· High rise buildings in Rangoon required good water and sanitation systems, said an experienced engineer. There are many high rise buildings and condominiums in Rangoon, which lack good water and sanitation systems, he said. YCDC should enforce the building developers to install good water and sanitation systems at the buildings currently under construction, said the engineer. Developers should also care for environmental issues, said a French expert who works for an environmental INGO in Burma.
· Burma-Japan economic research programme named (Myanmar-Japan Cooperation Program for Structural Adjustment of the Myanmar Economy) has completed and proposals were submitted to the Burmese government in January, said a Japanese expert who worked on the program with the Hitotsubashi University team. The proposals include master plans to improve Burma’s macro economic structures, by making adjustments on trade, investment, production, finance and monetary sectors. The application of the master plans has to be decided by the Burmese government, said the expert.
· Thailand and Burma will co-operate in aeroplane production, said Thailand’s Tourism and Sports Minister.
· E-MPA students (Master in Public Administration) from Rangoon Institute of Economics will travel to China Shanghai on an excursion trip. The students are mostly government employees and they will be the second post graduate students allow to travel abroad with the government sponsorship.
· 500 fishing boats from Thailand will be allowed to fish in Burma waters. Thailand’s assurance on environmental conservation is not known.
· Htoon Trading company will reconstruct Bagan king Anawrahta’s old palace with the costs of kyats 200 lakhs. The Old Palace will be reconstructed in a separate place, not on the old palace ground. The archaeology department has taken lessons from the previous mistakes by reconstructing the old palace of King Bayint Naung on the old palace ground that destroyed the old cultural heritages.
· Rangoon’s newly constructed buildings, especially shopping malls and supermarkets, lack adequate emergency fire escapes, said a civil engineer.
· Singapore based Orient Express, the shipping line operating between Bangladesh and Burma, has ceased its operation due to small volume of business between the two countries. Burma exports forestry products, rice, corn and marine products to B’desh and B’desh exports fertilisers, cement and pharmaceuticals to Burma. A small Burmese company is planning to replace the sea route with smaller ships.
· Internet prepaid cards, issued by the Bagan Cybertech Co., are not working properly, said the users. The Broadband telephone lines, which were also sold by the Bagan Cybertech, are also out of order since their installation. When complained, Bagan Cybertech replied is that the technicians from Israel will come to fix the systems, but there has been no development yet, said the users.
· Private companies will be allowed to import diesel in a wide scale, under the supervision of UMFCCI and the Ministry of Mines. Until last month, diesel imports were allowed only to the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Livestock and Fishery. Under the banner of Ministry of Fishery, private companies imports 20,000 to 30,000 tons of diesel oil monthly and the resale price was fixed after calculations were made with the exchange rate of 1100 kyats per dollar. UMFCCI, in collaboration with the Fishery Ministry, will import 20,000 tons of diesel at US$ 260 per ton FOB Rangoon. Burma monthly requirement is 100,000 tons.
· Chicken prices rose slightly during the bird flu period due to a newspaper article, that wrote it was safe to eat chicken if well cooked.
· Early Harvest Programme (EHP), a trade incentive programme between ASEAN and China, has been in practice in Burma since 1st January, said a Ministry of Commerce announcement. 596 export items to China will receive export tax exemption.
· Burma’s hoteliers’ association will open advance hotel management courses. Currently, there is a shortage of skilled workers in hotel industry, said the hotels sources.
· Zay Gabar Group, one of the big construction company in Burma is planning to develop Maung Magan beach in southern Burma and is inviting shareholders to participate in the project. The beach is located near Dawei town in southern Taninthayi Division and there is a plan to build a deep seaport in the area with the assistance from Thailand.
· HIV/AIDS become the biggest challenge for Burma, said Population International Services (PSI) Myanmar’s Country Director Guy Stall Worthy on 22nd January. He made the comment on inauguration of the filming of the health education TV opera “The light that is not dark”, jointly sponsor by PSI and the Ministry of Health on HIV/AIDS education. The TV opera was funded by European Community (EC) and the Fund of HIV/AIDS in Myanmar (FHAM) and will be broadcast in the Burmese TV and the video will be shown around remote areas by mobile video units.
· Kalay Industrial Zone in northwestern Burma has been assigned as the 19th industrial zone in Burma in February. The industrial zone has been assembling Kalay jeeps.
· China’s Yunan Toneyun Group will set up motorcycle assembly line in Mandalay together with local partner, Tarmoenye (cease-fire) Chantha Trading Group. Yearly production will be 20,000 bikes.
· Mandalay authorities have issued orders to arrest illegally imported cars that have been modified (some touches to disguise) at the industrial zones around Burma.
· Burma and Thailand had agreed to co-operate in establishing of eco-tourism zones in Burma’s southern islands and in Andaman Sea. Thailand will assist Burma in developing these zones.
· An Indian agriculture expert has come to Chin State in western Burma to oversee and assist Tea plantations there. Initial investment for planting tea is high but there are high success rates in Chin State, said the residents. The government is encouraging the tea plantations by providing them with electricity and telephone lines. There are 3280 acres of tea plantation in Chin State.
· India to export diesel to Burma, said a news from India. The diesel will be transported by overland trip to Burma, said the news.
· Two new fertiliser plants will be constructed in Taikkyi near Rangoon. Each plant can produce 500 tons of fertilisers per day. Burma currently has the capacity to produce 1200 tons of fertilisers daily from three plants, but yearly production is only 40,000 tons and annual import is 300,000 tons.
· A new international class hotel will be constructed in Myeik in southern Burma with foreign investments from Thailand, said a source from Ministry of Hotel and Tourism.
· A new border trading post has been opened in Reik Kawka on the Burma-India border in northwest Burma since 30th January.
· India is studying the feasibility of building a LNG gas production terminal in Burma. The terminal will process the natural gas from the huge new gas fields in western Burma.
· Thailand increased investments in Burma by signing MOUs between the two countries Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said a UMFCCI executive. According to the MOUs, Thailand will invest in Burma’s Agriculture, Fishery, Forestry, Gems mining sectors.
· While exports of marine products (fish and shrimp) to Europe has been declining, exports of fish fillets to Australia has been increasing, said a marine products exporter.
· More and more Burmese students are studying in Singapore schools and universities, said an education consultant from Singapore.
· MAI (Myanmar Airways International) and Phuket Air are flying chartered flights to Burma from Bangkok and other airports in Thailand.
· The sale of agriculture machinery has dropped 60% this year, said a machinery dealer. Chinese machinery are dominating agriculture m/c market in Burma.
· Myanmar Tourism Authority is planning to open an office in the Myawaddy border town and the office will become the third office of such kind on the Thai-Burma border.
· There were limited tourists arrival at the 2004 Naga Hilltribes Festival in northwest Burma, due to difficulties in transportation and accommodation. A total of 176 foreign tourists from the U.S, France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, Thai, Italy, New Zealand, U.K, South Africa, Belgium, Philippines, Israel and Australia visited the festival this year, out of which U.S tourists accounted for 81 persons. The Naga preferred to live according to their culture (almost naked), but due to the pressures from the authorities, they have to start wearing clothes, said the news.
· Short news about the Japanese government resumption of assistance to Burma.
· Three small hydropower plants are to be built in Kachin State by the Ministry of Electricity and the cease-fire groups.
· Rangoon University has resumed receiving scholarships from foreign universities. A total of 20 teachers from RU are now studying in Japan for postgraduate courses. Recently, a total of 150 teachers from universities around Burma entered into exam for 2 postgraduate scholarships.
· The biggest pulp and paper mill in Burma will start its operation in 2004. Tharbaung pulp and paper mill near Pathein in Burma’s Delta, will have its soft opening in April. The US$ 90 mil project was financed by China and Burma will have to repay the main portion of the pulps to China for 6 years and the surplus pulps will be use to produce paper in Burma. Hundreds of employees were sent to China for training to operate the mill.
· The numbers of port workers (stevedores) have dropped significantly in the delta ports, due to the decline in inland water transports. More land roads in the delta area have caused the big decline in water transport business. The numbers of stevedores have dropped to 640 from over 2000 in 1980s.
· Garbage collection works in urban Rangoon have to be improved, said a Rangoon resident. Rangoon City officials have said that the garbage collection works will be increased and those who do not discard the garbage properly will be fined, but residents are complaining that the garbage trucks never arrive on time or never punctual.
· A new government owned cement factory in Kyaukse in central Burma would start operating in March. The Sin Min 2 Cement factory, built with Chinese machinery, has the capacity to produce 700 tons per day. Currently there are 5 government owned cement factories, 2 UMEHL owned and 1 private owned factory, but Burma still have to make regular imports of cement.
· Seafood exports have been moved to Thailand markets by border trade, due to a sharp decline in normal trade seafood exports. Although the prices fetched in Thailand markets are low, seafood exporters have to export to Thailand by border trade to maintain their business. There is no international class seafood market in Burma said a seafood exporter. The Myeik seafood market is still not reliable, said the exporter.
· The catches of crabs have been declining year on year, said a crab dealer in Bogalay in the Burma delta. Crab exports have dropped to 13837.26 tons in 2003/04 from 16152.04 tons in 2002/03.
· Burma is planning to increase the numbers of dentists by accepting more dental students in its two dental institutes. Currently, Burma produces 100 dentists a year from the dental institutes in Rangoon and Mandalay. Both institutes accept 50 students each yearly and starting from next year, each institute will take in 150 students. Currently, there are 1211 registered dentists in Burma.
· There are 28 hydropower projects currently being built in Burma and 3 big projects will be completed in 2004 with combine capacity of 475 megawatts, said a Ministry of Electric Power official. According to official statistics, Burma consumes maximum 800 megawatts and current installed capacity in Burma is maximum 1200 megawatts.
· Burma to upgrade its Department of Agriculture Research into Agriculture Researches Control Department. The new department will undertake more research works in the country, but a technical expert of the department said the department’s efficiency has to be improved.
· There are more labours living in boarding houses in Hlaing Thayar than the other industrial zones, said an official from Hlaing Thayar Industrial zone in western Rangoon. The labours, both men and women, prefer staying at the boarding houses, because there is no transportation costs and they can work overtime. Some factories provide free lodging and meals, but some deduct kyats 3000 per month from the worker’s salary to cover the lodging and meals costs.
· Most of the electrical appliances available in Burma markets are of substandard quality said the deputy director of electrical inspection department. Due to the substandard quality products, there have been injuries and there are the dangers of casualties, said the official. Electricity wastage is also high in Burma, due to the substandard appliances and materials. Burma needs to establish a testing laboratory to inspect the electrical appliances on sale in the market, but the laboratory will cost US$ 2 million, said the official.
· The danger of Avain bird flu disease will be over in Burma by the end of February, said the Vet Department director. Burma has taken effective precautionary measures during the bird flu crisis in neighbouring countries and Burma was not affected by the bird flu, said the director. Burma has 62 million chickens and 50 million are free-range local chicken, said the director.
· Cover Story: Article about fashion industry in Burma
· University Education system in Burma: About 30% of the high school graduates enrol into full time university courses while the remaining 70% take up correspondence courses. Every year, over 60,000 students receive university degrees through correspondence courses. The quality of the university correspondence courses should be improved and extra curriculum activities such as social benefit programmes should be included in the courses to improve the quality of the graduates, said the article.
· The role of traders and brokers in Burma’s markets development is essential, said the article. Traditionally, successive governments in Burma see these traders as speculators, greedy loan sharks, unwanted businessmen and tried to eliminate the traders and brokers from the markets without success. The traders and brokers should be govern and protected by laws to enable them to do business more freely, in order to help develop the economy, said the article.
· Article about HIV/AIDS in work places. How to cope the problems and manage the work place which has affected employees. Mostly technical approaches to the problem.
· Banking sector recovery: Banking sector recovering from the banking crisis last year wrote the article. Three private banks are allowed to resume their normal operations. Deposits to the banks have returned to normal in big amounts and there are no more big withdrawals, said the banking sources. There are new regulations to safeguard the banking sector, said the source. Among them are:
1/Not to accept deposits more than 7 times of the paid up capital.
2/To turn 50% of the paid up capital into cash
3/Only once a week withdrawal for the saving accounts
4/Not to issue long tern loans with the short term time deposits
5/To establish a fund from 25% of the profits, until the funds reach to the amount of the paid up capital.
6/Not to issue loans with strong collateral.
7/The loans should be monitored regularly
8/Loans and deposits ratio should be between 70-80%.
Apart from the above-mentioned regulations, call deposit accounts and credit cards are not allow. Stopping credit cards is to curb inflation in the country, said a bank officer.
· Printing Media and foreign paper imports in Burma: There is a growing demand for paper in Burma. The government’s import restrictions are causing paper prices to fluctuate, said the article.
· Article about Duck farming in Delta division. (Economics and technical about duck farming) Layer ducks farming in delta area should be expanded. Currently, ducks are breeds in the delta only with traditional methods. Duck eggs are more popular than the chicken eggs in Burma because poor families prefer duck eggs. The article suggests that poor families in small villages should breed layer ducks for income generating.
· Article about the potentials of Eco-tourism in Burma. Hiking and trekking on snowy mountains in Kachin State. Criticism about the Naga festival where the authorities built buildings that are not compatible to the Naga traditional houses and the food arrangements which used disposable plastic bags and containers which are harmful to the environment. The article stresses about environmental conservation in eco-tourism destinations.
· Personal profiles of Prof. Dr. Nu Nu Yin & Prof. Dr. Khin San Yee, both from Rangoon University of Economics.
· Terms Paper on “ The Power of Possibility Thinking: Tough Time Never Last…, But Tough People Do” from Prof. Dr. Aung Tun Thet. Continued from last month.
· Other articles on general and world economics, mostly technical.