The Myanmar Invest Commission (MIC) last month permitted China’s Kangrui Agriculture & Livestock Development Company to invest in the raising of cattle in Myanmar. The investment will involve an injection of US$37 million in funds. A breeding facility will be established in Mahlaing Township, Mandalay Region.

Kangrui Agriculture & Livestock Development Company, which is 90 percent owned by Shanghai Penghe Supply Chain Management and 10pc by Dehong Penghe Agriculture Development, will be the first wholly-owned Chinese outfit to invest in breeding cattle in Myanmar.

The cattle will be bred domestically and mainly exported to China, said U Thant Sin Lwin, Acting Director General of Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA).

Investors are starting to take interest in the cattle business after the Ministry of Commerce in October 2017 officially permitted breeders to export Myanmar-bred cattle in an effort to control illegal exports. “Foreign investors see potential in this business,” said U Thant Sin Lwin.

Myanmar cattle are mainly exported to China via the Muse border trade gate, as well as to Thailand.

Of the 261 companies that applied for export permits from the government since late 2017, 94 that met requirements set out by the authorities have been selected.

The country has since exported nearly 500,000 cattle from December 2017 through April 2019.

According to the animal census conducted in May 2018, there were 1.8 million buffaloes and 9.7 million dairy and beef cattle in Myanmar.

In March though, traders told The Myanmar Times that some 5000 head of cattle were stuck in Muse as they were not able to get the necessary documentation from authorities from both sides of the border.

The MIC has also permitted Thailand’s wholly-owned CP Livestock to invest in three cattle businesses worth over US$78 million. These include investments in a pullet farm and pig breeding farm in Yangon as well as an animal feed facility in Mandalay.

So far, foreign investors in the livestock and fisheries sector have channeled funds totaling US$600 million towards expansion in Myanmar, according to DICA.

Source: Myanmar Times

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Road Transport Administration Department of Ministry of Transport and Communications and Moon Engineering Joint Venture Co., Ltd yesterday signed a consulting services contract for developing vehicle registration by Radio Frequency Identification-RFID System at the ministry in Nay Pyi Taw.

Present at the meeting were Deputy Minister U Kyaw Myo and officials from the Ministry of Transport and Communications, and officials from Moon Engineering Joint Venture Co., Ltd.

During the signing ceremony, U Kyaw Myo, the Deputy Minister for Transport and Communications and Mr Hun-Il Moon, the Chairman of Moon Engineering Joint Venture Co., Ltd, delivered speeches.

Afterwards, U Zaw Min Oo, the Director-General of Road Transport Administration Department, and Mr In-Jin Kim, the Executive Director of Moon Engineering Joint Venture Co., Ltd, signed the consulting services contract.

To implement the RFID System, feasibility study and invitation to tender for developer will be conducted at designated times. The tendering processes will be conducted around end of 2019.—MNA

Source: The Globle New Light of Myanmar

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Exclusive: Multiple transparency failures by the Myanmar Investment Commission to publicise proposed infrastructure projects are exacerbating tensions between local communities, the government and big business.

An investigation by The Myanmar Times shows that more than two years since the Investment Law came into force, legal requirements for disclosure by both the MIC and investors are still not met.

“People have a right to know what is proposed in their communities before any project is approved by the authorities. The lack of transparency in doing businesses will escalate potential violations, corruption and exploitation of local communities and resources,” said rights activist Ma Thinzar Shunlei Yi in response to the investigation.

The absence of reliable information exacerbates the “trust deficit” between business, government and the public, she added.

The findings come as the National League for Democracy-led government is making a big investment push to shore up support for economic growth. In particular, infrastructure initiatives are a priority for both Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon’s executive.

Yet regional parliaments and local stakeholders are feeling excluded by the MIC, particularly on large-scale projects. Regional MP U Aung Kyaw Thu opened an enquiry in May in the Mon state hluttaw into how the MIC approval process has bypassed the regional legislature and executive. The probe seeks to unravel how the state government is forced to shoulder responsibility for companies approved by the MIC but which – according to the MP – are doing little work on the ground, contrary to what their proposals claim.

Policy failure

The Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA) serves as a secretary to the MIC and supports the body’s operations. U Thaung Tun, who chairs the MIC, is also Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations in charge of drumming up inbound investment approvals. Multiple phone calls to the MIC, DICA and the ministry by The Myanmar Times failed to elicit an official response to the investigation.

Section 45 of the Investment Rules stipulates that all investment proposal summaries must be published on the government website “within 10 working days after the date of receipt for public information before issuing the Permit.” The summary is supposed to be prepared in accordance with Rule 36 and 38. (See Figure A)

Figure A: The Myanmar Investment Rules.

Investigations show that the authorities have completely failed to release any materials on its website prior to approving investment proposals.

Even for documents published after approval, key information is found to be missing. The form does not include company website, contact point for enquiries, and exact location of the proposed scheme. In the 10 most recent proposal summaries published, The Myanmar Times found that the majority are scanned PDFs missing basic information. (See Figure B)

Figure B: This is the analysis of information disclosure of the 10 most recent proposal summaries published on DICA”s website.

Manuscript and scanned PDF forms are not searchable online and therefore difficult for the media and other stakeholders to find either at the time of the submission, or afterwards.

Some have more accurate information missing than others. One proposal submitted by Modern Era Handbags Co last year says the investment will be located in China, while another one, handwritten, fails to mention the company name or names of management/ owner. (see Figure C and D)

Figure D: The handwritten proposal fails to mention the company name or names of management/ owner.

“It’s very important that at the early stage of screening a project, any significant potential problems are flushed out through discussion and consultation, and alternatives identified. The earlier this is done, the less likely it is that there will be subsequent protests or investor disputes,” said Vicky Bowman, director of Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business.

The same Proposal Summary should be used for the purposes of screening by the Environmental Conservation Department (ECD) to determine whether or not an environmental impact assessment (EIA) is required, and by the MIC. This would ensure consistency and reduce paperwork for the investor.

“That proposal should be available publicly before the MIC decision is made so that stakeholders have access to it, including through media reporting. They should also have a channel to feed in any concerns and questions to the MIC,” Ms Bowman said.

The proposal form therefore needs to be redesigned, she added, to be in electronic and searchable open data format, and include environmental and social data, such as proximity to environmentally sensitive areas. This would also enable the environment ministry to undertake the screening process.

Lacking information, communities in Myanmar often become aware about a project coming in when the investor tries to do a scoping survey or to buy land from a villager, according to NGO Paung Ku. This approach leaves villagers with fear and uncertainty about what might be imposed upon them.

The NGO’s senior programme coordinator Doi Ra said the MIC’s policy failure amounts to an abdication of its responsibility to local communities. “The MIC needs to publish information about both the project and the investor well in advance for the communities to be informed and have a say on equal terms. Also, those ‘minimum summaries’ currently published on DICA’s website are wholly insufficient.”

“Especially when the approval is coming from the MIC at the Union level, it is even harder to access information either from the state government or parliament, as they themselves are often kept in the dark.”

The authorities do not seem to understand these provisions. When The Myanmar Times broke the news in June 2018 that Yangon-registered company Kyaw KS Development Trading Co was seeking township approval to extract 5 million cubic metres of sand in Tanintharyi Region DICA’s spokesperson declined to say whether the company had applied for an MIC permit. This contravenes Investment Rule 45 on the need to publish corporate applications and proposals.

Doi Ra said individual projects associated with the China Myanmar Economic Corridor, the Yangon New City and developer Gold Coast KTMG Myanmar, which reportedly proposed a US$38 billion “new city” scheme near Sittwe on 7000 acres of land, ought to go through the proper process when they reach the project proposal stage. The MIC is legally obliged to publish the proposals for public dissemination before considering the applications.

“Communities are the ones facing the impact of land speculation and risks of land grabs. How the MIC and some companies are currently engaging with the communities – or no engagement at all – is a violation of our constitutional rights by forcing the communities to live in constant insecurity and fear. Worst of all, in some cases, they create irreversible social division.”

But those are not the only areas where the authorities fail to enforce.

