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Sub-title: A brutal crackdown in Yangon’s Hlaing Tharyar Township in mid-March triggered an exodus of migrant workers. As protests subside, many are heading back to the big city but are finding that work is scarce.
Description: "On April 18, the second day of the traditional Myanmar year, Yangon Region’s outer western Hlaing Tharyar Township was busier than it had been in a month. With the Thingyan holiday over, large numbers of people were entering the heavily industrialised township on motorbikes, in taxis and aboard light trucks loaded with their belongings. They were returning to the scene of a massacre. Pitched battles on March 14 between well-armed security forces and protesters wielding home-made weapons left at least 58 protesters dead, according to a local network of volunteer medical groups, and several factories were burned down. That same day, the junta declared martial law in the township and in neighbouring Shwepyithar – a draconian new security regime, where civilians can be hauled directly before military tribunals and handed death sentences, that was later extended to four other outlying, industrialised townships in Yangon. Fearing a wider crackdown, and with many having already lost their factory jobs amid the near-collapse of the garment sector, tens – possibly hundreds – of thousands of migrant workers fled to their home towns and villages. Hlaing Tharyar, whose population had swelled to close to a million thanks to a decade of steady migration from the countryside, suddenly resembled a ghost town. But after more than a month away, and with protests in decline because of brutal suppression by soldiers and police, many of those who fled have begun making their way back to the commercial capital. They were largely driven to return by a lack of jobs in the countryside, but with increased factory closures and reduced output, and a steep decline in the wider economy, many are struggling to find new work and to meet the expenses of living in the city, raising the prospect of hunger and further waves of displacement. Ma Nwet Yi Win, a former workplace union leader at a shoe factory in Hlaing Tharyar, joined the mid-March exodus and left for her home village in Ayeyarwady Region’s Ngapudaw Township, but is now back in Yangon. Returning to the city to find work was the only way for the migrant workers to survive because there are no jobs for them in the villages, she told Frontier. “If Yangon is stable and it’s safe to live there, the people will return. They have to return if they want a job or the opportunity of going abroad to work,” said Nwet Yi Win, who lost her job at the shoe factory after it closed permanently on March 24. Nwet Yi Win said ultimatums from factory managers to resume work or be fired had prompted some workers to return to their jobs in early April. She said many had been afraid of returning to Yangon because of the military’s “inhumane oppression”, including regular raids on homes to arrest political opponents, but were worried about losing their jobs. However, according to Hlaing Tharyar residents, even those who still had jobs in the township’s dwindling number of operational factories largely chose not to return until after the mid-April Thingyan holiday. Ko Aung Ye Min, who works at a noodle factory in the township, had ignored a less severe order from his bosses for employees to resume their jobs on April 1 or forfeit their Thingyan holiday pay. “I don’t care about the money – I have to take care of my life and if I had returned to work on April 1, I might have been risking death,” he said, referring to the threat of Tatmadaw crackdowns. Aung Ye Min said that, like him, most of the factory’s employees did not return to work until April 20, by which time a sense of stability seemed to be returning to Hlaing Tharyar. Ko Min Min Soe, a taxi driver in Hlaing Tharyar, said migrant workers who returned to their rural homes after the violence in mid-March had to rely on motorbikes because taxis were unavailable. Taxi drivers did not want to risk their vehicles being damaged in a fresh bout of unrest, he said. However, the reduction in protests and return of migrant workers since Thingyan is keeping him and other taxi drivers busy. “I already have three orders for trips to bring back migrant workers from Kyaiklat [Township, Ayeyarwady Region], Ahpyauk [town in Yangon Region’s Taikkyi Township] and Kawhmu [Township, Yangon Region],” he said. “Each trip is worth about K50,000. Three or four workers are pooling their money and hiring my car together,” he said. But even if some of the township’s bustle has returned, the landlords of dormitory blocks – where much of the migrant workforce is housed – say Hlaing Tharyar’s population is still well below pre-coup levels. U Aung Hlaing Win, 55, who owns four hostels in Shan Kyaung ward in eastern Hlaing Tharyar, said about half his rooms were vacant. “Before Thingyan, some of my hostels had no tenants. I have begun receiving tenants since April 18, but the situation is totally different to before the coup. My hostels used to be full and I had to turn people away,” he told Frontier. Aung Hlaing Win added that the ward was still quiet with many shops closed because their owners were yet to return to Yangon. “Most of the migrant workers in our ward are from Rakhine State and Ayeyarwady Region. They come here to work in factories or run small businesses like shops. It seems that some are still wary about returning to Yangon because they think it is not safe yet, but they might return by the end of April,” he said. Labour activist Nwet Yi Win also expects many more workers to return to the township because they will need jobs to support themselves and their families. But most will likely be disappointed, she believes, and will find themselves no better off than in their rural homes. “After the military coup, many [garment] factories closed permanently because of a lack of orders from abroad, so I don’t know how those people will find another job,” she said. “Because of the COVID-19 situation, we also cannot go to neighbouring countries to find work.” Despite losing her job at the shoe factory, Nwet Yi Win still makes some money from reporting labour issues to non-government organisations, but she mainly relies on financial support from her family. Jobs are harder to find because even factories that have continued operations have downsized their staff, as orders and income have plummeted. Ma Su Myat Nwe has been looking for work since she was laid off from a Hlaing Tharyar garment factory in February. After more than two months, she is thinking of giving up the search and leaving Yangon for good. “I might go to Lashio where my parents work at a restaurant,” she said. “Although I don’t have to pay for accommodation because I’m staying at my brother’s home [in Hlaing Tharyar], it’s not going to work in the long term.” Those lucky enough to keep factory jobs have meanwhile seen their earnings reduced thanks to the 7pm curfew imposed under martial law. Although only an hour earlier than a nationwide curfew that has been in place since February, it deprives factory workers of the opportunity to earn overtime pay in the evenings. This supplementary income enabled them to not only meet the expenses of living in Yangon but also send money to their families and maybe save some for the future. “If we don’t work overtime, we will receive only K150,000 a month, but if we work overtime our salaries rise to about K220,000. Every factory worker wants to find a job that includes overtime,” said garment factory worker Ma Thida. Her workplace now closes at 4:30pm each day, she said, to ensure workers have time to return home before curfew. However, labour activist Nwet Yi Win said that, even without a curfew, there would likely be few opportunities to work overtime. Orders have plummeted because the garment sector, which dominates Hlaing Tharyar’s industrial zones and was already severely weakened by the economic fallout from the pandemic, relies heavily on demand from European countries that have strongly condemned the coup, she explained. Some companies, such as H&M and Benetton, have already stopped sourcing from Myanmar. Factory worker Ma Thida said she was relieved to still have a job, despite not being able to earn overtime, but was no longer able to support her family in her home village. She had been sending her family K100,000 a month before the coup, she said. Meanwhile, creeping inflation is making it harder to even support herself. “My income is lower than before, but the prices for basic commodities have risen. It’s harder to make ends meet,” she said. “I don’t expect the situation to be good, but I hope it won’t get worse.”..."
Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
2021-04-29
Date of entry/update: 2021-04-30
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Topic: Agriculture, Recovery and Reconstruction
Sub-title: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Myanmar's Department of Agriculture (DoA) recently conducted a series of training sessions to support the capacity development of farmers and technical experts. The training aimed to support and restore the agricultural production and livelihoods of communities affected by the heavy monsoon rains in southern Myanmar.
Topic: Agriculture, Recovery and Reconstruction
Description: "A total of 214 farmers from communities in Mon and Kayin States and Tanintharyi Region participated in face-to-face training sessions in the following topics. Good Agricultural Practices: The topics covered in this session included farming practices such as vegetable production, soil fertility management and the proper use of fertilizers to help farmers improve their yields. Participating farmers gained knowledge on practices aimed towards enhancing the production of safe, high quality food, promoting environmentally friendly agricultural practices, and ensuring the welfare of farm workers. Climate-Smart Agriculture: The training session was designed to help farmers understand how climate-induced shocks affect the agricultural sector and share climate-smart agricultural practices that enable families to improve production in a sustainable manner. Nutrition: The session covered topics related to basic nutrition including a balanced diet, meal planning, food hygiene, and the special feeding needs of children, women and men. Improving Knowledge: Post-Monsoon Forums In relation to strengthening early warning early action systems, FAO and the Myanmar Department of Meteorology and Hydrology organized virtual Post-Monsoon Forums in December 2020 for technical officers from relevant line ministries and agencies to share experiences, challenges and lessons learned during the 2020 southwest monsoon season. Some 200 technical officers participated in the discussions which aimed to review the southwest monsoon seasonal forecasts and seasonal climate and water level forecasts in Mon and Kayin States and Tanintharyi Region. Furthermore, the forums also aimed to solicit feedback from end users on the usability of the forecasts and recommendations to enhance the early warning system in order to respond to potential disasters through early action. Participants raised recommendations, gaps and challenges such as the need for meteorological information technology training for DoA staff, dissemination of real-time meteorological information, capacity development on collection and storage of meteorological records, installation of weather sensors in townships (where there are no meteorological centers in the region) and strengthened coordination and sharing of meteorological information and forecast reports with the DoA..."
Source/publisher: Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (Rome) via "Reliefweb" (New York)
2021-01-06
Date of entry/update: 2021-01-07
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Sub-title: Major solar power tender's terms are seemingly designed to leave foreign investors in the dark
Description: "Myanmar is rushing ahead with a major solar power initiative amid the Covid-19 pandemic, giving potential investors just a month to submit bids and raising questions about the tender’s intent and viability. The Ministry of Electricity and Energy published a notice on its official Facebook page dated May 18 inviting companies to submit pre-qualifying bids to construct solar energy plants on a 20-year concession basis. The ministry will buy power from 30 “designated connection points” on a build-operate-own basis, according to the announcement. The tender deadline is June 18, giving investors one month to assemble and submit their bids, a fast-tracked time table that is raising concerns about non-competive bidding and possible related land-grabbing. The tender document, reviewed by Asia Times, includes 30 solar plants ranging from 30 to 50 megawatts (MW), with a combined capacity of 1060 MW. That’s equivalent to one third of the country’s current dry season available capacity of 3,100 MW. That capacity, the ministry says, is generated by 20 gas-fired, 62 hydropower and one coal-fired plant. Developers are required to start operating the plants within 180 days after an official letter of acceptance is issued, with stiff financial penalities for non-production after the deadline, according to the document. More controversially, bidders are required to include evidence of prior land acquisition for solar plant sites in their proposals..."
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Source/publisher: "Asia Times" (Hong Kong)
2020-05-23
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-24
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Description: "Since the first case of COVID-19 was found in Chin State on March 29, businesses have closed and many working poor are now unemployed. Government handouts of food supplies were gratefully received but are quickly running out. What is in store for the next few months for the people of Chin?..."
