February 12,
2018
Introduction 1.
The current issues in Rakhine State are not only the concern of Rakhine State
alone but also the concern of the country as a whole. The stability, peace and
development of Rakhine State are absolutely critical for the whole country to
become stable, peaceful and developed.
2. While there
is so much work to be done for rule of law and development across the country
including Rakhine State, the Government is putting a great deal of determined
efforts into promoting rule of law and enhancing development. In doing so, the
national level development projects and plans as well as those for Rakhine
State have been implemented. The implementation of those plans and projects is
found to be highly relevant to and in line with the recommendations put forward
by the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. The Advisory Commission on Rakhine
State submitted its interim report in March, 2017. The implementation of the
recommendations of the interim report started from 1 April, 2018 and in order
to increase the momentum, the Government established the Committee for
Implementation of Recommendations on Rakhine State with 19 members on 9
October, 2017. The Committee has to release its Report to the People on the
progress of its implementation every four months. This report covers the period
from 1 April, 2017 when the implementation of the recommendations started
before the formation of the Committee up to 31 December, 2017.
The Economic and
Social Development of Rakhine State
3. Since both
domestic and foreign investments play an important role in the state’s economy,
the Rakhine State Investment Commission was established on 7 July, 2017 and the
Directorate of Investment and Company Administration opened its state office on
30 October, 2017. Till now, they have verified and granted concessions to a
total of 48 investment projects, including 6 livestock and fishery projects, 2
construction projects, 11 hotel and tourism projects in accordance with the
Myanmar Citizen Investment Law, as well as 1 mining project, 27 energy projects
and 1 service business in accordance with the Foreign Investment Law, with an
aim to create job opportunities for local people.
4. Whenever
expropriation of private land is unavoidable to execute investment projects,
the owners are entitled to compensations for their land and losses. To date, compensations
have been provided to 1,001 local people who lost their land and crops due to
land expropriation for investment and development projects. The fund to
compensate another 7 local people has also been requested in 2018 2019
FY Budget.
5. As a form of
Corporate Social Responsibility, the contributions made by the investors to the
socioeconomic development of Kyaukpyu are as follows: 50 villages are supported
MMK 30 million each to use as revolving funds for village development activities;
and heavy equipment operator training was conducted in cooperation with
Caterpillar Company. In education and infrastructure sectors, Shwe Gas Project
and Southeast Asia Oil and Gas Pipeline Project have contributed MMK 7.62907
billion and USD 876257.65 respectively.
6. Previous
experience has shown that large-scale projects, including SEZs, can have
negative consequences on the environment, other economic sectors and local
people; therefore, the Environmental Conservation Department and the Management
Committee of Kyaukpyu Special Economic Zone have been discussing and
coordinating to conduct the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) in a
comprehensive approach.
7. Also, the
coordination and cooperation with ILO are taking place to conduct labour market
assessment – LMA. While preparing for LMA, trainings have been delivered to
local people to enhance their vocational skills. There have been 22 types of
vocational training including those for women provided to a total of 2,160
trainees. With the support of GIZ, dress-making training course was provided in
Yangon for the local women from Kyaukpyu, and other vocational training on
ironwork, wielding, and electrician training and the training on modern
agricultural techniques were also conducted. During the reporting period, 250
jobs can be created in Smart garment factory, Khine Pyi Soe garment factory and
Shwe Kyar hand weaving workshop. Likewise, Shwe Project and Southeast Asia Oil
and Gas Pipeline Project also offer jobs to 520 local people.
8. As transportation
is an important component of socioeconomic development, high priority is given
to improving transportation in Rakhine State. Starting from April up to
December, 2017, roads and bridges damaged after the attacks in Maungtaw were
repaired and earthen roads, gravel roads, concrete roads and concrete bridges
were built. Heliports were also constructed. Currently, twenty bridges and two
new mountain roads on May Yu Mountain are under construction.
9. In the land
transport sector, 6 more bus lines have been expanded in addition to the 42
existing bus lines. For water transport, transportation along the Rakhine
coastline and rivers is improved with Kispanadi (1) and (2) vessels running
along the Sittway-Kyaukphu route and Aung Takhon vessels running along the
Sittway-Buthidaung route. As a part of the Kalatan Multi Modal Transit
Transport Project supported by the Indian Government, six cargo vessels of 300
ton capacity started running on 26 June, 2017. In the air transport, approval
has been obtained to build the new Mrauk U airport through public private
partnership (PPP). At Munaung Airport, construction of 200 foot over-run to the
south to the existing runway (4,500´x100´) and RESA earth leveling work has
been started. Also in Sittway Airport, construction of the expanded terminal
building (180´x60´) has been completed;
10. In the
Communications sector, mobile phone penetration is now over 85% and there have
been more than 1 million internet users.
11. The efforts
made in the electricity sector, starting from 1 April, 2017 up to 31 December,
2017, have resulted in the increases of electricity supply in terms of the
number of hours a day, which is illustrated in the following diagram.
12. For drinking
water supply, building and repairing 26 earthen ponds were completed in the
villages in Rakine State. Thinechaung Earthen Dam (with capacity 249 million
gallons) and Dotantaung (1) Check Dam (with capacity 20.39 million gallons)
were constructed. Construction of concrete reservoirs, repair of earthen ponds,
installation of pipes connecting reservoirs to water collecting tanks were also
carried out. Additionally, 234 rural drinking water supply projects were
implemented in 233 villages, sourcing water from hand-dug wells, ponds, springs
and other sources. A variety of comprehensive rural development activities were
also undertaken in 7 villages through Village Development Project, in 235
villages through CDD Project and in 97 villages through Emerald Green Project.