Legally-required company reports

Rule 196 requires companies to submit an annual performance report within three months of the end of the fiscal year. Companies should also, according to Rule 199, publish those reports within three days from the date of submission either on their own website or on the MIC’s.

While the MIC issued a notice last June reminding companies of the need to do so, it has yet to actively enforce this, The Myanmar Times reveals. To date no report or weblink has been uploaded on the MIC’s website.

MCRB’s latest Pwint Thit Sa report also confirms that these documents, in practice, are not being submitted or published. “While further guidance is required from DICA on these reports, companies should nonetheless be submitting them and disclosing them on their company websites, including to support their wider stakeholder communication.”

“Company disclosures plays a big part in an investor’s decision to invest as well as good corporate governance,” commented Ma Cherry Trivedi, head of the Myanmar Institute of Directors.

Despite progress made since 2011, she said the authorities and businesses need to take a stronger stance in their commitment to adhere to laws and regulations in order to attract more investments from abroad.

But there are improvements on other fronts. The new Companies Law established the first official electronic registry for companies. MyCo, DICA’s online searchable database, provides free and open access to company name, type, registration number, director names and address. Other information filed with the registrar is available to the public on payment of K10,000. These provided a degree of access to official corporate information to the public and journalists in Myanmar not available before.

The investment body is not alone in the lack of transparency. U Phyo Min Thein last October filed a lawsuit against three Eleven Media journalist for publishing “incorrect information” about the Yangon Metropolitan Development Public Company (YMDPC) under Penal Code 505(b). The matter was subsequently addressed through the Myanmar Press Council and remains unresolved.

“The media serves public interest by reporting on such dealings. If the government and companies want accurate reporting, they must provide full disclosure. The alternative is to complain about inaccuracy and file criminal complaints against the media, which, though currently the preferred option, feeds a toxic cycle that damages press freedom and trust between government and the public,” commented a Yangon-based journalist who declined to be named.

However, YMDPC still does not have a website or official social media presence.

“A major company without a clear channel for media communication or even a website inspires nothing but distrust. Similarly, a government that does not abide by its own rules and hides its dealings with companies is worrying,” the journalist added.

Source: Myanmar Times

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YANGON-The first international-standard Myanmar Aquarium including an underwater wing is being constructed in Kandawgyi Gardens in Yangon and is expected to complete in 2020, says Director Tin Maung Tun from Mottma Development Group implementing the Aquarium project.

Under the leadership of Yangon Region Government, the Yangon Ecological Aquarium has been cooking since 2016.

“An underwater world will be involved in the first aquarium project. We had to think about the safety of people. The rough construction tasks of the building have finished. Interior design and fish tanks still remain. We are going to strive for completion of all construction tasks by 2020,” said Tin Maung Tun.

It is being developed on five acres of land and while the old aquarium only exhibited freshwater fish, the new aquarium will display both saltwater and freshwater fishes.

Domestic fish species from southern to northern parts of Myanmar will be displayed. There will be over 30 exhibitions including an underwater section, training areas related to the fishery industry as well as food-stalls and shops of fishery products and related items.

“When Yangon Region Government had offered the tender, we wanted to build an international-standard aquarium for the public. Plans are underway to offer discounts for all classes and schools. We’ve already discussed affordable entrance fees with the Yangon Region Government Committee,” said Tin Maung Tun.

Myanmar Investment Commission gave green light to Yangon’s first international-standard aquarium with initial total investment amount of US$30 million.

Due to an increase of investment in building the aquarium, the project has been submitted to the Yangon Region Government and the rent period is 40 years under the permission of Fishery Department.

Source: ELEVEN Media Group

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Despite higher electricity prices, if businesses are able to enjoy a regular, uninterrupted supply of power, the move is still welcome as most will still be commercially viable, some investors said.

“In the last year alone, blackout time in our factory was over 300 hours. When the power is out, we have to run the factory by using diesel-powered generators, which drives up costs substantially,” said U Myint Soe, chair of Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association.

He added that businesses need not worry about additional electricity costs if the power supply is regular. “Based on a one-year projection of electricity costs under the new tariffs and if supply is regular and stable, our industry can make a profit,” he said.

To save more costs, more power saving equipment can be deployed and measures taken to establishing a more disciplined used of electricity, he said.

U Ko Lay, central executive member of Myanmar Industries Association, said: “We have been expecting tariffs to rise for the past three to four years and have concluded that the higher costs can be offset by regular supply of power. This would help us regulate production and reduce the cost of maintenance and repairing damaged machinery due to frequent power surges.”

In fact, U Ko Lay is expecting the power generation industry to become more competitive with more private investors entering the sector now that tariffs have been increased. “With more competition, prices could drop and factories could have more options to purchase electricity at reasonable prices,” he said.

Under the new rates, residential households and religious buildings will continue to pay the previous rate of K35 per unit, but only for up to 30 units. Consumers will be charged K50 for 31-50 units, K70 for 51-75, K90 for 76-100, K110 for 101-150, K120 for 151-200, and K125 for over 201. Consumers who used to pay K3500 for 100 units will now pay K6050, a 72.9 percent increase. This excludes service fees.

Business consumers, including companies, factories, government buildings, embassies, and international organisations, will pay K125 per unit up to 500 units, increasing by K10 for 50,001-100,000 units. K180 per unit will be charged for over 100,000 units.

Before the tariff hike, which took effect on July 1, the government had been supplying electricity to the public at a loss of K507 billion in the 2017-18 fiscal year and losses rose to K630 billion in 2018-19, according to data from the Ministry of Planning and Finance.

Source: Myanmar Times

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YANGON — Digital money transfer services in Myanmar by mobile phone operators and banks have all but replaced traditional remittances in only a few years.

CEO Brad Jones of Digital Money Myanmar — operator of the country’s leading remittance provider Wave Money — says transactions via the service exceeded 2 trillion kyat ($1.3 billion) for the first time in 2018, adding that it will be “probably around $4 billion to $5 billion” by the end of 2019.

Wave Money was officially launched in October 2016 as a joint venture between Myanmar’s second-largest telecom, Norwegian telecom Telenor, and local conglomerate Yoma Group. Telenor holds a 51% stake to Yoma Group’s 49%.

In less than three years, Wave Money has been the go-to service for workers in Yangon and other urban areas who regularly send money to families in the countryside.

People in advanced economies awash with mobile banking services have little in common with people in Myanmar, where only three in 10 people in a country of 53 million have bank accounts.

Wave Money has neatly sidestepped this challenge, creating a nationwide network of 45,000 agents who quickly and safely handle remittances. This far outnumbers bank branches and ATMs, making it a kind of de facto financial institution for the majority of the population.

Typically, money is sent from urban to rural areas of the country, whose gross domestic product hovers around $1,300.

Financial disclosures by Yoma Strategic Holdings, the Singapore-listed joint venture partner, show that in 2018 money transfers in Myanmar rose 15.3% monthly and 4.6 times year on year. Based on this, the Nikkei Asian Review estimates that remittances via Wave Money totaled 430 billion kyat in March 2019.

Remittances are handled by Wave Money agents, identified by the company’s distinct signage. Many run grocery stores or other small shops. People sending money inform the agent of the name and telephone number of the recipient then hand over the cash. The agent completes the transaction on a mobile device, after which the sender and recipient receive confirmation via a text message, which includes a transaction number used to claim the cash.

Users do not need a Wave Money account, just proper personal identification.

Surveys by Wave Money indicate that the percentage of people abandoning traditional ways to remit money — be it personally, through friends or via bus companies — has fallen by two-thirds in the three years until March 2019. In contrast, the percentage who use mobile financial services has exploded to 80% from just 0.8% during the same period.

Until about three years ago, bus companies were the primary conduit for factory workers in cities who wanted to send money to families or small business owners settling payments.

This entailed bringing cash to a bus company where it was put into a tightly sealed envelope bearing the name and contact address of the recipient. The bus company would take a commission of around 5%. The recipient would then wait for the bus to arrive to receive the money.

Remittance by bus is still available, but few people now use it.

Phyo Phyo, a baggage handler working in central Yangon for long-distance buses, knows firsthand the change. She used to accept 50 to 100 remittance requests a day to stops along bus routes all over the country. But things have changed. “There are no customers sending cash to other cities by bus anymore, because everybody uses Wave Money,” she said.

CEO Jones agrees. “It has become a very mature product in a very short period in Myanmar,” he told people at ‘4th Emerging Asia Banking & FinTech Summit’ held in Yangon in June.

Other banks and mobile phone operators in Myanmar are rolling out their own digital remittance services, but Wave Money’s dominance seems fairly secure, at least for now. “It’s not an easy business, especially managing the agents,” Jones said.

Wave Money plans to add services to become a more comprehensive financial platform. Last November, in collaboration with Yoma Bank, it started extending loans to its agents. The two are also planning to let Yoma Bank customers withdraw and deposit money at Wave Money agents, greatly lessening the need for separate bank branches.

Source: NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW

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Bagan has been named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a quarter of a century after the ancient capital was first nominated.

The recognition by the UN’s cultural body will serve to boost demand from both Western and Asian markets, the tourism industry says. But meeting conservation pledges and effective local governance will be critical for the area’s future.

“Bagan is a destination which is already popular among tourists and, with this [UNESCO] title, it will further attract visitors from abroad,” commented U Aung Htun Lin, Myanmar Tourist Guides Association chair.

However historian and Yangon Heritage Trust chair Thant Myint U suggested that tourism should be part of Bagan’s future but not the driving force.

“Bagan is not only a place of sublime beauty, but a place of tremendous historic importance, that was fuelled by an energetic multiculturalism and an openness to the outside world, a place from which we can still draw lessons and inspiration,” he told The Myanmar Times.

There is a need for proper conservation and a move of any commercial activities away from the archaeological zone, he added.

“But it’s equally important to make sure that Bagan remains accessible to ordinary Burmese people and not become a tourist playground. The Burmese student and pilgrim, not the well-heeled tourist, should be at the centre of planning.”

The proposal to list Bagan was approved by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee at a meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Saturday. This marks Myanmar’s second entry to the list after World Heritage Status was granted to the ancient Pyu cities of Sri Ksetra, Halin and Beikthano in 2014.

In 1995, the then-military junta nominated Bagan but the application was rejected.

Tourism and business

UNESCO’s recognition has the potential to energise Myanmar’s lacklustre travel and hospitality sector. Growth in tourist numbers since 2017, particularly from Europe, has fallen as a result of the northern Rakhine crisis and bad tourism policies. The authorities limited the maximum days tourists can spend in Bagan from five to three last year for no clear reason.

The government has tried to revive tourism by relaxing visa restrictions for numerous East Asian and European nationals. Parliament passed the amended Myanmar Tourism Law last year which empowers regional governments to facilitate responsible investment and destination management.

Singapore-listed Memories Group operates a hot-air balloon business in Bagan. CEO Cyrus Pun said Myanmar “should not take it for granted” that the UNESCO status alone will revive the whole tourism landscape.

“There is still a lot to be done to make Bagan and Myanmar fulfil its full potential as a world-class destination, for example the right infrastructure to make it easier to travel around Myanmar, promoting more sustainable tourism, policy directions and caring for the local communities.

“We are already moving in the right direction in these areas which is encouraging.”

The ancient city has more than 3500 surviving stupas, temples, monasteries, fortifications and other monuments, according to the Department of Archaeology and National Museums. It also has archaeological sites and the remains of an ancient water-management system. Many structures were damaged in the 2016 earthquake.

The Myanmar government has pledged to remove all hotels from the existing archaeological sites to a dedicated hotel zone by 2028. Fulfilling this promise, and meeting other conservation targets, will be a key criterion for Bagan to sustain its World Heritage status.

Bertie Lawson of Yangon-based boutique travel agency Sampan Travel echoed the point about relocating the hotels away from the site. “Looking forward, it is important that a long-term view of tourism and national heritage is adopted and mistakes of the past are not repeated.”

Ko Moe Wai Yan Myint, general manager of Gracious Bagan tour operator, urged the authorities to follow UNESCO’s rules and advice on conservation in order to preserve Bagan’s status. “Because this is our people’s heritage, we have all the more responsibility to preserve the recognition.”

The construction of hotels in the archaeological zone had to be tackled, and the problem of both commercial activities and local business not abiding by regulations.

People need to be educated about preserving Myanmar’s cultural heritage, he added. “We need to tell them not to litter or write on the walls, which could destroy the traditional writings.”

Ko Moe Wai Yan Myint said local businesses should be more welcoming to Chinese tourists and learn their language. “Just like what Bogyoke Aung San said about learning English to fight the British, we have to learn Chinese. We need to have a grasp of their language so we resolve the problems we encounter with them,” he said, referring to perceptions of unruly behaviour among some visitors.

Tourism and local governance

Bagan’s transformation into Myanmar’s biggest draw has not been without challenges. In 2012, a protest against a tourism project was held by the community in Nyaung Oo township, who objected to the plans for hotels and restaurants in the cultural heritage site.

“The key challenges with an ever increasing tourism numbers in Bagan are to do with managing effectively the impact on the environment, and also ensuring that the local communities can share the benefits of this growth in the long term,” commented Mr Pun.

Tourism has led to increased economic opportunities for Bagan’s communities and the emergence of small businesses, such as bicycle rentals and small lacquerware shops, creating jobs and increasing demand for local goods and services.

But small local businesses struggle to compete with companies with greater access to capital, according to a 2015 sector-wide assessment on tourism by the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business. For example, horse-cart drivers in Bagan are losing out to electric bikes and are forced to search for alternative livelihoods.

In one village, 80 percent of villagers made and sold bricks for a living. The authorities prohibited the baking of bricks inside the archaeological zone because of damage to the landscape. The policy had a direct impact of their livelihoods.

The study warned that Bagan and other flagship sites were already under environmental and social pressure from the effects of tourism. This pressure posed an impact on the livelihoods of local communities and long-term viability of these places as tourism destinations.

“The next location, according to experts, to be added to UNESCO is Mrauk-U, the third entry from Myanmar. As we all know, Mrauk-U is in Rakhine and thus facing some difficulties,” U Aung Htun Lin said.

Source: Myanmar Times

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Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) is planning to open Yangon City Hall as a public place, said Hlaing Maw Oo, secretary of the YCDC.

The Yangon City Hall is currently occupied by departments; Office of Yangon Mayor and the office of the committee members. However, they are dealing with office procedures for about seven million people and there is not enough space for them at Yangon City Hall. The YCDC has another office in 46th street. The Yangon City Hall is located around Sule Pagoda and it has to be opened for public as similar kinds of place abroad are open to the public as well, she said.

“We have opened an office for one stop services for land and building ownership matters at the ground floor. Development partners proposed holding seminars, ceremonies and meetings at the city hall and Yangon Region Chief Minister and Mayor want to do it,” she said.

Some said traffic congestion in the downtown area are caused by the City Hall where public services are provided. So the authorities planned to move the YCDC office to other locations except for managerial departments, she added.

“We may have to move some of our departments to the place where Archive Department office was planned to build. We have not confirmed that we will transform the (old) Archive Department office, which is now located inside the compound of the air compressor factory into a museum. But it will be opened for public,” she said.

According to a report for budget of 2019-20 FY for Yangon Region by Public Account Committee of the parliament, it is needed to submit the project in details although the budget proposal of Ks7 billion to build the office of the Archive Department located inside the compound of air compressor factory in Botahtaung Township is an ongoing process.

Although MP Thet Htar Nwe Win and MP Yan Shin discussed and asked about the project at the region parliament, Myint Thaung, regional minister for planning and finance didn’t clarify about it.

Source: Eleven Myanmar

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A scheme to pioneer hemp cultivation in Myanmar resulted in a police raid, three arrests and an ongoing trial, despite being green-lit by the Mandalay Region government.

AS WE ENTERED the compound of the family home in Myotha West village, we encountered a middle-aged man reading out loud from the Paṭṭhāna, a Buddhist scripture. A woman came out of the house and asked us why we were there. When we told her we had come to ask about Ma Shun Le Myat Noe, her face fell.

