The odour comes from amino acids mixed with other chemicals to produce the fertilizers, explained Shwe Ngar agricultural consultant Aung Thin.

“In studies, there’s no mention of the smell of amino acids having harmful effects, but of course there are some effects after a certain period,” he said.

Officials at the factory said that experts who were supposed to come from China to set up a filtration system to remove the bad odour were unable to do so due to Covid-19 restrictions.  Instead, they said, a local company would do the job.

In the meantime, the factory will refrain from using amino acids in the production process, according to the company’s human resources officer, Naing Lin.

“They said it wouldn’t harm the environment or the birds, and that it wouldn’t produce bad water. They also said there wouldn’t be any noise or foul smell,” said local resident Than Naing Htwe

The factory, which is built on a 27-acre plot of land owned by the Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems, produces fertilizers under the brands Pa Lel Thar, Pin Tat and Top One.

In November 2019, the Agriculture Ministry banned two fertilizers after 1,200 acres of farmland that used a Top One special fertilizer were found to be contaminated.

Because the lake in Kan Pat Yoe serves as the local water supply, residents say they have been reluctant to drink the water since it started to change colour about two months ago. Since then, they have relied on donated water, said Tin Ohn.

Aung Thin, the Shwe Nagar agricultural consultant, dismissed these concerns. 

“The discoloration is caused by fertilizer particles, which are not dangerous. They just think they’re dangerous,” he said, adding that tests by ISO-approved private labs and the township health department indicate the water is safe to drink.

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Another issue that local people have raised is that they were not properly informed when they agreed to allow construction of the factory. They say they were led to believe that it would only be used as a warehouse to store fertilizers.

“Wearing a mask protects you against Covid-19, but nothing can protect you from this stench,” said local resident Tin Ohn

Kan Pat Yoe native Than Naing Htwe, who was among those present when the company told locals about plans to build the facility, said there was never any mention of a factory.

“They said it wouldn’t harm the environment or the birds, and that it wouldn’t produce bad water. They also said there wouldn’t be any noise or foul smell,” he said, explaining why local people didn’t oppose the project at the time.

Factory officials say a third-party organization called HRD Environmental Training and Services was hired to conduct the environmental impact assessment (EIA).

However, an official from HRD told Myanmar Now that the assessment was done only for a warehouse, not a factory.

“The EIA was set up to assess how a warehouse would affect the environment in the region. That was the extent of our involvement,” the official said.

According to Naing Win Swe, the deputy general administrator for Twante township, concerns about the factory can be reported to the district and regional governments, which will then conduct on-site investigations.

Meanwhile, local people will have to continue to live with the smell.

“Wearing a mask protects you against Covid-19, but nothing can protect you from this stench,” said Tin Ohn.