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Source/publisher: "Frontier Myanmar" (Myanmar)
2020-05-18
Date of entry/update: 2020-05-18
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Description: "From a distance, ChuChu Design, a single-storey building across the river from Myanmar’s bustling commercial capital, looks like any other on the impoverished outskirts of the city. But on closer inspection, the roof has been fashioned from old tyres, the walls are made of glass bottles and the lampshades from melted plastic, all items upcycled by the social enterprise as part of a mission to educate people about waste. ChuChu – named after the Burmese for “plastic house” – sells handicrafts and fashion products recycled from the thousands of tonnes of trash dumped in Yangon every day. The design of the house is intended as a statement about waste, said 68-year-old Wendy Neampui, the managing director of the business, which she founded in 2014 with the help of Italian non-profit organization Cesvi. “I wanted to transform trash from an ugly landfill site into beautiful items,” she said, as she stitched together plastic sheets to be ironed into a colourful patchwork bottle holder, a technique she learned from the internet..."
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Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2020-03-05
Date of entry/update: 2020-03-06
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Sub-title: Residents accuse local cement factory of coal pollution, but expert says more testing is needed
Description: "The 500 residents of Karen state’s Yedwingone village now depend on the charity of others for clean drinking water. Until recently, each of the 120 households in this village near the state capital Hpa-an got all the water it needed from its own well. But in October villagers began noticing the water in their wells had turned black. “Our skin would itch when we used it to bathe,” said 67-year-old Thaung Nyein. “We won’t drink it.” One resident told Myanmar Now his family broke out in blisters after using the water to bathe. Monks and local civil service organizations arrived almost immediately with donated drinking water, but villagers say the giving has since tapered off. “I only have drinking water if donors show up. I have to mix distilled and boiled well water to bathe the children, and I don’t have money to go to the clinic if they get sick from it,” said Thaung Nyein. In mid-January Myanmar Now visited Yedwingone, Natkone, Ngapyawtaw, Kawpatine and Pankone villages in Hpa-an township, where locals said the same thing has happened in 22 nearby villages. Officials from the state and from a nearby factory that locals accuse of polluting the groundwater insist the water is potable and safe, but cannot explain the cause of the change in colour. Meanwhile, locals refuse to drink it..."
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Source/publisher: "Myanmar Now" (Myanmar)
2020-03-02
Date of entry/update: 2020-03-02
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Description: "At the juncture of East, South and Southeast Asia, Myanmar is home to a culturally and ecologically diverse country with rich traditions. In a largely rural but rapidly changing economy, around 54m people of different ethnic and religious groups strive to overcome a legacy of armed conflict, military rule and self-imposed isolation. In spite of substantial progress during the past decade, about 14% of the population is undernourished, 29% of children are stunted and the maternal mortality rate is 282 deaths per 100,000 births, the second-highest in the region. The Government of Myanmar is managing a challenging transition towards democracy, a peaceful and pluralistic society as well as an open and inclusive economy. Through the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan (MSDP) 2018-2030, the country is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2017, attacks on 30 police posts in Northern Rakhine by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) provoked a violent response by the security forces Executive summary that reportedly resulted in the death of 10,000 people and caused more than 700,000 to flee to Bangladesh. Denouncing the lack of accountability, several Western countries imposed targeted sanctions, private investments slowed, and the country came under increasing international criticism. Under the integrated Swiss Cooperation Strategy Myanmar 2013-2017, extended through 2018, Switzerland supported initiatives in vocational skills development, agriculture and food security, health, social services and local governance as well as peace promotion, democratisation and protection, with a total expenditure of CHF 179m over 6 years..."
Source/publisher: "Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation" (Bern)
2020-01-31
Date of entry/update: 2020-02-01
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: East-West Economic Corridor, Electricity, Infrastructure, Japan, Japanese Embassy, loan agreements, ODA, Official Development Assistance, Power, rural development, sewerage, Southern Economic Corridor, Traffic, Urban Development, wastewater treatment, Water
Topic: East-West Economic Corridor, Electricity, Infrastructure, Japan, Japanese Embassy, loan agreements, ODA, Official Development Assistance, Power, rural development, sewerage, Southern Economic Corridor, Traffic, Urban Development, wastewater treatment, Water
Description: "Myanmar and Japan have signed four loan agreements worth about US$1.1 billion (120.915 billion yen, or 1.61 trillion kyats) to fund sewerage, urban development, power distribution and infrastructure improvement projects in seven regions and states in Myanmar. The four Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan agreements were signed on Tuesday between Japanese Ambassador Maruyama Ichiro and U Maung Maung Win, Myanmar’s deputy minister for planning, finance and industry, with the aim of improving living standards and economic and social development in Myanmar, the Japanese Embassy in Yangon said in a statement. About 45.9 billion yen will go towards developing Yangon’s sewerage system. The funds will be used to renovate and expand wastewater treatment plants, lay sewer pipes and improve living standards in the central business district of Yangon. Currently, much of Yangon’s human waste and domestic and industrial wastewater flows into the Yangon River untreated, resulting in poor water quality..."
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Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" (Thailand)
2020-01-22
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-23
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Sub-title: The Yoma Yangon International Marathon took place for the eighth time in Yangon on Sunday with the participation of more than 11,000 runners in four categories.
Description: "YYIM is jointly organised by Yoma Strategic Holdings Ltd, First Myanmar Investment Public Company Limited and Yangon City Development Committee. The four categories are 42km Full Marathon, 21km Half Marathon, 10.5km Challenge and 3km Fun Run/Walk which started and finished at Thuwunnabhumi Event Park. In the Men’s Full Marathon, Philip Lagat from Kenya finished first with a time of 2 hours 33 minutes 33 seconds (02:33:33). Coming in second was Htay Ko from Myanmar with a time of 2 hours 55 minutes 44 seconds (02:55:44) while Zaw Thwe Win from Myanmar came in third with a time of 2 hours 55 minutes 44 seconds (02:55:44). In the Women’s Full Marathon, Edinah Mutahi from Kenya took home the title after clocking 3 hours 2 minutes 37 seconds (03:02:37) to come first. Finishing behind her was Masako Nakamura from Japan in second place (03:11:08) and Thidar Cho from Myanmar in third (03:15:34). In the Men’s Half Marathon Challenge, John Muiruri Mburu from Kenya came in first place with a time of 1 hour 2 minutes 8 seconds (01:02:08)..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2020-01-19
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-20
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Sub-title: Social enterprise Doh Eain wants to make the booming city more liveable by transforming the city's alleys into green, open spaces that encourage community ownership
Description: "FOR years, Yee Lay kept the back door of her ground floor apartment firmly shut to keep out both the stench from the rubbish that other tenants would carelessly throw behind the building and the hordes of rats that fed on it. Now, standing in the narrow back alley in downtown Yangon, the longtime resident beamed at the scene in front of her. There were colourful wall murals, neatly potted plants, small wooden seats, swings and a bright green and yellow see-saw. The alley's transformation from a trash-strewn street into a public playground and garden occurred in 2017, spearheaded by Doh Eain, a social enterprise determined to make this booming city more liveable. "Yangon has one of the lowest ratios of public spaces in the region or in the world," said Doh Eain founder Emilie Roell at another colourfully-painted alley behind their office..."
Source/publisher: "Business Times" (Singapore)
2020-01-07
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-07
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Description: "You may have heard about CWS and the ACT Alliance before. ACT is a coalition of churches and faith-based organizations that work in countries all over the world. It’s a platform for its members, including CWS, to coordinate our programs to be as efficient and effective as possible. To that end, many countries, including Myanmar, have ACT national forums. There are 10 ACT Alliance members who work in Myanmar, and we meet regularly. We’ve taken this partnership one step further and have a joint program in Kayin State, near the border with Thailand. We’re working with a key local organization, the Karen Baptist Convention, to help families improve their livelihoods. All 10 organizations are involved with financial support, technical advice or implementing. CWS is helping to fund this program. Recently, I traveled with a group of ACT leaders to two of the participating communities to see the program in action.One of our first stops was a Farmer Field School (which, by the way, is not unique to our work in Myanmar. CWS also supports Farmer Field Schools in Nicaragua). The FFS is a place for local farmers to come together and improve their collective experience. They share challenges they are facing and ideas for how to address them, and they can receive information and support from experts. In this case, the FFS was focusing on how to adapt planting techniques in the face of climate change. One technique is called the System of Rice Intensification, which uses less water than customary rice planting in Myanmar usually does. This is critically important in areas with water challenges, which is most of southeastern Myanmar..."
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Source/publisher: "Church World Service" (USA)
2020-01-06
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-07
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Description: "AN airport, the first for the Chin State in western Myanmar, is expected to start operations in June this year. The Surbung airport in Falam will provide access to the Chin state which is presently only accessible by road, according to The Irrawaddy. Chin State Chief Minister Salai Lian Luai said the northern part of the state is gradually attracting more visitors, local and foreigners, but transportation remains desirable. This was why the government plans to make the state more accessible and targets to open the airport by mid-year, he said. The new link will also enable local residents to travel to other parts of the country more easily, Lian Luai said, adding that the construction of the airport is reportedly now 75 per cent complete. The airport is being built on a 522-hectare plot in Falam. It will have a 1,830-meter-long and 30-meter-wide runway designed to handle takeoffs and touchdowns of ART-72 airliners. The government allocated 37 billion kyat (RM103 million) to complete the airport, Lian Luai added. The project was proposed in 2013 and construction began in 2015. The airport is situated in the Surbung mountain range at an altitude of 1,830m above sea level. “In the Chin State, the rainy season is longer and hot and cold seasons are shorter, so we need to be careful about clouds and fog in the rainy season. "Similarly, we need to be careful about smoke from slash-and-burn farming in the hot season, so we have to purchase equipment to help the planes see through them. That’s why there are delays,” Lian Luai said..."
Source/publisher: "New Straits Times" (Malaysia)
2019-01-05
Date of entry/update: 2020-01-05
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Description: "Once a seat of kings, the city of Mandalay in northern Myanmar has seen turbulent chapters in its 162-year history – the fall of Burma’s last royal dynasty and decades of colonial rule. Now, officials are attempting to transform the former royal capital into Myanmar’s first “smart city”. In a country where officials still largely labor with pen and ink, surrounded by stacks of moldering papers, authorities in Mandalay are tapping social media and new technologies such as artificial intelligence software and drones to revamp a lethargic bureaucracy. Under the secretive military junta that ruled Myanmar until 2011, people in the country’s second largest city rarely had any contact with those who governed them. Now, they talk to the mayor on Facebook and pay for services with QR codes, something not available in Myanmar’s commercial capital, Yangon. Authorities track garbage disposal with GPS and control traffic flows with remote sensors. “It is very good that we can communicate with the mayor like this,” said 55-year-old taxi driver Kyi Thein. “Before, we could only see their motorcades.”..."