“I don’t want to talk about my daughter because I’m too sore at heart,” said the woman. Both she and her husband became tearful.

Shun Le Myat Noe, 21, lived in the village in Ngazun Township, about a three-hour drive west of Mandalay, with her parents U Myo Min Aung, 48, and Daw Yi Win, 47, and a teenaged brother. The young woman is now in prison with a Myanmar man and an American, who together are making fortnightly appearances at Myingyan District Court and face the prospect of lengthy prison sentences on drugs charges.

In January, her parents had asked her to return from Mandalay, where she was attending a vocational course, and encouraged her to work at a plantation in Myotha Industrial Park, just a few miles from there they lived. Neither she nor her parents knew much about the project. They certainly had no idea she would be getting involved in growing an industrial crop that was new to plantation agriculture in Myanmar – and whose precarious legal footing had, it seems, not been fully understood by those involved.

Hemp pioneers

The company behind the project is III M Global Nutraceutical, which registered as a foreign company in August last year.

Though the word hemp can refer to all plants in the cannabis genus, it is mostly used, as in this case, to refer to non-intoxicating strains of cannabis. Because such “industrial” hemp typically contains less than 0.3 percent of the psychoactive agent tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), it is not intoxicating like marijuana, which is a different strain of cannabis plant and accounts for the popular recreational drug. It is used to produce fibre that goes into textiles, paper and construction materials, and to produce medicinal oil and health foods.

Governments have taken various approaches to regulate hemp cultivation. In Thailand, state agencies have been permitted to cultivate the crop for commercial purposes since the start of last year. In China, hemp is increasingly being grown to extract cannabidiol, or CBD, a compound used in health and beauty oils, sprays and balms. Though these CBD products are still banned for sale in China, they make for lucrative exports. III M Global Nutraceutical thought they might gain first-mover advantage in Myanmar.

The company received permission in August 2018 from the Mandalay Region government via an official letter, seen by Frontier, to start a trial hemp plantation for one year over 60 acres in Myotha Industrial Park in Ngazun Township, with the goal of extracting CBD oil.

“[The company] planned to grow hemp over many hectares of land if good results came out of the trial,” said a Myanmar national previously contracted by the company who asked not to be named.

U Aye Ko Ko, a deputy director general at the agriculture department in the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, told Frontier by phone that an “American company” met with the ministry in December in Nay Pyi Taw to discuss leasing “thousands” of acres of land to grow hemp in Myanmar. Aye Ko Ko, who said he was present at the meeting but refused to name the company, said the ministry explained procedures and how the ministry could help in procuring land. He said the ministry did not approve any proposal and had had no further dealings with the company.

More than 100 people from the villages near Myotha Industrial Park had been employed at the hemp plantation, which eventually covered 20 acres of the concession and was partly supervised by a consultant to the company, Mr John Fredric Todoroki, a 63-year-old American citizen.

The raid

When Shun Le Myat Noe joined the plantation as an apprentice in January, her relative proficiency in English qualified her as an assistant to Todoroki. Despite her meagre monthly salary of about K100,000, she and her parents were happy with the job because it was so close to the family home.

But then a social media post with photos of thriving cannabis plants, captioned as being from the plantation in Myotha Industrial Park and taken by one of the workers there, spread on Facebook in April.

The viral posts seem to have caught law enforcement by surprise. On the night of April 22, anti-narcotics police raided the site the industrial park and arrested Todoroki, Shun Le Myat Noe and Ko Shein Latt, 37, a staff member who also worked on the plantation.

The Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control announced on April 24 that police had found at the site about 350,000 cannabis plants – some of which had grown to two metres – as well as 380 kilograms of seeds and 270 kilograms of dried “marijuana”.

“We arrested people who were responsible because cannabis was in the plantation,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Myo Aung, deputy chief of Mandalay District Police.

Todoroki, Shun Le Myat Noe and Shein Latt were charged under multiple sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law for cultivating, distributing and possessing an illegal drug for sale. These offences entail minimum prison sentences of between five and 15 years, extending for some offences to life imprisonment and the death penalty. The three were remanded to Myingyan Prison and preliminary hearings began at the Myingyan District court on May 21.

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of five other people. The fugitives include Mr Martin Chi Cheong Pun – brother of prominent businessman Mr Serge Pun – and Mr Douglas Soe Lin, who police say are directors at the company and are US citizens.

Only one of the wanted men, Mr Alexander Skemp Todoroki, is still listed as a director on the website of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration. However, the company’s filing history shows that on April 25, three days after the raid, the directors of the company were changed. A week later, on May 2, the company submitted a filing to amend its shareholding. Earlier DICA records provided to Frontier show that Martin Chi Cheong Pun and Douglas Soe Lin were previously directors of the company.

The whereabouts of the five are unknown and Frontier was not able to contact any company representatives.

Substantive trial proceedings, including testimony from witnesses, are currently being delayed pending the arrest of the wanted men.

In a May 24 statement, III M Global Nutraceutical described the decision to charge the trio as a “miscommunication” and said it strongly opposed narcotic drugs. The plantation was a research and development project, the company said, and was helping to “build the rural economy”.

(Disclosure: Salween Group, a Singapore-based digital marketing agency associated with Frontier’s parent company, Black Knight Media, has distributed statements to the media on behalf of III M Global Nutraceutical.)

‘Written approval’

Frontier visited the plantation on June 11. The only people present were police officers, who were restricting access to the site but allowed us to briefly visit and photograph the rows of cannabis plants, their withered leaves now brittle and yellow-brown.

Forensic officers from the police force were present at the raid on April 22, but no determination of the narcotic properties of the plants has been announced. However, the fact that cannabis plants were being grown, even if they were of a non-intoxicating variety, may be enough to secure a conviction without any such forensic work.

The “cannabis plant” is listed as a narcotic drug according to the 1993 Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, with no distinction made between intoxicating and non-intoxicating varieties. Possession of all but a small amount of cannabis entails a minimum five-year prison sentence, while production entails a minimum 15-year sentence and the possibility of the death penalty.

But section 28b of the anti-narcotics law stipulates that the law’s harsh provisions don’t apply to the production of narcotics or psychotropic substances “with the consent of the relevant ministry”. It is unclear whether the chief minister’s written approval would satisfy this requirement, given that discussions with the agriculture ministry had been inconclusive.

In a letter to State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi dated June 11, John Fredric Todoroki’s wife, Ms Ann Todoroki, wrote that “the particular plant species that has been grown is non intoxicating fibrous verity Industrial Hemp which the government of Myanmar has officially given permission to grow for research and development.”

She stated that the company had received “written approval” in letters from the Mandalay Region chief minister and the chairman of the industrial park and that the project had proceeded after receiving a “legal opinion from local lawyers”.

Ann Todoroki also wrote letters to President U Win Myint and Mandalay Region Chief Minister U Zaw Myint Maung, as well as US President Mr Donald Trump, Secretary of State Mr Mike Pompeo and Senator Mr Mitch McConnell, pleading for help in freeing her husband and his two Myanmar colleagues.

‘Growing openly’

Advocates for hemp production and drug reform in Myanmar have decried the arrests and prosecutions.

“In other countries, hemp is grown over thousands of acres,” said Ko Aung Zay Toe, a leading member of Mahar Legalization Movement, an organisation founded in 2017 that campaigns for the legalisation of hemp cultivation. “[The government] cannot distinguish between hemp and marijuana yet,” he said, saying the arrests had been a “mistake”.

The parents of Shun Le Myat Noe said it was unfair that their daughter was in jail because different parts of the government had failed to coordinate and enforce the law evenly.

Her mother, Yi Win, asked, “If it was an illegal plantation, why did the [regional] government give its permission? If I had known it was illegal work, I wouldn’t have let my daughter work for that company no matter how high the salary.”

“With the permission of the government, [the company] was growing [hemp] openly, not clandestinely,” she said, adding that, if the plantation had indeed transgressed any law, it was the responsibility of the company rather than low-level employees. “If the police want to arrest someone, why don’t they arrest the responsible persons from the company? Why did they [arrest] my child who knows nothing?” she said, crying.

The chief minister, Zaw Myint Maung, told local media in Mandalay on April 29 that he had given permission because the company said they would grow hemp to produce medicinal products. Frontier contacted the office of the regional government but they refused to comment further on the case.

U Thein Than Oo, a Mandalay-based lawyer who is representing the three defendants, said the raid might have been motivated by tensions between the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Mandalay Region government.

The home ministry administers the police and is controlled by the military, whereas the regional government is controlled by the ruling National League for Democracy party.

“It was a dirty arrest,” said Thein Than Oo. “Because the police clamped down on something the [regional] government had allowed, it puts pressure on the government. The government is the first to be blamed.”

Shun Le Myat Noe’s father Myo Min Aung said he suspected rivalry between military and civilian branches of the government might be driving the case. “Just because they are not on getting well, why does my daughter have to go to jail?” he said, adding, “When she comes out, it will cast a dark shadow over her.”

Thein Than Oo said the arrests could deter investment from the US, and that this could also be one of the motives, given the huge Chinese interests in Myanmar industry and agribusiness. These interests would be hostile to Western involvement in these sectors and may have co-opted parts of the government in trying to keep it out.

“Our Myanmar farmers, whatever they grow, they have to depend on China,” he said. “I’m happy to learn that American companies are growing hemp in Myanmar. As far as I know, hemp is an easy crop to grow and it provides good income.”

Source: Frontier Myanmar

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There is a need to legalise the activities of the wildcat prospectors whose hand-dug oil wells dot the land in Magwe Region, in central Myanmar. These illegal activities are a source of corrupt practices and loss of revenue to the regional government.

These wells, a source of income and jobs for many in the surrounding countryside despite the volatility of global oil prices, have also become a source for corrupt practices in recent years. Early last month, the Anti-Corruption Commission arrested a number of local-government officials and police officers from Pauk township alleged to have received bribes worth K90 million connected to these hand-dug wells.

Magwe has been a source of oil for more than a century and revenue from these wells in modern times have been used to run the regional government. As an indication, the regional government of the previous administration received K7.5 billion over the five-year period to mid-2016 as tax from the oil industry. From then until mid-June this year, revenue collected have nearly doubled to K14 billion.

The Hluttaw member of parliament for Pauk township, U Ye Win Tun, said legalising these wildcatters would bring in much needed revenue. According to him, such wells, which has been dug to a depth below the permissible 1,000-feet, can be found between Pauk and Myaing townships.

“If action is taken to curb their illegal activities, many will be unemployed as there are about 150,000 people who depend on these wells for jobs,” he said. Last August, the regional government shutdown 78 illegal wells.

“There is corruption also because the law is not enforced properly and there is a gap between the law and realities on the ground,” U Ye Tun Win said.

Government data showed that in the 2017-18 fiscal year, licenses were given to 12 new blocks for producing oil while 20 others were renewed. In the 2016-17 fiscal year, 11 blocks received their licences while another 45 were renewed.

Oils produced from wells, which can range from a gallon an hour to hundreds of gallons an hour, usually get refined elsewhere, with an average of 50 to 100 trucks daily transporting between 80 to 200 barrels each. The regional government charges K5000 per truck for a permit to transport oil.

While some their illegal wells to be legalised, others, like U Pyone Cho, a driller working 10 wells with 50 workers, just want to be left alone. “We’ll be satisfied to be allowed to work peacefully as it’s a risky business,” he said.

Thayet Kan resident Ko Min Naingsaid despite the crackdown on local government officials and police officers, corruption will continue due to failure to recognize wildcatters.

“These illegal hand-dug operators just want to operate peacefully and want their activities legalised, which will also mean more revenue for the government,” he said. – Translated

Source: Myanmar Times

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YANGON—The Sagaing regional government’s first public consultation on a Chinese company’s proposal to conduct a mining feasibility study in the Wazeintaung area came to an abrupt end on Wednesday due to resistance from local people.

The first public consultation was organized in Yinmarpin Township on Wednesday by Sagaing government officials, and attended by the regional municipal minister and minister of natural resources and environmental conservation. The meeting was brought to a halt when nearly 500 local residents in attendance began shouting, insisting they would not accept the project due to concerns over potentially serious environmental and social impacts. They later walked out of the meeting.

“All the villagers strongly oppose the project. We fear the potential impacts. We will lose water resources, our farms and livelihoods,” Daw Than Nyo, a member of the Wazeintaung Protect and Watch Committee (WPWC), told The Irrawaddy.

“We have already witnessed severe impacts due to mining in our region. We will object to whatever they say,” Daw Than Nyo said.

Sagaing Region is already home to many large copper mining projects operated by Chinese companies, including the Sabetaung and Kyisintaung (S&K) project and the Letpadaung project.

The feasibility study was proposed by the Myanmar Yang Tse Copper Limited, which operates the S&K project, the country’s largest copper mine, in northwestern Sagaing.

Myanmar Yang Tse’s proposal covers 113,900 acres covering the Wazeintaung area and nearly 120 villages within three townships—Yinmarpin, Salingyi and Kani—according to local lawmakers. The estimated cost of the feasibility study is approximately US$10 million (15.06 billion kyats).

In November, the Union government asked the regional government to submit a report on the proposal including locals’ views.

“Locals fear the impacts based on their past experiences with the Letpadaung project. Since they heard about it, nearly 2,000 people have signed a petition [opposing the project]. They asked me to send it to the government,” regional lawmaker Daw Aung May Yi told The Irrawaddy, adding that she submitted it in February. She also attended the public consultation meeting on Wednesday.

Myanmar Yang Tse Copper Ltd is a subsidiary of Wanbao Mining Ltd.

The Letpadaung copper mine is operated by Myanmar Wanbao Mining Copper Limited (MWMCL). For many years, the mine has made headlines due to land disputes and a series of violent crackdowns against anti-mine protesters. Villagers protesting against the project have received nationwide support. Two extensive reports by Amnesty International documented the mine’s devastating social impacts including destroyed livelihoods, and loss of water resources due to toxic spills from mining waste. MWMCL was founded in September 2011 by Wanbao Mining Limited, which is headquartered in Beijing and specializes in international mining projects in Africa and Asia.

According to the regional government, the study period for the Wazeintaung project will be about two to three years. The first phase will cover 28,136 acres. The study will involve collecting stone samples and drilling for potential copper ore in the proposed areas.

Regional Municipal Minister U Myint Kyi told The Irrawaddy, “We have already asked for recommendations from the mining and environmental departments. We found that the study won’t harm the environment or local residents.”

U Myint Kyi said the study should be allowed, as the proposal was first submitted at the Union level, adding that the National League for Democracy government views foreign investment as a major potential driver of economic growth.

“We also agreed that the company would hire 90 percent of its employees locally in the respective townships when they do the study,” U Myint Kyi said.

Despite the resistance from residents, government officials plan to go ahead with scheduled public consultations in Salingyi and Kani townships in the coming weeks.

Salingyi Township lawmaker U Saw Maung told The Irrawaddy, “The objections arose due to the mining company’s [poor] image here.”

He added, “Locals have suffered environmental impacts from previous projects in the region. We have guaranteed to them that the study won’t harm the environment, but they don’t believe us.”

The local lawmakers admitted that while the regional government is carrying out public consultations, they themselves have little knowledge about the project.

A lawmaker from Kani Township, U Htun Htun Win, told The Irrawaddy, “There should be more transparency in the project. The government has not explained the project to local lawmakers.”

U Htun Htun Win said he had learned that nearly 20 villages would be affected by the project in his constituency alone. He added that giving just one company a chance to conduct a feasibility study is not fair. The government should open a tender process to all foreign companies to carry out the study, he said.

The lawmaker said local residents want any company that carries out such a study to offer a large number of job opportunities and guarantee that the environmental impacts will be minimized, as well as tax benefits for the local government.

“If the government doesn’t listen to the public, it will create a new conflict between itself and locals,” he added.

Source: The Irrawaddy

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The number of Chinese tourists has increased since Myanmar started giving visa exemptions so teams have been formed to monitor their visits, according to an official from the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism.

