Amyotha Hluttaw discusses river dredging, business loans and security

August 21, 2017

The Amyotha Hluttaw addressed strategies to mitigate erosion along the Yangon River during its meeting yesterday in Nay Pyi Taw.

U Kyaw Myo, Deputy Minister for Transport and Communications said that the Myanma Port Authority was preparing to dredge part of the river, particularly along the Seikkyi-Khanaungtto side.
He explained that the authority would use steel sheet piles along an area 700 feet in length.
He also said that ships are avoiding shallow depths by using a route along Thayettaw Village and Pinlewa Thaungkhon Village in Kawhmu Township in the western part of the Yangon River.
“Myanma Port Authority is making arrangements to choose companies for dredging silting in the lower reach of the river under the international tender bidding system,” said the Deputy Minister.
The body also discussed measures being taken to make loans available to Myanmar business owners.
Deputy Minister for Planning and Finance U Set Aung said the Myanmar Economic Bank is providing collateralized loans with terms between 3 and 12 months to construction contractors. He said that tender project loans, however, were still unavailable.
“Tender Project Loan cannot be granted for the time being, by the Myanmar Economic Bank and Government-joint-ventured Banks without getting any collateral for tender winners to work conveniently. It will be considered to be able to be implemented later. Instead, for now it can be obtained from other banks who have been giving other kinds of banking services,” he added.
The body also discussed the security situation in Maungtaw, Buthidaung and Yathadaung townships of Rakhine State.
Kachin State representative U J Yaw Wu said “the eradication of terrorism from the region should be the priority of the government, with cooperation from the Tatmadaw, local nationals and representatives from various regions.”

Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar