It should be noted that the 2012 Foreign Investment Law and the 2013 Citizens Investment Law are currently being redrafted to create a single law for all investors and these provisions could change. 521 Resettlement Myanmar has only limited standards governing the resettlement process for land confiscated from people for projects. As discussed above, the 1894 Land Acquisition Act does provide for compensation for land the Government has acquired in the public interest, but with only limited safeguards and no provisions concerning resettlement. In addition, the current Foreign Investment Rules appear to provide some general prohibitions on involuntary resettlement. B. Field Research Findings The field research focused on parts of the ICT value chain where land acquisition processes were most significant (for infrastructure roll out) 522 and where land owners or users were most at risk (i.e. rural communities). It did not consider land acquisition for office use in cities where land registration and markets are more developed. The findings are based on the roll-out experience of private sector telecoms operators. While the field research team discussed land acquisition with state-owned enterprise MPT, the team did not have the opportunity to discuss land acquisition with military-owned enterprise MECtel. MECtel usually locates infrastructure inside military compounds or on land held by the military. Consultation Prior to Land Acquisition Human Rights Implicated: Right to take part in the conduct of public affairs; Right to information Field Assessment Findings  There were numerous cases where individuals and communities claimed there was    no informed consultation and participation about land acquisitions or tower or fibre projects using land in immediate proximity to their homes. In cases where there was consultation and participation, it was predominantly only with the land owner/user and the (two to four) immediate neighbours, who, under the land acquisition process, were needed to sign consent forms. In many of those cases, those asked to sign agreements were unclear of their purpose or content. There were very few cases found where any ICT company or Myanmar Government had done wider community consultation regarding the network rollout, land needs and plans, and the ways in which the rollout would affect their lives and livelihoods, positively or negatively. In many cases, community members: 521 Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business “Comments on the latest draft of the Myanmar Investment Law” (27 March 2015). 522 For example, TowerXchange reports in October 2014 that “based on the volume of orders they are seeing, the tower installation firms have spoken to are more bullish than the GSMA’s forecast of 17,300 towers by 2017, with many feeling that the tower count in Myanmar by 2017 will be 25,000”. TowerXchange “The Myanmar tower rollout: FAQs” (updated June 2015). CHAPTER 4.7: LAND 215 4 4.7