On June 21, the ministry formed groups comprising regional tourism officials in Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan to monitor Chinese tourists.

“Before, there might be only 200 tourists from western countries like Germany. Now big groups of Chinese tourists are coming in, so we are studying the best way to meet their needs,” U Myo Yi, a member of the monitoring group and chair of the Myanmar Tourism Entrepreneurs Association, said.

We need to check how tourism companies are managing these big groups to make sure that both the country and the businesses are making money, the Hotels and Tourism Ministry said in a statement.

These groups will have to get a list of travel plans from Chinese tourists arriving in the country to analyse their spending habits during the trip.

“We will visit the tourism companies at Tada-U Airport to check if they have license. We will also look for flaws to fix to ensure there will be a profit,” said U Myo Yi.

The Yangon, Mandalay and Bagan study groups will submit monthly reports on their findings to the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. – Translated

Source: Myanmar Times

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If you’ve walked around Yangon, you would have noticed red stains on the streets and walls and seen people spitting red juice that resembles blood from buses, cars, or while walking. These are the bad habits of betel nut chewers, which the country is trying to eradicate.

But staining the streets red and possibly spreading disease by spitting are not the only problems associated with chewing betel nut – it also causes oral problems such as red stained teeth, sensitive gums, and oral cancer.

After hearing many stories about these problems from betel chewers, Sam Glatman thought of making a product to reduce their gum sensitivity and stains on their teeth.

He founded Zingo Myanmar, which sells oral care products to treat the symptoms linked to chewing betel nut.

Zingo makes a chewing gum priced at K300 a pack and a mouthwash priced at K100. The company promises that betel-chewers who use the products properly every day will start to see results within two weeks.

Big market

Betel nut, or koon-ya, is a betel leaf with areca nut chewed for its stimulant and psychoactive effects. There are around 23 million users in Myanmar.

While living in an apartment near Parami Sein Gay Har, Glatman would always see a man of 27-28 who would sit on the ground floor throughout the day chewing betel nut. The young man whenever he saw Glatman would complain that he was lonely and couldn’t find a job. Afterwards he would smile, and Glatman could see that his entire mouth was black.

Glatman also met a taxi driver near Taw Win Centre who told him that he used to work on a cruise ship, but he had to return to Yangon to take care of his ill parents. He started to chew betel nut because it was a stressful time, and when he went back to the ship to resume work, they wouldn’t let him aboard because his teeth were in such bad shape.

Another catalyst for Glatman to start Zingo was the betel nut sellers, of which there is one on nearly every street corner in Yangon, more than 6000 in all. Zingo also helps betel nut vendors earn money.

“We know the dangers of betel nut chewing, but we’re not passing judgment on betel nut chewers. They have time and again reported to us that they have these oral-related issues, and we are keen to try to help them if they want to be helped,” Glatman said.

Building local expertise is another vital component of his enterprise, he said. He is trying to step back from a supervisory role as much as possible. The management team is 90 percent Myanmar, and in every department there is one or more senior Myanmar staff. Although it is made outside the country, Zingo is a local product, designed in Myanmar, for Myanmar.

“Zingo is not a product imposed on Myanmar by a foreigner saying, ‘do it our way because it is better,’” Glatman said.

Yangon launch

Zingo had its official launch on Wednesday at a Yangon hotel. But, it had been in the market since a year ago when they first started testing the product in Shwe Pyi Thar township to gauge customer reaction.

“We wanted to start in a place where there are a lot of betel chewers but also in a slightly less central area so that we could learn more about the risks, such as the wrong sales pitch. We would rather test it in a slightly more forgiving area than in, say, Sanchaung, where word of mouth could spread quickly if the initial reception was bad,” Glatman said.

So if you live in Kyauktada township, you’re not going to see corner shops flying the Zingo banners just yet due to faster consumer response and municipal laws. After asking if they sell Zingo, a betel nut seller on Seikkantha street replied that they only sell “Ruby cigarette.”

Since Shwe Pyi Thar is just 15 minutes from their office in Insein, it was considered the location with the best potential for strong consumer demand.

Now there are more than 1000 shops selling Zingo products in many townships in Yangon, except for downtown, as well as in Pyay, Bago, and Taungoo townships in Bago Region.

“We will never compromise on the quality of our packaging because we want to offer a world-class product to our world-class customers,” Glatman said.

He says he plans to expand the sale of his products across Myanmar and then possibly around Asia. For instance, chewing betel nut is also popular in India, but there is no product like Zingo on the market there.

Zingo Myanmar was also awarded the Innovation award of Young Entrepreneurs Awards 2018 organised by CCI France Myanmar, the French business group, last December.

Source: Myanmar Times

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New analyses from the Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey have been released to help with the scaling up of health services in Myanmar.

Professor Dr. Zaw Than Htun, Director General of Medical Research, Ministry of Health and Sports and Teresa McGhie, Mission Director, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) opened a day-long session during which 19 researchers shared new analyses of public health issues in Myanmar with donors and policymakers, according to a press release 5 July.

The researchers’ investigations included women’s empowerment and violence, maternal and reproductive health, child health, and nutrition, with a particular focus on regional and socioeconomic disparities.

The analyses were based on data collected in the 2015-16 Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), the first-ever nationally representative DHS conducted in Myanmar, with funding from USAID and the Three Millennium Development Goal (3MDG) Fund. The Myanmar DHS interviewed 12,885 women and 4,737 men throughout Myanmar on topics ranging from education, to maternal and child health, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS.

Ms. McGhie said, “USAID is proud to have supported this essential tool for measuring and improving health outcomes as part of the $32 million per year the American people invest in the health of the people of Myanmar. Today we are seeing the real power of this data in helping policymakers to better understand and address disparities in access to health care.”

Since the release of the survey findings in 2017, USAID has supported Myanmar researchers and policymakers to conduct further analyses of DHS data to inform public health policy and decision-making. Fifty population and health professionals in Myanmar have received training and support to analyze and publish analyses of DHS data, and numerous analyses have been published by the DHS program and international journals. Participants included the University of Economics, the University of Public Health, the Ministry of Health and Sports, the Ministry of Planning and Finance, the University of Community Health, and the University of Medicine.

The U.S. Embassy, through its USAID Mission and other efforts is dedicated to building national capacity in Myanmar for generating and using health data for decision-making, and these capacity strengthening efforts have already contributed towards this goal. Several workshop participants have already gone on to conduct independent data analyses, others have trained colleagues and students to use DHS data, and a number made presentations at the Conference on Public Health Among Greater Mekong Sub-region Countries.

Source: Mizzima

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Myanmar and Japan will form a joint venture and sign an agreement next year to kickstart the long postponed Hanthawaddy International Airport project located 80km north of Yangon near Bago.

According to several government officials, both the Myanmar and Japanese governments have met at least four times to nail down details of the project, which would be financed by Japanese government loans and involve the country’s construction and airport operators.

While details on cost have not been announced, the last tender valued the project at US$1.5 billion. The Japan International Cooperation Agency has estimated the project to cost US$2 billion.

The new airport would be built on some 3600 hectares of land belonging to the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA). Also, an updated design for the airport would have to be approved, with a connection to the railway network included.

Discussions are also underway to link the new airport with Yangon via an express highway in the first phase and an express railway in the second phase.

Both Ministry of Transport and Communications deputy permanent secretary U Aung Ye Tun and DCA deputy director general U Ye Htut Aung told The Myanmar Times that the airport project has the backing of the government and has been given the priority to start as soon as possible.

“Both sides are negotiating to implement Hanthawaddy International Airport supported by Japanese loans. After negotiations are complete, the next is conducting surveys at the grounds,” U Aung Ye Tun said.

U Ye Htut Aung added that Myanmar and Japan will sign the agreement in 2020, after tenders to Japanese firms likely to be conducted as soon as the third quarter of this year.

“If the tender is successful, we can sign contracts in early 2020 and construction can begin immediately,” he said, adding that Narita International Airport Corporation may be one of the Japanese companies interested in the tender.

The project, which was first initiated in the early 1990s, has had a troubled history as interested parties struggled to get financing for the project.