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Source/publisher: "Reuters" (UK)
2019-08-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-07
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Description: "Myanmar Union Minister of Investment and Foreign Economic Relations U Thaung Tun called for clear and open discussions at the 2nd Development Effectiveness Roundtable which kicked off in Myanmar’s capital Nay Pyi Taw on Wednesday. U Thaung Tun, in his capacity as the vice chair of the Development Assistance Coordination Unit (DACU), stressed that the mobilization and coordination of a wide variety of sources of development finance are required to achieve the vision set forth within the Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan. He said that poverty in Myanmar is on the decline, access to education and life-saving medicines is on the rise, and a second wave of social and economic reforms is underway, while economic growth remains strong by both regional and global standards. “The progress could not have been possible without the dedication and commitment of those gathered here today,” said the minister, adding that Myanmar government reaffirms its commitment to working with all like-minded partners from domestic and international civil society and private sectors, for transparency and effectiveness in the delivery of development assistance..."
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Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
2019-12-04
Date of entry/update: 2019-12-05
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Description: "Myanmar is building an airport in the far-flung mountainous Falam township of Chin state to bring more tourists to the region. the Department of Civil Aviation has said. The authorities are using a state budget of 19.93 billion kyats (13.28 million U.S. dollars) for the first phase of the Surbung Airport project, according to the Department of Civil Aviation late on Monday. Runways, terminals and navigation facilities are being built and 58.3 percent of the airport construction work are said to have been completed. The airport runway extends 1,800 meters in length and 30 meters in width. It is hard for people to move within the state due to the lack of reliable transport infrastructure and in the monsoon season, landslide and floods make it almost impossible to travel. Chin state, having nine townships, remains one of the least developed in Myanmar due to a lack of proper transport and infrastructure..."
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Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
2019-11-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-26
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Description: "UP TO 152km of rural roads will be upgraded at a cost of US$51.2 million (RM212 million) by the Asia Development Bank (ADB) in Myanmar. The all-weather and climate-resilient roads will be built to benefit communities of some 150 villages in the Ayeyarwady and Magwe regions, according to The Myanmar Times. In a statement by the financial institution that is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific, the funding consists of a US$45.4 million loan from ADB and a US$5.8 million grant from the Asian Development Fund. On top of that, the Myanmar government will contribute US$1.2 million. The ADB said the project aims to enable people in the region to connect better and cut down traveling time once completed by 2025. The project will also see road surfaces elevated in areas prone to floods and materials to be used will be durable, such as concrete. ADB senior transport specialist for Southeast Asia, Shihiru Date, said the improved roads can help address climate change challenges which can cause damage to deteriorating rural links. “The project will provide rural residents in four townships of Ayeyarwady and Magwe with reliable, climate-proof roads, so they can better access markets and job opportunities,” he added. Myanmar has one of the lowest rates of rural road access in Asia, with more than 40 per cent of the country’s rural population having no access to all-season roads, according to the Rural Access Index database. The country's total population is estimated at around 53 million. ADB studies revealed that over four million people in Myanmar are not connected by road, and 10 million more are connected by roads that are not passable during the rainy season. About 6 per cent of the country’s 95,000km rural road network is considered paved, while 28 per cent have gravel or stone surfaces..."
Source/publisher: "New Straits Times" (Malaysia)
2019-11-16
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-16
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Sub-title: Russia on Wednesday offered to support Myanmar on the digital front, with proposals to help the country draft its first cyber security law, build e-government platforms and develop smart cities.
Description: "More than 70 percent of the Russian population has round-the-clock access to e-government platforms, the use of which also helps to eliminate corruption and errors, said Alexey Volin, vice-minister of digital development, communications and mass media of the Russian Federation. U Soe Thein, permanent secretary for the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said: “We are trying to promulgate a cyber law to cover e-government, e-commerce and cyber security. We are currently working with the World Bank to draft this legislation. We are waiting for the next step which is to conduct public consultations for the draft law.” The Russians are also keen to help local broadcast media transition from analog to digital transmission. “Russia has 98.6 percent digital transmission coverage, the bulk of which is free of charge,” Mr Volin said, adding that Russia can also help local companies invest in the right equipment and infrastructure to make the transition. But U Win Naing, senior managing director of Shwe Than Lwin Media, which owns Sky Net, said the biggest hurdle to adopting digital transmission in Myanmar is cost and terrain. “Myanmar is a big country with lots of mountainous terrain, so the infrastructure needed for digital is very expensive,” he said..."
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Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times" (Myanmar)
2019-09-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-11-08
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Description: "Myanmar's Yangon Bus Service (YBS) will implement a card payment system to replace the present cash box system to facilitate passengers in taking buses by the end of this year. According to the Yangon Region Transport Authority Monday, more than 1,500 buses will get the e-ticketing machines in the initial stage. The Asia Starmar Transport Intelligent Company, which is the tender winner for taking up the project, will start the trial run services by November or December once the imported machines of the system arrived in Yangon. The transport authorities have invited local and foreign joint-venture companies to bid for tender for operating related card payment services since last year that include card issuing, card acquiring and card top-up agency. Aimed at enhancing better transport service and reducing traffic congestion, the regional government introduced the new Yangon Bus Service (YBS) system in January last year, under which the number of bus lines was initially cut from more than 300 to 70 to solve the traffic jam problem..."
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Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
2019-10-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-10-29
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Description: "Myanmar has planned to launch the first phase of Yangon-Mandalay railroad upgrading project (Yangon-Toungoo) beginning Oct. 1, according to the Myanmar Railways (MR) Monday. For the railroad upgrading project, the MR has suspended some of the runs including the mail train services between Yangon and Mandalay, said MR Manager U San Tha Aung. Train services will remain at the areas where double tracks are laid as trains will continue running on one while the other is under upgrading process. However, some Yangon-Thazi, Yangon-Nay Pyi Taw, Yangon-Mawlamyine and Nay Pyi Taw-Mawlamyine train services have also been suspended, the manager added. Upon completion in 2023, the traveling time between Yangon and Mandalay will take only six hours, according to the MR official..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua" (China)
2019-09-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "In 2018, the clock kept ticking for economic reforms as businesses in Myanmar started to lose their cool. Foreign law firms pulled the plug, the liberalisation of insurance was delayed, restrictions for foreign investment lingered and business confidence plummeted. Above all, the ongoing Rakhine crisis, in the words of a business group, is “certainly one issue that hangs over Myanmar like a sword of Damocles.” Europeans complained that trade promotion abroad for the country had become “mission impossible”. These all painted a grim picture for the economy in the year. Yet, it would be wrong to say Myanmar saw no progress in 2018. Two landmark pieces of legislation – the Companies Law and Investment Law – were in force, spelling significant changes for the private sector. Meanwhile, the government scaled up anti-corruption efforts, empowering the anti-graft body, and changed its top economic team, creating a new ministry and appointing a new finance minister..."
Source/publisher: "Belt & Road News" (China)
2019-01-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "As a bamboo design and construction company, Pounamu’s business relies on the supply of bamboo. So in 2017, the company thought: How can we make the business more sustainable? The answer lies in training communities on sustainable bamboo forestry, treatment, and construction. “Actually the bamboo is a sustainable material in itself, but … we [should care] and ... [be] good [in] managing and taking the bamboo from the forest,” Pounamu Operations Director Soe Win Zaw told Devex at the 7th Asia-Pacific Housing Forum in Bangkok. Bamboo technology in the housing sector isn’t new, but Pounamu’s work with the community on sustainable and productive practices in the sourcing and utilization of bamboo has earned the company the first Asia-Pacific Housing Forum Innovation Awards in the category of community initiatives and spatial planning. The innovation awards are initiated by Habitat for Humanity with support from the Hilti Foundation and the Cities Alliance..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "devex" (USA)
2019-09-19
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: In 1995, Oliver Esser Soe Thet came to Myanmar. Although he initially dreamed of going back to Thailand, where he had spent a couple of years as a chef at fine-dining establishments in Bangkok, he felt in his heart that Myanmar was the place to be.
Description: "Oliver grew up in southwestern Germany. As a child, he played in the forests until they were replaced by junkyards. After that, he played in the dirt surrounded by broken washing machines, discarded TVs and piles of plastic waste. Today, Oliver is 57 years old and he has had it with plastic pollution. “When I came here there was no plastic. Maybe a little bit in Yangon, but in the villages, you would never see plastic. There was no snack industry besides soft drinks, which had just made their way into the country. But the soft drink bottles went back to the factories to be refilled.” The global plastic revolution found its way to Myanmar 15 years ago, Oliver said. Before that most food was wrapped in bamboo or leaves from banana and betel nut trees. When Oliver arrived in Myanmar, he said, you would find clay pots full of water in front of every other house, eliminating the need for bottled water. “To do good is to donate water,” he says. “If the people of Myanmar could find their way back to their traditions, the country’s plastic problems would be solved immediately. In Dawei, I once met a 93-year-old local woman who was cooking tasty food. She never used plastic. Why would she need plastic to eat and cook now?”..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2019-09-17
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: Yay Chann argues that it is time for Yangon City to build climate resilienc
Description: "Last June, a local policy think tank, Another Development, produced a research report related to green spaces in Yangon City. The report pointed out that green spaces in Yangon City had been reduced by nearly 40% over the course of 25 years. In addition, more green spaces in city areas have begun to face the challenges that come along with economic development, population growth, and rapid urbanization. A decline in the number of green spaces in Yangon City is bad, particularly when it comes to building a climate resilient city. Green spaces are critical in building the environment of a climate resilient city. As a forestry term, green spaces are described as the metaphor of the “sponge” (like those used in washing dishes) because such spaces act like a sponge: they generally absorb and maintain water in rainy season, and gradually release it recharging ground water in summer. Green spaces also play a key role in regulating climate, filtering pollution, and cooling the environment. Therefore, protecting green spaces is important to building climate resilience..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "TEACIRCLEOXFORD"
2019-09-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-12
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: The government will borrow US$185 million (K283.4 billion) from the Asian Development Bank to finance rural development projects across the country, a senior agriculture official said.
Description: "U Hla Kyaw, deputy minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, told the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (Assembly of the Union) on Monday that more than 1.8 million people would benefit from the projects funded by the loan. Most of the projects would be labour intensive and would directly benefit people in villages. “The villagers will participate in rural development, the incomes of rural families will increase, and their living standard will be higher,” he said, adding that the projects will help rural people better withstand natural disasters. The ADB loan will form part of the $244.95 million in rural development projects that the government is currently implementing. A portion of the project is funded by the European Union and the Japanese government. U Hla Kyaw said 70 percent of the projects will involve the direct participation of villagers. “The public approach development method will be used,” said U Hla Kyaw, adding that some 1395 local youths will be appointed public organisers..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2019-09-11
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-11
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Topic: Doh Eain to present ways on “How to reduce your waste as a Yangonite”
Sub-title: We the City: Making Yangon
Topic: Doh Eain to present ways on “How to reduce your waste as a Yangonite”
Description: "“Rain, rain, go away, come again another day.” We’ve been chanting this nursery rhyme while writing this advertisement, hoping that the heavy rain outside will soon stop. Our washing won’t dry, and the trash is building up inside. But however much we wish, the rain doesn’t wash away the rubbish - either in the home, or on the streets. Yangon, the crowded commercial capital of the country, produces 2300 tonnes to 2500 tonnes of trash a day, or about 0.5 kilograms of waste per person, according to the Yangon City Development Committee. That’s a lot of waste! Doh Eain, a social enterprise organisation dedicated to building a better Yangon, is hosting the 9th “We The City - Making Yangon” event at the Pansuriya Gallery. The theme of this year’s event is “what Yangonites can do to reduce waste”. You will have the opportunity to listen to ideas on how best to separate, reduce and reuse waste in the How-To-Reduce-Your-Waste-Market. Or, you can get inspired and hear about how you or your organisation can help clean up the city. A panel discussion will also explore how we can improve our own waste disposal habits as humble Yangon folks..."
Source/publisher: "Myanmar Times"
2019-09-09
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-09
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar's Yangon municipal authorities have planned to privatize water distribution as part of its efforts to deal with water pipe leakage, water losses and staff shortage, according to the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) Thursday. A total of over 30 local and foreign companies are seeking investment in the city's water distribution project, said YCDC Engineering Department on Wednesday, while inviting expression of interest for the project from the private sector under public-private partnership. The Yangon authorities are raising awareness about systematic water meter installation, dealing with water pipe leakage, unsystematic water consumption, management of water loss in urban water distribution and curbing illegal connections to the water pipe network, said Yangon Mayor U Maung Maung Soe. There are three main sources of water supply in Yangon city -- Gyo Phyu, Phoo Gyi and Nga Moe Yeik water reservoirs, providing over 2 million gallons of water every day. However, about half of the water supply gets wasted due to water losses and leakage in the supply system, he added..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua"
2019-09-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-09-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar's Yangon regional government has initiated a project of developing apartments on state-owned land to tackle the issue of squatters and the project will be implemented in September, according to the office of the regional government on Wednesday. "The regional government will offer a long term installment payment plan to squatters to help them purchase the apartments," Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein told in a coordination meeting with private entrepreneurs, adding that the regional government will contribute land and obtain a loan for the housing project, under which the apartments will be sold at 12-13 million kyats (8,000-8,600 U.S. dollars) per unit. He warned that squatting in industrial zones and other commercial sites can cause damage to the drainage system of the industrial zone and increase risk of fire. Besides squatters, civil servants and private company staffs who have not occupied any house will be allowed to apply for the to-be-developed apartments. The apartments will be regarded as community-owned property and those allowed to live in the apartments will be restricted from re-selling them, according to him..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "Xinhua"
2019-08-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-29
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The Government of Myanmar, with the help of the World Bank, is rolling out on-grid and off-grid electricity services to rural communities as part of its National Electrification Plan. The plan aims to bring electricity to everyone in Myanmar by 2030, installing modern solar home systems and mini-grids for remote villages that would otherwise have to wait years for a grid connection. The new electricity source will help Ei Po Po Aung to study without disruption, helping her achieve her dream of becoming a teacher in the future. It will also help her family save on daily expenses and enabling them to be more productive..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: "World Bank"
2017-06-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-21
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Our platform offerings revolve around three core service areas: 1) the provision of improved agronomy practices/skills, 2) access to farm loans, and 3) affordable micro-irrigation systems. This quarter, 15,525 total new farm customers used one or more of these services. +Farm Advisory Services: This quarter, a total of 11,416 farmers used one of our agronomy services, of which 7,534 were new customers, meeting 99 percent of our total customer target for the quarter. We are currently targeting an ambitious goal of a total of 51,000 new adopters by the end of the year. We offer the following advisory services: 1) rice seed cleaning, 2) precision planting (for rice seed) 3) nutrient (e.g. fertilizer) management, 4) soil health management, and 5) crop protection services (to control pests & disease). We currently employ 106 field agronomists who drive outreach and growth. Our field agronomists are launching our new Soil Health Diagnostic Service, offered at a price of USD4 per acre. To date, we’ve sold 477 tests, 76% lower than our target. Our agronomy team has never launched this kind of fee-for-service before, and is learning it takes up more field staff time than originally estimated. +Micro-irrigation: This quarter is typically a slow time for irrigation product sales, as the period marks the end of the monsoon season in Myanmar. 1,655 new farmers purchased one of our micro-irrigation products, representing 16 percent growth year-on-year, and 91 percent of the quarter’s target. We are targeting 10 percent annual growth this year or 12,743 farm customers. This year, our irrigation product offerings include: micro-sprinkler systems, mister systems, drip systems, lay flat hose and a treadle pump. We sold a total of 3,062 units of irrigation products, representing an 8 percent y/y decrease, and earned sales revenue of USD 78,000 for the quarter. After 15 years of selling various models of our original foot-operated pump, we are now selling only one treadle pump model this season. In recent years, the market has shifted with the influx of affordable and portable motorized pumps from China replacing the more labor-intensive treadle pumps. Thus, our products today focus on advancing irrigation efficiency in water use. This quarter, we launched our newest product – a “Starter” Mister that customers can install for USD 10 for 1/10 acre . We are seeing strong demand largely due to the affordable price point. We have a very capable, new General Manager leading the irrigation business, Seng Nu Pan. We are reducing our in-house manufacturing work and shifting to sourcing components from new, higher quality, local suppliers as well as importing more parts from Thailand and China. Assembly is still done in Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: Proximity Designs
2018-09-30
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Overall, we added 21,841 new farmers this quarter to our Yetagon farm services platform—slightly below our target of 22,954. Our farm credit services and irrigation products saw strong y/y growth, but our agronomy services missed our targets largely due to the slower than expected roll-out of our new revenue-generating soil testing service. Our growth target this year is 82,000 new customers. Year to date, we’ve added 37,097 new farmers to a growing active user base of 214,215 farm customers. Our operating model is shifting to us organizing more around our customer facing services and less on our separate business units. Current Farm Services Offered: + Quality Seeds and Precision Planting: Rice seed cleaning services have been our most popular agronomy service over the past several years. In many of the villages where we have introduced this technique, we’ve achieved over 50 percent adoption within several seasons—a very high rate for a new innovation. Farmers are typically able to achieve yield increases of 20-30 baskets per acre, which translates to yield improvement of 10 percent. Over the past three years we’ve been able to increase rice yields on over 430,000 acres. + Soil Health (testing) and Nutrient Management Services: During this quarter, we formally launched a new Soil Testing service that provides plot-specific and actionable fertilizer recommendations before the planting season to help rice farmers improve fertilizer efficiency and increase crop yields. We sold 1,516 tests to farmers in Myanmar’s lowland Delta region. This was well below our target of 2,530 tests. Demand appears to be strong, but internally the complexity of providing the new service slowed down the roll-out. We’re confident these problems can be solved quickly and will expand the testing service to the upland Dry Zone region in Q3. For our more general fertilizer application recommendations delivered through village meetings, we achieved 6,524 rice farmer adopters..."
Source/publisher: Proximity Designs
2018-12-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Overall, we added 15,803 new farmers this quarter to our customer base. Our growth target for this year is 82,000 new customers, and to date we’ve added 53,487 new farmers. Our farm irrigation products saw strong year-on-year growth, while our farm finance and agronomy advice services’ results were lower than targeted. This quarter, our farm finance business was hampered by unexpected delays in receiving regulatory approvals for overseas capital. Thus, we did not have sufficient loan funds to meet demand. Our agronomy work had difficulty finding experienced and trained agronomy field staff, which has led to understaffing at a time of planned expansion in advisory services. Our rural recruitment efforts have ramped up and our People Operations team is improving onboarding processes to ensure new extension officers can be trained well and quickly deployed. Current Farm Services Offered: + Quality Seeds and Precision Planting: This quarter is typically not the rice planting season so we anticipated low adoption of our rice seed cleaning practices. Only 624 farmers adopted during the quarter. + Soil Health Testing and Nutrient Management Services: As farmers prepare for the upcoming monsoon rice growing season, they are investing in soil health testing. After a slower than expected start, sales have picked up this quarter, with 1,886 customers buying our newly launched soil testing service, and a YTD total of 4,059 sales—37 percent of our annual target. As expected, the sales closing rates for the soil tests were high among farmers who had already used one of our other services; with a 40 percent closing rate among our pest/disease on-call diagnostic service users and 34 percent among farmers who had adopted two of our agronomy practices. We continue to improve the service delivery and sales skills of field extension officers, but are one quarter behind on targets. We project soil test sales will reach 6,600 farmers by year end, which is 60 percent of our original first year target. This quarter, 4,486 farmers adopted our free recommended crop fertilizer practices. + Crop Protection Services: Our crop protection service offers an on-call field visit service to rice farmers year round. This quarter, we experienced a spike in requests, with our field agronomists responding to 3,194 farmers’ calls. Farmers request help to diagnose a pest or disease problem in their fields and receive a recommended treatment protocol. There was an outbreak of thrip insect in the Ayeyarwady Delta this quarter. Fortunately, the crop losses in such cases are preventable if caught early. We’ve found these on-call services generate strong trust among farmers and help lay the groundwork for introducing other agronomy practices..."
Source/publisher: Proximity Designs
2019-03-31
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "People living in Myanmar's Dry Zone are facing the impact of climate change on their lives. The project, Addressing Climate Change Risks on Water Resources and Food Security in the Dry Zone of Myanmar aims to reduce vulnerability and increase adaptive capacity of the dry zone communities through improved water management, crop and livestock adaptation programme in five of the most vulnerable townships of Myanmar’s Dry Zone. The Adaptation Fund project is being implemented by UNDP in collaboration with the Government of the Union of Myanmar..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UNDP Myanmar
2017-03-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-08-02
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "World leaders are gathering in Poland for the COP24 summit. They will be discussing ways of implementing the historic Paris Accords, aimed at reducing global warming and cutting emissions. Myanmar may be a long way from where the conference is being held, but it is a country where climate change is having a dramatic effect. Nick Davies-Jones reports..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: TRT World
2018-12-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Major Cities of Myanmar face great challenges to deliver high quality basic services to their citizens while urbanization is at an early but growing stage. While this urbanization process is closely linked to economic development, its effects on health can be contradictory. The urbanization of Myanmar should therefore be compensated by important efforts to expand and improve the quality of the services delivered. In particular, improvements brought by new facilities can only sustainably and positively impact the population if they are implemented along with a significant technical assistance. Cities of Myanmar indeed lack the technical, human and financial resources to cope with population growth. In the meantime, while cities face similar problems with regard to the management of environmental services (such as drinking water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, etc.) they scarcely exchange their experiences and expertise with one another. Based of these observations, the French Embassy in Myanmar, Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC) and GRET INGO initiated in 2016 a program aiming to bridge progressively the supply and demand gap on infrastructure services in Myanmar cities by strengthening the capacities of service managers, facilitating experience sharing between operators, and fostering local partnerships as well as mutual technical support..."
Source/publisher: Myanmar Water Portal
2019-05-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Within the framework of the capacity building program for Myanmar urban services providers implemented by GRET (ROSAMUR project), a comprehensive assessment study on sanitation in Magway city was conducted with the key following objectives: To gather and analyze data and information on sanitation conditions, including all different aspects: regulatory, institutional, financial, capacity, technical, etc. To draw the faecal waste flow in Magway city to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current system To suggest priorities improvement for each component of the sanitation service chain according to the conclusion of the assessment The following report is in Myanmar language and presents the conclusions of this study.....ဤအစီရင်ခံစာတွင်၂၀၁၇ခုနှစ်၊စက်တင်ဘာလမှ၂၀၁၈ခုနှစ်၊ဇန်နဝါရီလအထိ လေ့လာတွေ့ရှိရသော ရေဆိုးစွန့်ပစ်စနစ်နှင့်ပတ်သက်သည့်လေ့လာချက်များနှင့်အနှစ်ချုပ်တွေ့ရှိချက်များကိုတင်ပြထားပါသ ည်။ ဤလေ့လာမှုသည်GRETမှအကောင်အထည်ဖော်ပြီး ပြင်သစ်အလှူရှင်များမှ ရန်ပုံငွေ မတည် ထားသော Rosamurပရောဂျက်၏ တစ်စိတ်တစ်ပိုင်းဖြစ်ကာမကွေးမြို့အတွက် ရေပေးဝေမှုစနစ် ရေဆိုးစွန့်ပစ်မှုနှင့် အမှိုက်သရိုက်အညစ်အကြေးများစီမံခန့်ခွဲမှုလုပ်ငန်းများ ဖံ့ွ ဖြိုးတိုးတက်စေရန် ရည်ရွယ်ချက်အတွက်ဖြစ်ပါသည်။ ကနဦးလေ့လာတွေ့ရှိချက်များနှင့်ကွင်းဆင်းလေ့လာမှု့များအရ မကွေးမြို့၏ရေဆိုးစွန့်ပစ်မှုအခြေအနေနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍အားကိုးအားထားပြုရမည့်အချက်အလက်များ လုံးဝမရှိသည့်အပြင်ရေဆိုးစွန့်ပစ်စနစ်နှင့်ပတ်သက်ပြီးမြို့၏အခြေအနေနှင့်ပြည်သူလူထု၏လက်တွေ့ ကျင့်သုံးမှုအပိုင်းမှာလည်း စိတ်ကျေနပ်မှုမရှိသည်ကို တွေ့ရှိရပါသည်။ ထိုအခြေအနေကိုကောင်းမွန်လာစေရန်အလို့ငှာမြို့၏လက်ရှိအခြေအနေကိုနားလည်ပြီး တိကျ မှန်ကန်သော သတင်းအချက်အလက်များစုဆောင်းရန်လိုအပ်ပါသည်။ ထိုသို့သောအကြောင်းအရာများကြောင့်GRETမှမကွေးမြို့တွင်ရေဆိုးစွန့်ပစ်စနစ်နှင့်ပတ်သက်သော ရှင်းလင်းသည့် လေ့လာအကဲဖြတ်မှုများကို အောက်ပါရည်ရွယ်ချက်များဖြင့် ပြုလုပ်ပါသည်။ 1) ရေဆိုးစနွ့်ပစ်မှုအခြေအနေများနှင့်ပတ်သက်၍သတင်းအချက်အလက်များကိုစည်းမျဉ်းစည်းကမ်း ဆိုင်ရာ၊ဖွဲ့စည်းပုံဆိုင်ရာ၊ ငွေကြေးဆိုင်ရာ၊စွမ်းဆောင်ချက်ဆိုင်ရာ၊နည်းစနစ်ပိုင်းဆိုင်ရာစသည်တို့ကိုရှုထောင့်အမျိုးမျိုးမှပါ ဝင်အောင်စုဆောင်းရန်။ 2) မကွေးမြို့၏မိလ္လာအညစ်အကြေးစီးဆင်းမှုကို ရေးဆွဲပြီး လက်ရှိမိလ္လာရေစီးလမ်းကြောင်း စနစ်၏ အားသာ ချက်နှင့် အားနည်းချက်တို့ကို လေ့လာရန်။ 3) လေ့လာတွေ့ရှိချက်များအပေါ်မူတည်၍ရေဆိုးစွန့်ပစ်စနစ်လုပ်ငန်းစဉ်၏ ဦးစားပေး လုပ်ငန်း တစ်ခုချင်းစီ ဖံ့ွ ဖြိုးတိုးတက်မှုအတကွ ် အကြံပြုရန်။..."
Source/publisher: Myanmar Water Portal
2019-07-01
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 3.55 MB
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Sub-title: The Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) is the entity charged with managing and providing many of the services, such as planning, cleaning, transportation, and infrastructure development, among others, that keep a modern city humming.
Description: "As such, the YCDC's performance of its duties directly affects the lives of some five million people living in the city. In return for those services, city dwellers pay taxes and fees to the YCDC. However, some experts question whether people in Yangon receive good value for the money they give. According to a recent survey conducted by the Myanmar Democracy Research Network (MDRN), some 40pc of Yangonites don't believe in the YCDC's performance. "It is roughly seen in the survey that less than half of Yangonites are unsatisfied with YCDC's performance, however, people's trust in the YCDC is found to be quite weak," commented Kyauktada No. 1 Constituency MP Daw Kyi Pyar on the results of the survey. In the survey, people were asked questions on several facets of issues in Yangon such as stray dogs, taxes, waste management, water supply, roads electricity, markets, and public parks. MDRN worked with seven civic organisations to conduct throughout April, which involved 510 respondents in 85 wards of 16 townships in the Yangon municipal area. For a more in-depth report on the survey and its findings, check out the Metro section of the Myanmar Times over the coming days..."
Source/publisher: Myanmar Water Portal via "Myanmar Times"
2019-07-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Of the nine port terminals of the Yangon Water Bus service, the Myanma Port Authority is collecting rent from just two, said U Bo Soe, the Assistant General Manager of the port authority. "We are collecting rent of K700,000 per month from the No4 and Lanthit terminals. The Myanma Port Authority is not charging any rent from the remaining terminals to help develop the water bus service," said U Bo Soe, who is also a member of the Yangon Region Transport Authority. The nine port terminals of the water bus service are Botahtaung No4, Nanthida, Lanthit, Kyimyindine, Hline, Insein, Sarpachaung, Thamada, and the Antgyi shipyard in Dala Township, according to the Myanma Port Authority. "At present, the Yangon Water Bus is running 11 ferries for 100,000 passengers. The number of passengers has decreased in the monsoon season," said U Bo Win. Meanwhile, to extend the water bus route to the Pazuntaung creek, the Tint Tint Myanmar Company and the Department of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems have jointly conducted a feasibility study at a suitable location for establishing a jetty, and their report has been forwarded to the Yangon Region government, he said. "We have made plans to extend the water bus route to the South Okkalapa Pagoda. They have been submitted to the regional government," he added. The Yangon Water Bus was launched on 7 October, 2017, and it has been providing ferry services on internal routes in Yangon City as well as on Kyauktan and Twantay routes for the past one-and-a-half-years..."
Source/publisher: Myanmar Water Portal "Global New Light Of Myanmar"
2019-07-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-25
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Sub-title: UN-Habitat Myanmar: The Coastal Settlements Support Programme (CSSP)
Description: "In response to the destruction caused by Cyclone Nargis, UN-Habitat assisted affected communities in the Irrawaddy Delta with shelter recovery, water, sanitation and hygiene, and livelihoods. The Coastal Settlements Support Programme (CSSP) has helped 431 IDP families from Kungyangone Township (Delta) to secure land tenure and build disaster resilient shelters with access to safe water and sanitation. Importantly, local community carpenters were trained in disaster resilient construction techniques, increasing their earning potential. Finally, cash for work opportunities for casual laborers were provided in the course of improving access infrastructure..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UN-Habitat Myanmar
2014-01-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Improving the health of families in the Delta by providing access to safe water and sanitation facilities, while raising awareness of hygiene and health related issues was a project funded by the Government of Japan for recovery and reconstruction of 2365 latrines, 197 rainwater collection tanks, 235 ponds, 28 new ponds and 212 new wells, 13,911 ceramic jars, 129 bridges and jetties, 541 emergency water supply systems and many more for 190,000 people in 263 villages of the Cyclone Nargis affected community in the Delta area of Myanmar. More information can be found at: Community Water Supply and Sanitation Recovery Programme (CWSSRP)..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UN-Habitat Myanmar
2015-03-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "A project funded by the LIFT for sustainable human development helped the people from 250 villages across five townships in the Delta (Pyapon, Kyaiklat, Bogale, Kungyangon and Dedaye)..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UN-Habitat Myanmar
2018-07-20
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-18
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "The programme was funded by the people of Japan to support 612,709 people (305,814 male; 306,859 female) through community lead development in 509 villages in 10 townships of Kachin, Chin, Kayah and Shan States. More information can be found at: The Programme for Development and Rehabilitation of Community in Ethnic Minority Area, Myanmar..."
Source/publisher: UN-Habitat Myanmar
2015-06-02
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: ''ပခုက္ကူမြို့ ဘက်စုံသုံးရာသီဥတုဒဏ် အဆောက်အဦးတွင် မြေနေရာ ရာသီဥတုဒဏ်ခံနမူနာအိမ် ဂါလံ (၄၀၀၀)ဆံ့ ရေစင်၊ ပေ (၃၅၀) စက်ရေတွင်းနှင့် ရေနုတ်မြောင်းအား လွှဲပြောင်းပေးအပ်ခြင်းအခမ်းအနား ကျင်းပခြင်းကို MRTV မှရိုက်ကူးတင်ဆက်ပေးသည်။ Handing over ceremony of multi purpose flood shelter in Pakokku broadcasted by MRTV...''
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: MRTV via HABITAT Myanmar
2018-04-30
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: Yangon 28 April 2017 – UN-Habitat successfully held an international experience sharing workshop on slum upgrading, bringing together leading experts from the region and Myanmar to help identify possible solutions to Myanmar’s growing slum problem.
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UN-Habitat Myanmar
2017-05-12
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Yangon 28 April 2017 – UN-Habitat successfully held an international experience sharing workshop on slum upgrading, bringing together leading experts from the region and Myanmar to help identify possible solutions to Myanmar’s growing slum problem. More information can be found at: International Experience-Sharing Workshop on Slum Upgrading. Multimedia Source: Kamayut Media. မို့ကြီးတွေမှာရှိတဲ့ အဆင့်မမီတဲ့ရပ်ကွက် (ကျူးကျော်)တွေအတွက် နိုင်ငံတကာမှာ အဆင့်မြှင့်တင်ပေးတဲ့ အတွေ့အကြုံတွေကို မျှဝေပေးတဲ့ ဆွေးနွေးပွဲတစ်ခုကို ဧပြီ ၂၈ရက်မှာ ပြုလုပ်ခဲ့ပါတယ်။..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Kamayut Online TV via UN-Habitat Myanmar
2017-04-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-17
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "MRTV broadcasts about the consultation workshop on National Urban Policy Framework in Nay Pyi Taw on 4 June 2018. The workshop was organized by Department of Urban and Housing Development, Ministry of Construction and UN-Habitat..."
Source/publisher: UN-Habitat Myanmar via MRTV
2018-06-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Throughout 2016, UN-Habitat together with the Netherlands Creative Industries, launched five Urban Planing and Design projects in Tacloban, Philippines; Gaza, Palestine; Acra, Ghana, Mecixo City and Yangon, Myanmar. This was documented by Media HQ in seven compelling films that showcase the innovative approach of bringing a network of international expertise together in order to support urban growth and improved sustainability, efficiency and equity through planning and design. The films were screened at the Habitat III conference in Quito in October 2016, at the 26th session of the Governing Council in May 2017 in Nairobi and at several architecture film festivals all around the globe...."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: UN-Habitat worldwide
2017-10-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Myanmar is one of the earthquake prone countries since it is located in the Alpide Earthquake Belt. Myanmar has already experienced many destructive earthquakes and for examples are 1839 Innwa earthquake, 1930 Bago earthquake, 1956 Sagaing earthquake, 1912 Maymyo earthquake. All of these events are of the magnitude ≥ 7.0 (Mw). These earthquakes caused several hundreds casualties and damages of various kinds of buildings. The 1839 Innwa earthquake caused about 400 deaths as the total in and around Amarapura; and many buildings destroyed. The deadiliest earthquake happened in Myanmar is the 1930 Bago earthquake strucked on May 30 and the magnitude is 7.3 Mw. It caused 500 deaths in Bago and 50 in Yangon; and many buildings damaged. The 1930 Bago earthquakes seems to be one of the four major earthquakes sequence; August 8, 1929 (Swa) earthquake, May 5, 1930 (Bago) earthquake, December 3, 1930 (Phyu) earthquake in the southern segment of Sagaing Fault and January 27, 1931 (Putao) earthquake in the northern segment of that fault. All of these events were originated from the right-lateral strike-slip Sagaing Fault. It can be therefore regarded that the cities located along this fault are very high in the future occurrences of the large events. The major cities lied along that fault are Sagaing, Mandalay, Meiktila, Naypyitaw, Taungoo and Bago. As the first step, with the aid of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), Myanmar Geosciences Society (MGS), Myanmar Engineering Society (MES) and Myanmar Earthquake Committee (MEC) conducted the seismic risk assessment for three cities; Sagaing City (Sagaing Region); and Taungoo and Bago Cities (Bago Region). The project will include two portions as the seismic hazard assessment (SHA) and seismic risk assessment (SRA). MGS and MEC conducted SHA, while MES performed SRA. This report will represent the results of SHA for one of these three cities, Bago City, Bago Region. The main objective of the present project is to develop the seismic hazard and risk maps of the city. To develop the seismic hazard maps, the methodology of probabilistic seismic hazard assessment (PSHA) is applied and the resulted seismic hazards are presented in terms of peak ground acceleration (PGA), spectral acceleration (SA) and peak ground velocity (PGV) for 10% and 2% probability of exceedance in 50 years (475 years and 2,475 years recurrence intervals). The resulted seismic hazards are lead to use in the SRA and additionally these hazard maps are very useful for the urban land-use planning and the seismic resistance building construction purposes..."
Source/publisher: HABITAT (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements)
2016-11-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 3.68 MB 2 MB 3.34 MB 2.77 MB 2.5 MB
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Description: ''Developing countries typically suffer far greater than developed countries as a result of earthquakes. Poor socioeconomic conditions often lead to poorly constructed homes that are vulnerable to damage during earthquakes. Our country, Myanmar is a developing country and one of the multi-hazard prone areas around the world according to its geographical situation. Myanmar lies on one of the world’s two main earthquake belts and many of the urban centers are along the Sagaing fault running North –South of the country. The Sagaing fault is the most prominent active fault in Myanmar which extends from north of Lake Indawgyi southward along the Ayeyarwaddy River north of Mandalay and along the eastern margin of the BagoYoma to the Andaman Sea (Hazard Profile of Myanmar, Sato, 2009). According to a recent study, on relocation of historical earthquakes since 1918 along the Sagiang Fault, there exist two seismic gaps: one between 19.2°N and 21.5°N in central Myanmar, and another south of 16.6°N in the Andaman Sea. Considering the length of the first seismic gap (∼260 km), a future earthquake of up to M ∼7.9 is expected to occur in central Myanmar (Nobuo Hurukawa and PhyoMaungMaung, 2011). Rapid and unplanned urbanization in Myanmar is increasing the vulnerability of future disasters especially for earthquake. Besides, over the past three decades, urbanization in Myanmar has been rapidly increasing. In most cities throughout the country, this urbanization took place minimal consideration of building codes, sound construction, and urban planning practices. As a result, many of Myanmar’s urban cities developed in the proximity of active seismic sources and are at risk of experiencing major earthquake events. Seismic risk cannot be eliminated, but it can be effectively analyzed and possibly reduced by using proper tools and models to produce reliable and meaningful estimates of the seismic risk facing a community, and exposure. Considering the majority of the building stock in both urban and rural areas comprising of non-engineered structures such as made of Timber, Brick Nogging, Brick Masonry and reinforced Reinforced Concrete, there is an increasing concern on the potential damage to urban areas such as Yangon, Bago, Taungoo and Sagaing, Meikhtila, Taunggyi along the Sagaing fault. Therefore, this paper tends to estimate the damage and casualties, to develop seismic risk and related assessment of building structures (Public, Private, and Pagodas) for the maximum estimated seismic scenarios in Taungoo City. The study findings will lead to develop comprehensive risk reduction programs addressing the specific vulnerabilities as well as guide the future development in the cities along with UN-Habitat’s Myanmar Comprehensive Disaster Risk Reduction Programme and also with broader DRRWG activities and those of Government...''
Source/publisher: HABITAT (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements)
2016-09-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 4 MB 4.49 MB 1.43 MB 2.59 MB
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Description: "ထိုအမျိုးသားအဆင့် လက်သမားသင်ရိုးအား ဆောက်လုပ်ရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာန ဗဟိုသင်တန်းကျောင်း (သုဝဏ)မှ အဓိကပြင်ဆင်ပြီး မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအင်ဂျင်နီယာအသင်းနှင့် UN-Habitat တို့မှ နည်းပညာပိုင်းကူညီပါသည်။ စာအုပ်ပြုစုရိုက်နှိပ်ခြင်းနှင့် အခြားအကူအညီများကို USAID (Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance - OFDA)နှင့် Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs တို့မှပံ့ပိုးပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: HABITAT (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements)
2015-03-23
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 2.94 MB
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Description: "ထိုအမျိုးသားအဆင့် လက်သမားသင်ရိုးအား ဆောက်လုပ်ရေးဝန်ကြီးဌာန ဗဟိုသင်တန်းကျောင်း (သုဝဏ)မှ အဓိကပြင်ဆင်ပြီး မြန်မာနိုင်ငံအင်ဂျင်နီယာအသင်းနှင့် UN-Habitat တို့မှ နည်းပညာပိုင်းကူညီပါသည်။ စာအုပ်ပြုစုရိုက်နှိပ်ခြင်းနှင့် အခြားအကူအညီများကို USAID (Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance - OFDA)နှင့် Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs တို့မှပံ့ပိုးပါသည်။..."
Source/publisher: HABITAT (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements)
2018-07-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-15
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 1.44 MB
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Description: ''The Myanmar Climate Change Alliance (MCCA) was launched in 2013 with the joint efforts of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MNREC) and its Environmental Conservation Department (ECD). The programme also works closely with several other ministries and government agencies, including the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement (MSWRR) and its Relief and Resettlement Department (RRD). The overall objective of MCCA is to mainstream climate change into the policy development and reform agenda of Myanmar. The country is highly vulnerable to climate change and hazards. At a local level, climate change is already resulting in more frequent and severe disasters such as devastating cyclones, frequently recurring floods and storm surges, droughts and consequent climate driven migration, and loss of productivity in the agriculture sector, among others. In the context of increasing climate-induced risks, local administrations need to enhance their capacities for climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR). In response, MCCA and ECD designed a training course entitled “Building Local Level Resilience to Climate Change in Myanmar”. The overall aim of the training course is to build the capacity of national and local governments for integrating CCA and DRR measures into local development plans. The course modules are tailored to equip government officials with robust knowledge on climate change and its impacts in Myanmar, as well as with analytical and technical skills on how to develop local CCA and DRR strategies and plans based upon vulnerability assessments...''
Source/publisher: HABITAT (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements)
2019-03-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 3.86 MB
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Description: "Vulnerability is the degree to which a system is susceptible to, or unable to cope with, the adverse effects of climate change, including climate variability and extremes. This notion is used to describe socio-economic, physical and environmental factors, which determine the sensitivity/susceptibility of a country, town, community or individual to the impact of climate change (e.g. change in seasonal patterns) and/or hazard (e.g. flood). For example, socio-economic factors of vulnerability are poverty, low level of awareness on climate change, and dependence on climate-sensitive agricultural production. Land degradation and unsustainable natural resources management are environmental factors of vulnerability. For instance, cutting mangroves in populated coastal areas increases the vulnerability of communities because mangroves help in reducing wind speed, flooding and coastal erosion. Physical vulnerability relates to the state of infrastructure and human settlements. Countries and communities are more vulnerable when they have low adaptive capacity. The latter specifies their ability to adjust to climate change (including to climate variability and extremes) and moderate or cope with its potential negative impacts. Adaptive capacity also relates to the ability of people to take advantage of opportunities and benefits from climate change. For example, a longer growing season due to changing climate offers opportunity to farmers to increase their income. However, their adaptive capacity is often constrained by the limited access to knowledge and technology on how to increase their production under longer growing season conditions. Adaptation to climate change aims at reducing vulnerability and building climate resilience. Climate resilience is the ability of a system to (i) absorb stress and cope with climate change and hazards, including maintaining its basic structure, functions and adaptive capacity, and (ii) recover, adapt and transform in ways that improve its sustainability, leaving it better prepared for future climate change impacts. In this context, climate-resilient development of townships of Myanmar suggests development that ensures townships' ability to cope with current climate and its impact and to adapt to future climate change, by preserving development gains and minimising damages..."
