Madagascar Paddy Farmers Rise Up Against 'new City'

Antananarivo, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Nov, 2019 ) :Anger is boiling over in the hills surrounding Antananarivo over plans to relocate part of Madagascar's choked capital to emerald-green farmland.

Hundreds of farmers in Ambohitrimanjaka village are facing off with the authorities over a presidential scheme that threatens to engulf a thousand hectares (2,500 acres) of rice fields.

"We will not swap our land for money and we will not accept being moved," said Jean Desire Rakotoariamanana, 57, who took part in protests last month.

"These rice paddies provided for our ancestors." The unrest has been sparked by a scheme to unclog Antananarivo, a polluted city of three million people wedged in the hills of the central highlands.

If the Tana-Masoandra ("Tana Sun") project comes to fruition, the area will house all of the government's ministries, the Senate, a university, a conference centre, hotels and homes for 100,000 people.

Its backers claim that relocation -- to what is the city's distant outskirts -- will cost the equivalent of $600 million (542 million Euros) and create 200,000 jobs -- a major economic boost in the impoverished Indina Ocean island nation.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by 2024.