There were also several disagreements between the Myanmar government and past partners. A South Korean consortium led by Incheon International Airport Corporation won the tender that was called in 2012, which valued the project at US$1.1 billion. However, disagreements led to a fresh tender being called in 2014, which was subsequently won by a Japanese-Singaporean consortium that included Changi Airports International. That tender valued the project at US$1.5 billion. The agreement lapsed in 2018 without any construction taking place.

The project’s other complications include the need for ground transport links between the airport and Yangon as well as the role that Yangon International Airport will play following the opening of the new airport. Initially scheduled to be operational by last year, the project was pushed back to 2022. No new dates for completion and operation has been announced from the current discussions.

However, officials said as Yangon International Airport will reach full passenger capacity by 2020 on current passenger growth rate, the need for resuming the Hanthawaddy International Airport project becomes more urgent. Besides Yangon, only two other cities, Naypyidaw and Mandalay, have international airports.

Yangon International Airport served 2.32 million passengers in the first four months of the year, a number that increased 4.2 percent from 2.22 million passengers in the same period last year, according to the airport.

The reason for the growth in traffic was the addition of routes and destinations, including China Eastern Airlines, which last month launched a direct Shanghai-Yangon flight using Airbus 320 aircraft operating three times a week. China Eastern is expecting to transport a total of 360,000 passengers between Myanmar and China this year, said Ho Chee Tong, CEO of Yangon Aerodrome Co. Ltd. (YACL). A unit of Asia World, YACL operates Yangon International Airport.

YACL is currently in the process of expanding the capacity of the Yangon airport building. Construction of domestic Terminal 3 has already been completed while Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, which caters to international flights, are now still under renovation. Consequently, Yangon International Airport will see its capacity hitting 10 million, according to the DCA.

“But the airport will still reach its maximum capacity within the next four or five years. When that happens, we need to have a new international airport ready,” said U Ye Htut Aung.

YACL chair U Tun Myint Naing has been part of discussions on the Hanthawaddy International Airport project.

U Ye Htut Aung added that the DCA will meet with representatives of airlines as well as the Yangon Region government to get their views.

He acknowledged the worries that stakeholders of Yangon International Airport have over its future as a result of loss of business to Hanthawaddy. “A win-win deal will be negotiated,” he said.

Bago Region finance and planning minister U Nyunt Shwe said the new airport would benefit Yangon too as more planes can land in Bago for visitors to continue their journey to the country’s commercial capital.

“Presently, as about 700 airplanes fly over Bago each day, Myanmar will benefit from having an airport in Bago and this will also help to improve transportation networks between Bago and Yangon,” he said, adding that preliminary works were already being carried out at the new airport site, with the area being fenced in and nearby residents being compensated as the government took over their land. – Translated

Source: Myanmar Times

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INTERNATIONAL tourists are opting for interpreters to show them around Myanmar instead of hiring tour guides, said U Tun Myat, executive member of Myanmar Tourist Guides Association, adding that they are conducting necessary evaluations.

He made the remark in a reply to the media after the 2019 Myanmar Chinese Tourist Guides meeting and Myanmar Travel Sector seminar. Scrutinizing translators

U Tun Myat said hiring interpreters instead of tourist guides is not actually legal. He said explaining about the country requires highlighting its rich cultural history and this is something only their trained tourist guides can do.

He said interpreters would only translate what they saw and if the tour group leader will only talk about what they know then it would negatively affect our country’s image, culture and history. He said this is why they are evaluating the interpreters.

Favouring interpreters

From the beginning of 2018, there was a decrease in European travellers and an increase in Chinese tourists who choose to hire interpreters to show them around, thus creating less job opportunities for Chinese-speaking tour guides. Internationally, tourist guides are the only people permitted to show foreign tourists around the area.

Daw Win Pa Pa, a Chinese- speaking tour guide, spoke of the unlicensed tour guides working in Myanmar. She said Chinese take UFL and Burmese courses and can speak the language moderately.

She said if unlicensed tour guides are not kept in check then those who can speak a bit of Burmese will lead their own groups and not hire local tour guides. She wished for authorities to take immediate action.

Other tour guides also voice their opinion for immigration checkpoints to check for tourist guide licenses.

Training qualified tour guides

The Ministry of Hotels and Tourism regularly trains tourists guides and currently there are over 300 Chinese speaking guides out of 10,000.

The majority of Chinese tourists take the Mandalay tours while some enter Yangon. The Ministry of Labour, Immigration and Population’s statistics show that there were 112,158 Chinese tourists up to May 2018 and 266,301 for May 2019.

Source: Global New Light of Myanmar

Four firms out of eight consulting subsidiaries in Myanmar have submitted Requests for Proposal to provide consultation services for the selection of foreign banks. The RFPs were invited as the Central Bank of Myanmar is moving forward with the liberalization process.

Following the announcement inviting RFPs, Deloitte Touche Myanmar Vigour Advisory Limited, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) Myanmar Co Ltd, EY UTW Advisory Limited, and Roland Berger Co Ltd submitted their requests for proposal to the Foreign Bank Selection Group on 24 June.

One of the firms will be selected soon based on a 15-point criteria set by the Foreign Bank Selection Group, and the final selection will be submitted at the upcoming meeting of the group.

At present, foreign banks can provide only corporate banking services in the country, and they have been restricted from providing retail banking services and direct lending to the public. They are not allowed to take immovable assets as collateral. Financing instruments include opening letter of credit, bill discount, and bill purchase. Lenders offer loans against fixed deposits.

The 13 foreign bank branches that have been permitted by the Central Bank of Myanmar so far are MUFG Bank Ltd, Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation Ltd, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, United Overseas Bank Limited, Bangkok Bank Public Company Limited, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Malayan Banking Berhad (Maybank), Mizuho Bank Limited, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, The Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Shinhan Bank, E.Sun Commercial Bank Limited, and the State Bank of India.

The CBM has been working to open up the banking sector. It granted licences to the first nine foreign bank branches in 2015, four licenses in 2016, and more licenses are expected to be granted this year.

Source: GNLM

MANDALAY—After years of effort, Bagan, the archaeological zone and major tourist attraction in central Myanmar, was finally inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List at the World Heritage Committee’s 43th session Saturday.

Bagan, a major tourist attraction in central Myanmar, houses more than 3,000 pagodas and temples dating from the 9th to the 13th centuries.

Despite being inscribed on the prestigious list, many challenges lie ahead for local and foreign experts, government institutions and even local residents.

“This is just the beginning. We will face many challenges ahead in the conservation work [needed] to maintain the value of the heritage site while taking control of the social development impacts,” said U Sun Oo, an architect on a team tasked with conserving the ancient temples and pagodas of Bagan.

In the past, the ancient buildings were repaired according to common local procedures that did not meet international standards for heritage preservation, decreasing Bagan’s value as a heritage site, he said.

“When we talk about Bagan, we can’t focus only on the temples and pagodas, but the whole plain which these valuable ancient [structures] inhabit. Conservation for this region will also need to consider social development impacts. In the past, authorities neglected this and allowed the building of modern structures, including road expansions, lamp posts, hotels and more,” U Sun Oo said.

“Those modern structures have already damaged the value of our heritage, so we will need to take these as examples not to be repeated. Otherwise, the uniqueness of Bagan will perish,” he added.

However, inscription on UNESCO’s World Heritage List helps secure the site from mismanagement with the inclusion of international experts and monitoring, which could prevent any further damage, he said.

“Whoever leads the management team is the most important person. That person should be someone who concentrates only on Bagan and takes full responsibility. It would be a shame if Bagan were delisted or put on an in-danger list. We will have to follow every measure stated in the management plan proposed to UNESCO,” he said.

Concerns over hotels and resorts within the site

Much concern has been raised over the approximately 25 hotels located in the heart of Bagan’s monument zone.

In 2016 the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture and the Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library held a series of meetings with hotel owners to negotiate relocation plans.

According to leaked dossiers the archaeology department had planned to submit to UNESCO in January 2018, the hotels and resorts would be made to move by 2028.