Source/publisher: HABITAT (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements)
2019-03-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 2.21 MB
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Description: The climate of an area is usually described as average weather condition experienced over a long period of time. Climate change is the change in climatic elements over the time period that ranges from decade to centuries. This change can be measured by changes of temperature, precipitation, and ext reme weather events. This paper aims to assess climate change and its affect on Myanmar and to evaluate the climate o f Yangon City in context with g lobal warming. Climate change, in this study is variation in normal condition of majo r climatic elements of temperature and precipitation. A mount of rainfall, rainy days, and onset and withdrawal of monsoon system are considered in this study because they can highlight the affect of climate change over Myanmar. Observed climat ic data mainly fro m Depart ment of Hydrology and Meteorology and other departments concerned are used in this research. Time-series analysis, statistical co mputation, trend line analysis, and graphical analysis are applied to understand changing climat ic elements. The research reveals that climate of Myanmar is changing in line with global warming. The analysis point ou t the gradual change has pronounced since 1979. In Yangon, slight increase rainfall is found at central part of the City than surrounding area. Peak monsoon rainfall is increasing but early and late monsoon rainfall is decreasing in Yangon City. The noteworthy fact is found that the average maximu m temperature of Yangon City is increasing with a something rate wh ile the average minimu m temperature is significantly decreasing over a period of 60 years. This case leads to the increasing trend in DTR. And also contribute to decrease daily mean temperature. The decrease in daily mean temperatures per decade by decade is experience in this study. This factor opposes to global warming that is both maximu m and minimu m temperatures are increased. Therefore understanding on localized variat ion and microclimate condition are important to conduct more convenience adaptation and planning for local inhabitant. Key words; climate change, global warming,, maximu m and minimum temperature, d iurnal range of temperature (DTR), and rainfall ano malies..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Ministry of Education Myanmar
2012-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
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Description: "Warming of the Earth's climate system is evident from the observed increases in the average global air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level. Weather events of all kinds are getting more extreme. In arid areas, droughts and wildfires intensify. Number of cold days and nights decreases, while winter temperatures and precipitation become more extreme. Cities experience more frequent and extreme heat waves. Temperatures will continue to rise in future. Most scientists agree on the "threshold" of a 2°C increase in global average temperature on the pre-industrial levels, above which humans and nature will not be able to cope with the negative effects of climate change. Myanmar is already experiencing significant losses due to climate change, and without adaptation, country's future development will be impeded. There are eight major physiographic regions in Myanmar: the Ayeyarwady Delta, Central Dry Zone, Northern Hilly Region, Rakhine Coastal Region, Eastern Hilly Region, Southern Coastal Region, Yangon Deltaic Region, and Southern Interior Region. These regions form three main agroecological zones: i) Central Dry Zone; ii) Coastal Zone; and iii) Hilly Zone (Figure 1). The latter are used to describe climate variability and change at the sub-national level. The country's climate is tropical to subtropical monsoon with three seasons: (i) hot, dry intermonsoonal (mid-February to mid-May); (ii) rainy southwest monsoon (mid-May to late October); and (iii) cool, relatively dry northeast monsoon (late October to mid-February). Annual climate patterns, as well as seasonal temperatures and precipitation vary across the country, as summarized below..."
Source/publisher: HABITAT (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements)
2019-03-26
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 722.38 KB
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Description: "Myanmar is one of the most vulnerable countries to the negative effects of climate change, and the majority of Myanmar people are also highly vulnerable to climate variability and natural disasters. Myanmar’s delta region is exposed to sea level rise and cyclones, and the central dry zone is vulnerable to drought and floods, and 60% of the population works in agriculture, livestock and fisheries, which are highly sensitive to climatic variations. Already, changes in the timing of monsoon rainfall are hurting farmers’ income and food security, along with floods, droughts, heat and extreme weather events. A contributing factor to the impact of climate change in Myanmar is the limited understanding and awareness, of both policymakers and the public, of the risks and potential negative impacts of climate change on economic, social and environmental development. The MCCA strategy on awareness-raising concluded that in 2015, a basic awareness of climate change existed but was still superficial, even for key influential groups such as policymakers and the media. Myanmar has begun to improve education about environmental issues and climate change, including incorporation of climate change information into the public education curriculum (for primary schools and universities), but general awareness is limited. MCCA surveys showed that people were familiar with basic climate change terms, but did not understand the concepts. Improving awareness and knowledge about climate change will help vulnerable communities and sectors to respond effectively to current and future climate change impacts..."
Source/publisher: HABITAT (United Nations Centre for Human Settlements)
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-14
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 178.38 KB
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Description: "Urbani ation in M anmarisstill in an earIg phasewith The report,Mganmar banI$atI&On:Crea ing slightl less than one-third of the population Iiving in oppor unl&tie8 forAllaims to understand urbani ation cities.This presents anenormous opportunitg forthe in Mganmar drawing on the growing Iiterature on countrg. Cities are engines of growth and prosperitg,the topic in Mganmar, especiallg for YQngon. It uses which facilitate industries to growjobs,services and an inclusive urbani ation lens and proposes a set of innovations. Cities are also fundamental to lifting prioritg policg areas for urgent attention that will people out ofpoVertg through increased emplogment help to ensure the bene ts of urbani ation are wideig opportunitiesandincomestociti ens. Nocountrg has reali ed given the projected growth of cities. An reached middle income status without urbani ing. inclusion lens 15 particularl important in Mganmar as the countrg transitions from a complex histor that That being said,the wag that cities urbani e has been characteri ed bg decades ofeconomic and 15 importQnt to growth,p0Vertg Qnd IIVQbilitg. politicQI iSOIQtion,conflict,Qnd underdeVelopment. If adequate investrnents are not made in basic infrQstructure and services,urban planning,and in Inclusive urbani ation 15 reliant on three keg ensuring a goVernance and 6nancing structure that dimensions;economic,social and spatial. Economic can deliverforresidents,cities instead can end upwith inclusionreferstoequitable accesstoemplo mentand mQjor problems of congestion,pollution,sprawl,and income-generating activities in a citg,and resilience inequalitg which can create or worsen social divisions,to shocks. Spatial inclusion refers to equitable and and potentiallg contribute to crime and violence. affordable access to Iand,housing,infrastructure and basic public services. Social inclusion relates to individual and group rights,equitg,securitg and dignitg. Such aspects of social inclusion and exclusion are relevant to groups who are often marginali ed in da to-dag urban Iife..."
Source/publisher: World Bank
2019-06-06
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf pdf pdf pdf pdf
Size: 4.96 MB 7.58 MB 8.87 MB 2.25 MB 1.92 MB
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Description: "Myanmar is in the midst of a historic transition from a closed and isolated command economy to an increasingly open market economy. As it progresses, the country faces several development challenges such as widespread poverty, poor and inadequate infrastructure, low levels of entrepreneurship and industrialization, suppressed private sector, and underdeveloped markets. Among these challenges, Myanmar’s housing sector is struggling to cope with rapid urbanization, internal migration, and new demand arising from recent economic growth, particularly in the larger metropolitan districts of Yangon and Mandalay. To address this issue, Schedule 2 of the Constitution has assigned the management of the housing sector, including urban development, to the states and the regions. Therefore, the Yangon Region Government (YRG) has a responsibility for creating an enabling environment for the development and modernization of the housing sector. One of the key constraints to developing the housing sector and increasing the supply of dwelling units to meet the growing demand of low- to lower middle-income households is the lack of long-term financing. With the support of the Union-level Department of Urban and Housing Development (DUHD) under the Ministry of Construction (MOC), only three financial sources are available. These are the MOC-constituted revolving fund, annual government budget allocation, and project financing from the Construction, Housing and Infrastructure Development Bank (CHID Bank). Given the limited resources, DUHD was able to supply a little over 9,200 units in 2016, which is nowhere close to the actual existing and emerging demand. This study was carried out to help the YRG to formulate housing market reform options, offer practical recommendations to address market failures, and support the YRG in the implemention of its affordable housing agenda and development of related policies..."
Creator/author:
Source/publisher: Asia Development Bank (ADB)
2019-05-28
Date of entry/update: 2019-07-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 1.23 MB
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Description: IOM Myanmar collaborated with Democratic Voice of Burma to explore the ways in which migrants and their families cope with debt in the village of Taung Thar, Mandalay Region.
Creator/author: U Tun Kyaw
Source/publisher: IOM Myanmar
2019-05-30
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
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Description: Mr. Sudhansu Sharma, Country Economist, International Growth Center, at Nay Pyi Taw CHIME Workshop, March 6, 2019
Creator/author: Mr. Sudhansu Sharma
Source/publisher: IOM Myanmar
2019-06-03
Date of entry/update: 2019-06-22
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Yangon is a city rich with history—a former capital, a center of commerce, and today, a city bristling with construction cranes, clogged with vehicles, and throbbing with the aspirations of its swelling population. Demographic changes, economic growth, and Myanmar’s new international openness have left the Yangon City Development Committee, the city’s municipal government, scrambling to deliver public services and provide effective governance for a population of almost six million. After decades of international isolation and government secrecy that left a lasting deficit in public trust and participation, the governments of Myanmar’s major cities have begun to recognize that effective governance is built on communication between a city’s leaders and its citizens. Quite simply, governments cannot serve the governed if they don’t know what’s going on. Elected officials, who must provide effective public services with limited resources, are awakening to the information value of public participation. The Development Affairs Organization of Taunggyi, a city in Southern Shan State, and the mayor of Mandalay City, for example, have been actively corresponding with city residents on Facebook. In Yangon’s recent election debates, one candidate proclaimed that citizens would be able to call him personally to register complaints. As a citizen of Yangon City, I understand the importance of this public dialogue. Government decisions on routine matters such as public transit, waste collection, deteriorating air quality, the proliferation of concrete high-rises, or the growing intensity of traffic jams affect the well-being of every resident of this city every day. But while openness to public opinion is an important step for an emerging democracy, anecdotal information from Facebook posts and phone calls from dissatisfied citizens can be treacherously unreliable, amplifying the voices of a motivated, but not necessarily representative, few. Clearly, the first step in responsive, democratic policymaking—understanding the will of the people—is a tall one. This is why my team at The Asia Foundation, Myanmar, has developed the City Life Survey (CLS), a modern data tool for democratic policymaking by urban decision-makers..."
Creator/author: Hillary Yu Zin Htoon
Source/publisher: The Asia Foundation
2019-04-24
Date of entry/update: 2019-05-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "To feed nine billion people by 2050, global food production needs to increase by 70 percent. Farmers in Africa, and across the world, are using Climate-Smart Agriculture practices to combat the impacts of Climate Change on crop production..."
Source/publisher: Youtube via "World Bank"
2011-09-02
Date of entry/update: 2019-04-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "This video explains the climate-smart agriculture approach including its objectives and why it is needed. Climate change will hit farmers, herders and fishers the hardest. The Climate-smart agriculture approach promotes the development of the technical, policy and investment conditions to achieve sustainable agricultural development for food security under a changing climate. It seeks to: increase sustainably agricultural productivity and incomes, help adapt and build resilience to climate change impacts and wherever possible, reduces and/or removes greenhouse gases. To make climate-smart agriculture a reality we need to: expand the evidence base; improve policies; empower local institutions; and combine new financing options. Let’s make sure our agriculture is productive and sustainable for generations to come..."