13. In support
of agricultural production, mechanization was promoted by giving out loans of
MMK 447.953 million to farmers to buy 233 machines and equipment for farming
and fishery, and by selling 2 tractors and 575 hand-operated tractors in
installments. Moreover, 23,332 baskets of seeds of pure paddy variety, 30
baskets of seeds of winter peanuts, 4 baskets of seeds of green gram, 796
packets of vegetable seeds were distributed to 4,553 households. The training
on agricultural techniques was provided to 90 farmers with the support of KOPIA
project. The farming equipment operator training was conducted for four times
and benefitted 110 trainees. Besides, 1,261 farmer trainings were delivered in
all townships of Rakhine State.
14. Small and
medium enterprises (SMEs) are important drivers of the development of the
regional economy. Loans are given out to SMEs with the repayment terms from 3
to 5 years at an interest rate of 9%. Cooperating with JICA, Myanmar
Agricultural Development Bank provides two step loans, with 3 to 5 year
repayment terms, at an interest rate of 8% to farmers all over the country
including Rakhine State. As agricultural loans have been provided to farmers in
Rakhine State, loans of MMK 86181.15 million were given out for monsoon crops
to the farmers in 17 townships and loans of MMK 2408.55 million were given out
for winter crops to the farmers in 7 townships in 2017-2018 Financial Year.
15. In the
tourism sector, the new Myanmar Hotel and Tourism Law have been drafted and
submitted to the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw through the President’s Office. Once that
law is approved and enacted, there will be more opportunities for small scale
family hotel businesses.
16. Encouraging
investments and development of businesses, the company registration process has
been streamlined by reducing the procedures up to 4 steps from previous 13
steps, and also reducing the registration fee from MMK 1 million to MMK
500,000. Additionally, a telephone hot line (1887) has been set up to provide
information needed for incorporating a company or making an investment.
17. As efforts
to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change, the following activities
have also been implemented: 11,764 acres of community forests have been
established; 1,644 acres of Gwa Chaung mangrove forest is planned to designate
as protected area; and 390,000 trees were grown through community tree planting
movements in 2017-2018. Regarding production and distribution of climate
resilient seeds, 441 acres of monsoon paddy seed nursery was established,
415,687 acres was planned and grown for crop diversification during 2017- 2018
Financial Year. Improving irrigation systems is another important effort for
agricultural development. As such, 100% of 75 projects were completed,
including construction, upgrade and repairs of irrigation systems, embankments,
spillways, concrete water gate, check dams, and reservoir dams. In Rakhine
State, 26 environmental education programs were organized during the period
from June to November, 2017 and 5,174 people attended those programs.
Citizenship
18. Since the
time the current Government took office, the Muslim people who applied for
going through the national verification process were verified in accordance
with the Law and the numbers of people who benefitted from those processes are
listed below.
19. If the
people who want go through the verification process do not hold any forms of
identification documents, they need to hold a NV Card first in accordance with
the Law. As a form of advocacy for acquiring and holding NV cards, the members
of the Committee for Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State
have been briefing the rights and responsibilities, associated with holding NV
cards, to Muslim village administrators, 100-household heads, local people and
fishermen working on fishing boats on every visit of theirs to Rakhine State.
During the NV processes, the necessary forms and documents for application of
citizenship are also provided.
20. The
Government seeks to actively engage the Islamic religious groups in the country
to mobilize more participation and cooperation of Muslim people in the
verification processes. This active engagement did result in discussions and
negotiations between the Islamic religious groups and the members of the
Committee for Implementation of the Recommendations on Rakhine State as well as
the statements issued by those Islamic religious groups, urging all the Muslim
people in Rakhine State to cooperate with the authorities in the national
verification process.
Freedom of
Movement
21. With regards
to the freedom of movement for people holding NVC Card or any forms of
identification document, a road map has been developed with time-frames and
milestones for removing restrictions. According to the road map, the initial
steps have taken in the Maungtaw District, including intensifying security and
raising awareness widely among the communities of both sides that actions will
be taken against any acts by any side which harm, disturb or block the people
from the other side moving around, in accordance with the existing laws, rules
and regulations.
Internationally
Displaced Persons (IDPS)
22. Work has
been started for the closure of the Thetkelpyin IDP Camp and Aung Mingalar Ward
in Sittway Township, and the Taungpaw IDP Camp in Myepon Township in line with
the international standards.
23. The repair
and construction work carried out to improve the shelters in the IDP camps is
as follows:
(a) 50 shelters
in the Say-tha-margyi IDP camp, Sittway were refurbished;
(b) 12
individual houses were constructed in place of the shelters in the camp in
Ramree;
(c) At the IDP
camps in Sittway Township, 176 new shelters, 281 new units of shelters, 482
tube well pumps and 508 toilets were constructed.
Humanitarian
Assistance
24. Humanitarian
assistance has been provided by the Union Government, the public, UEHRD Youth
Volunteer Program, Red Cross Movement, ASEAN countries, partner countries and
various national and international organizations as follows:
(a) Food and non
food items in a total value of MMK 479.60 million by the Union Government;
(b) Food and non
food items in a total value of Swiss Franc 17 million by Red Cross Movement;
(c) Food and non
food items in a total value of USD 730,000 by ASEAN countries;
(d) Assistance
in a total value of MMK 443.75 million by UEHRD Youth Volunteers;
(e)Assistance in
a total value of MMK 79.05 million by MA UK Myanmar.
( TO BE
CONTINUED )
Ref; The Global
New Light of Myanmar
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