“All hotels and resorts located within the site, excluding those in towns that conform to the legal provisions, must be phased out by 2028. All further work on such resorts must stop. The hotels shall be entirely removed and the area shall be rehabilitated to become an archaeological area again. Procedures need to be clarified with the respective owners,” the document read.

However, the department’s director general told The Irrawaddy that the relocation plan is still being considered and that the department could not confirm plans or dates.

“We can’t give the details or a confirmation because this is just a concept and we still have many steps to take. In the case of its impact on heritage [status], maybe the whole hotel or only a part of the hotel will have to be moved, but this is still under negotiation,” said U Kyaw Oo Lwin, director general of the Department of Archaeology, National Museum and Library.

“We are consulting with the experts and the long term, detail, tourism management and conservation plans are yet to be finished. We are trying our best according to the law to balance [all interests and] to receive the best results for both heritage preservation and business development, as these are sensitive matters for the region,” he added.

The Nan Myint viewing tower, located in the Aureum Palace Hotel; the Bagan Thande Hotel; the Bagan Hotel (River View); the Bagan Thiripyitsaya Sanctuary Resort; the Hotel @Tharabar Gate; and the Ayeyar Hotel—all located within the archaeological site—will be the most affected hotels if the relocation plan is confirmed.

“We would like to assure locals and hotels which are located outside of the site that they will not be relocated, and the street stalls and souvenir shops can still operate,” he added.

In the late 1990s, the military government allowed the hotels to be built within the archaeological zone, known locally as the Old Bagan area. Some of the hotels were built very close to or even around ancient temples, housing them inside their hotel.

In the late 2000s, the 60-meter-high Nan Myint viewing tower was erected in the Aureum Palace hotel and was widely criticized for obstructing the view of the plain, which naturally offers a scenic view of the ancient temples.

Locals’ voices

Bagan locals are perhaps the happiest about Bagan’s new UNESCO status, a prize they’ve long awaited.

But, they told The Irrawaddy, they want more transparency on the conservation, tourism management and detail plans, to be able to watch over their heritage.

“We are very glad Bagan has finally become a World Heritage Site. However, we want transparency over the management of its conservation, and the responsibilities and the budgets [of those conserving it] as well,” said Ma Maw Maw Aung, a businesswoman with the Bagan House Lacquerware Workshop.

Locals said there had been no transparency in the past and they did not have a chance to air their voice on conservation issues.

“In the past, we knew nothing about the conservation plans and no one ever listened to the locals’ voices, which impacted the region. We do not want to repeat that. We hope every institution involved in this listens to the local voices and lets us participate in the conservation of our heritage,” she added.

The country had sought to get the site on the UNESCO list since 1994. However, it was rejected and deemed unable to meet World Heritage Site-status requirements, allegedly on account of mismanaged development plans and sub-standard, inauthentic restoration efforts carried out under previous governments—especially in the 1990s.

In 2014 the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Culture again tried to nominate Bagan for a UNESCO World Heritage Site listing, submitting paperwork in 2016.

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit central Myanmar in August of that year, damaging around 200 historic pagodas and temples and shocking archaeologists, increasing interest in and concern over the nomination process.

In the end, all went according to plan.

The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and members of the World Heritage Site Committee visited Bagan in September last year and the ICOMOS ground inspection team’s findings were submitted to UNESCO and brought up for deliberation Saturday at the 43th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee, in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Source: The Irrawaddy

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KB Kookmin Bank, one of South Korea’s top four banks, is interested in expanding its presence in Myanmar with more financial products and services, especially in the areas of providing financing for housing and small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs).

KB Kookmin’s chief representative in Yangon, Kim Chang-woo, said the bank “is considering expanding its business in Myanmar by providing local financial products and services”.

He told The Myanmar Times that the expansion included collaborations with Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry for products and services tailored to SMEs, support for state-owned enterprises, digital remittance services for Myanmar workers in South Korea and collaborations with Construction, Housing and Infrastructure Development (CHID) Bank.

Kim was commenting on the bank’s chief executive officer Hur Yin’s meeting on July 4 with Myanmar’s Minister of Construction U Han Zawin Seoul, where there were discussions on collaboration in provision of financing for housing.

Hur Yin said the bank will actively support Myanmar’s housing financing policy. KB Kookmin, which applied for a banking license in 2014 but failed to obtain one, has had a presence in Myanmar through KB Finance since March 2017. The subsidiary provides microfinancing.

Hur Yin said the bank will need to acquire the license and strengthen cooperation with Myanmar especially in housing and infrastructure financing. Projects the bank has been active in include the Korea – Myanmar Industrial Complex and Dala township development, both in Yangon Region.

The bank, which has a representative office in Myanmar since 2013, has conducted housing finance workshops with the Ministry of Construction, Central Bank of Myanmar and CHID Bank over the past five years.

Source: Myanmar Times

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YANGON—A Kachin State minister said a master plan for a planned, Chinese-backed, model economic zone along the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor has been prepared, and the Myanmar government is engaged in deep discussions with the company for the project’s implementation to avoid further challenges.

The Kachin State government and the Yunnan Tengchong Heng Yong Investment Company (YTHIC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in May 2018 for implementation of the Myitkyina Economic Development Zone (MEDZ), also known as the Namjim Industrial Zone, which is 25 kilometers from the Kachin State capital of Myitkyina.

YTHIC and the Myitkyina Economic Development Zone Committee (MEDZC), formed by the Kachin State government, are expected to build the massive MEDZ on approximately 4,700 acres of land along historic Ledo Road.

The road was built during World War II so the Allies could deliver supplies to China in aid of the war effort against Japanese forces. It was an overland connection between Ledo, in India’s Assam State, and Kunming, in China’s Yunnan Province.

Amid criticism over the project’s perceived lack of transparency, Kachin State Minister of Finance, Revenue, Planning and Economic Development U Wai Lin said, “The master plan is vital for the implementation [of the project]. At the same time, we are also working on a feasibility study.”

The MEDZ is expected to cost more than US$400 million (603.6 billion kyats). It will include nearly 500 factories and 5,000 buildings.

“Before implementing the project, we already met several times for detailed negotiations. We digested each fact point by point. So far, we’ve discussed nearly 70 points,” he told reporters at a press conference Friday. “If we don’t discuss [the project] in detail, our government and state will face a lot of challenges.”

However, he did not mention the details discussed or the potential challenges faced.

“All the related negotiations are still on going,” he said.

The MEDZ was one of the lesser-known Chinese-backed projects planned for the state until former Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar Hong Liang visited the site in late December 2018.

The Chinese ambassador said the economic zone will be a crucial part of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is being implemented under the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor agreement. The BRI is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s grand vision for creating a network of trade routes from China to Europe, passing through Central Asia, the Middle East and Russia. Unveiled in 2013, the BRI aims to ultimately encompass nearly 70 countries and two-thirds of the world’s population.

U Wai Lin said both sides still have a lot they need to discuss for a memorandum of agreement and a joint venture agreement.

When The Irrawaddy visited the project area in the first week of April and spoke to locals, they said they didn’t have information about the project’s specifics. Owners of land within the project area revealed their concerns over possible land confiscations. Local lawmakers also said they had little knowledge of the project’s details.

According to the MOU viewed by The Irrawaddy, both sides will collaborate to draw up a master plan, estimate costs, define rules and regulations, calculate a share ratio and outline other framework details based on project investment procedures.

Moreover, YTHIC and the state government have agreed to establish a joint venture company to implement the zone—a collaboration between YTHIC and a government-affiliated company. Both sides also agreed that YTHIC would cover expenses such as feasibility studies and environmental impact assessments. Later, the joint venture company will have to pay back all expenses to the YTHIC.

U Wai Lin said that, after both sides have managed to finalize all points of discussion, the state government will submit the proposal to the Union government and the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC).

The MOU says the Chinese company has the full authority to invite third-party investors and that the Kachin State government will not allow any other similar projects near Myitkyina during the project’s 15-year implementation period.

“After the Union government and the MIC give the green light, we will ask for approval from the Parliament,” he said. “We will announce to the public the details of agreements, including benefit sharing. After that, we will sign the finalized agreement for implementation.”

Source: The Irrawady

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