Source/publisher: Youtube via " Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations"
2015-06-08
Date of entry/update: 2019-04-28
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: ''“We don’t have to employ more traffic police; the smart machine will do the job!” proclaimed U Ye Myat Thu of the Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC) to an audience of three dozen ministers, mayors, and officials from across Myanmar crammed into a small traffic control room in Mandalay. Myanmar’s second-largest municipality has installed remote-control traffic lights, high definition video cameras, road sensors, and loudspeakers at intersections throughout the city, he explained. Software in the control room takes that data and generates dynamic traffic-flow visualizations for a handful of trained officials overseeing the system. he new technology, the Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System (SCATS), uses artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize traffic flows across the city. Learning and improving over time, it can answer questions such as, “To maximize traffic flows, how long should the green light stay on during rush hour?” The system runs daily experiments and makes continual, small adjustments without the need for a human operator. SCATS has already increased traffic flows over one of Mandalay’s main bridges by a reported 50 percent...''
Creator/author: James Owen and Heesu Chung
Source/publisher: Asia Foundation
2018-12-05
Date of entry/update: 2019-01-13
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Mandalay has many faces. As the last capital of the Konbaung Dynasty, Mandalay is considered the origin of the traditional Myanmar culture. A wide variety of handicrafts remain in practice today and are a focal point of the Buddhist practice. However, Mandalay cannot be discussed in only the narrow framework of Myanmar culture. Mosques, Hindu temples, and Chinese temples stood in a row along its streets, demonstrating the complex history of this city. However, the study of Mandalay?s diversity remains limited. The urban area of Mandalay lies around a square castle, and the towns are ordered as a grid. Such an extremely orderly city attracts attention from researchers, and arguments concentrate on interpretation of the design, the centricity and the cosmology of the city. In addition, a viewpoint assuming Mandalay as a model of the traditional capital of continental Southeast Asia was dominant for a long time. It is necessary to reconsider Mandalay as a hub in the regional trade network. Henry Yule, who visited the city during the Konbaung period records prosperous local trade activity. According to his account, various merchant groups including Chinese and Muslim possessed commercial quarter. The presence of a variety of religious buildings and communities in contemporary Mandalay is difficult to understand without paying attention to the commercial characteristics of the city. Recently, the study of the commercial importance of Mandalay has gradually developed. For example, Thant Myint-U acknowledges the commercial importance of the urban area. From the viewpoint of economic history, Schendel explains in detail a variety of commercial activities of the merchant group based in Mandalay. However, still too few studies address how these various groups were placed in the spatial structure of Mandalay. This paper collects basic information and creates a rough sketch of the formation of Mandalay. I suggest in advance that foreigners assume a considerable part of the city?s functions occur in the urban area. In the western part of the city, the commercial space stood along the Shwe ta waterway. However, the military was concentrated in the eastern, northern, and southern parts of the moat. In military duty, people of various backgrounds provided services for the needs of the royal authority. However, the openness of the social structure did not divide dwellers by ethnicity or religion in the city in those days, and personal relationships with the sovereign were indispensable. Based on such characteristics, we review Mandalay as an inland port city..."
Creator/author: ISHIKAWA Kazumasa
Source/publisher: The Journal of Sophia Asian Studies, No. 32, 2014... 上智アジア学 第32 号2014 年 目次 ...Burma Studies in Japan: History, Culture and Religion
2014-12-27
Date of entry/update: 2015-09-23
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 665.64 KB
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Description: Abstract: "With the major economic system changes, many new developments are observed in every sector of Myanmar. Urban landscaping is an integral part of modern urban construction and also presents the development of economic conditions. One of the most important factors of urbanization is population size. Urbanization is developed rapidly, based on rural-­‐urban migration and natural growth of cities and towns. As urban area develops changes occur in the landscape such as buildings, roads, recreational sites. etc. Although the country?s population remains largely rural because of Myanmar economy is based on agriculture, urban population growth was faster than spatial growth. Yangon is Myanmar?s largest urban area. However, spatially it grew between 2000 and 2010, increasing at a rate of 0.5% a year, from 370 square kilometers to 390. This paper studies many social (traffic congestion, waste disposal, water problems) and environmental issues (pollution) in urbanization and concludes that long-­‐term solutions to these problems. Therefore this paper presents the structure of urban landscape of some significant features within Myanmar and the controlling factors to this urban landscape. If population growth and urbanization are given sufficient attention in economic policies which must seek to manage for the sustainable future urban landscape of Myanmar.".....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015.
Creator/author: Thin Thin Khaing
Source/publisher: International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015
2015-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2015-08-26
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.21 MB
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Description: Abstract: The cultural heritage buildings give a sense of past and of cultural identity. Those buildings encompassed the historical evidence, artifacts and beliefs. As being a last capital of Myanmar Konbaung Dynasty, there were various kinds of building which are still left out in Mandalay City. Since the City was founded in 1857, the King Mindon intended to be very spacious capital by laying down the systematic town planning. The urbanization is taken placed since that time. Moreover, the study area was experienced by the diverse political systems and is ruled by the different governance. Therefore, the buildings were constructed according to the rulers. In this study the buildings are categorized into 4 groups: religious buildings, institutional buildings, and residential buildings, industrial and commercial buildings. Although the buildings regarding religions and institutions are already recorded by the Government Offices and Archaeology Department, there is lack of record on the commercial or industrial or residential buildings. Nowadays, the urbanization system has been taken place very quickly in the city. The range of pressures facing urban heritage include: population gains propelling rapid, uncontrolled growth and socio-­economic transformations generating functional changes in the city. It caused to renovate or reconstruct the new buildings in the places of previous ones, especially for residential, commercial and industrial buildings. It will affect to lose the ancient architectural style of the buildings and their significance. Therefore, the major aim of this research work is put on to define, to record and to locate as the cultural heritage buildings.".....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015.
Creator/author: Khin Khin Moe
Source/publisher: International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015
2015-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2015-08-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.37 MB
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Description: Abstract: "This report is about urbanism and historical heritage preservation in Yangon, Myanmar. When we look at urbanism, we are as well to view from the perspectives of urban development along with urban planning. The buildings are merely the physical infrastructures for the citizens of Yangon but also the cultural landscape and the history of the place. They have been changing throughout the time along with social and culture values of the local people. To be able to understand fully about the urban development of a certain area, attentive investigation on urban planning is mandatory. Thus, decent urban planning is vital for the positive development. This research report is based on the theories of urbanism, cultural diversity and tangible and intangible cultural heritage but focus mainly on tangible historic architectural buildings conservation. The case study is in the city of Yangon, Myanmar and critical analysis is centered on the Yangon Heritage Trust, the local NGO working on preserving the heritage of the city. The analysis themes are made upon th e benefit and wellbeing of the city dwellers."....Paper delivered at the International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015.
Creator/author: Hay Mann Zaw
Source/publisher: International Conference on Burma/Myanmar Studies: Burma/Myanmar in Transition: Connectivity, Changes and Challenges: University Academic Service Centre (UNISERV), Chiang Mai University, Thailand, 24-­26 July 2015
2015-07-26
Date of entry/update: 2015-08-20
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: Burmese (မြန်မာဘာသာ)
Format : pdf
Size: 404.97 KB
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Description: Overview: "Yangon is an attractive and relatively livable city that is on the brink of dramatic change. If the government of Myanmar continues its recent program of economic and political reform, the economy of the country is likely to take off, and much of the growth will be concentrated in Yangon, Myanmar?s largest city and commercial capital. This paper argues that Yangon is poorly prepared to cope with the pressures of growth because it has only begun to develop a comprehensive land use and development plan for the city that would guide the location of key activities including export-oriented industries and port terminals. In addition, the city lacks the financial resources to finance the infrastructure and other public services required to serve the existing population, let alone support a population that is larger and better off. Failure to address these challenges will not only make Yangon a less livable city but will also reduce the rate of economic growth for the entire country. Myanmar needs a dynamic and vibrant Yangon to thrive."..."...In sum, Yangon and Myanmar appear to be on the verge of explosive growth, making up for decades of stagnation or decline. Yangon is almost certain to become a key engine in the nation?s economic growth as Myanmar?s largest city, commercial capital, most important port and tourist destination, and most logical site for export-oriented manufacturing. But how well Yangon fulfills these roles depends on how well the city is managed. Yangon?s slow growth in the past had a hidden benefit in that it preserved many assets—greenery, parks and open spaces and historic buildings—that other Asian cities lost. As a result, Yangon has an opportunity to avoid becoming another sprawling, polluted and highly congested Asian megacity and grow instead into a greener and more livable metropolis. But it will do so only if it prepares a plan before development threatens to overwhelm it. And the plan will succeed only if it is based on thoughtful and realistic analyses of issues like the location of special economic zones and ports and the provision of affordable housing and quality infrastructure."
Creator/author: José A. Gómez-Ibáñez, Derek Bok, Nguyen Xuan Thanh
Source/publisher: Ash Center, for Democratic Governance and Innovation, Harvard University
2012-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2012-07-08
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: "Chinese influence is growing in Rangoon, but not everyone is happy about it..."
Source/publisher: "The Irrawaddy" Vol. 17, No. 6
2009-09-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-01-19
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: The oft-cited UN Habitat report on the 1989-1990 urban resettlement programme in Burma which the report estimates affected 1.5 million people (16 percent of the urban population). "...During the early months of 1990 international attention was focused on the Yangon squatter clearance and resettlement programme launched by the Government in 1989. The Mission found that the programme is not limited to Yangon, but has broad national coverage. The scale and characteristics of the land-development and other works was considered by the Mission to be of such overwhelming significance to the present and future urban situation that the Mission concentrated its resources on attempting to assemble a comprehensive record of the programme and assessing the impacts and implications. The programme consists of: (a) land development for sites-and- services resettlement schemes, and for complete housing units for public servants; (b) new and improved roads; (c) urban rail transport; (d) road, rail and pedestrian bridges; (e) parks and gardens; (f) redevelopment for commercial and residential uses of sites cleared as a result of resettlement and fires; (g) clean-up campaigns, building renovations, and repainting of facades; and (h) rehabilitation of drains and water bodies. For the size of the overall country population and for an urban population of less than 10 million, the scale of works within the time period allocated is probably unprecedented internationally. Based on visits to selected towns, analysis of maps and layout plans, and the data supplied by GAD and HD, the Mission estimates that the total population affected by the resettlement and new housing components is in the order of 1.5 million, or 4 per cent of the total population, and 16 percent of the urban population. Roughly 50 per cent of this number is in Yangon, Mandalay, Taunggyi and Bago, all centres visited by the Mission..."
Source/publisher: The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)
1991-00-00
Date of entry/update: 2007-01-10
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 2.08 MB
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