Parliament calls for nuclear energy to cope with chronic power shortage
The Public Affairs Committee of the Union Parliament last week urged the government to generate nuclear-powered electricity to supply sufficiently throughout the country, local media reported.
Myanmar set to name offshore winners
The Myanmar government will announce the winners bidding for 30 new energy exploration offshore blocks this month, a senior Energy Ministry has said. “'We are nearly at 100 percent evaluation of the 2013 offshore bidding round and will announce the results in February,”' Win Maw, the deputy director general of planning, told Platts, a US-based energy analyst firm. But the official said contracts on production sharing with the bid winners could take months before they are ready for signing, it added. Myanmar has three offshore fields – Yadana, Yetagun and Shwe.
Myanmar imports 90pc of medicine requirements
Myanmar has to import 90 percent of the medicine required for its population of over 60 million, the Kumudra Journal reported, citing officials. No foreign investor has shown interest in manufacturing medicines in the country.
Marubeni Corp plans to build fertiliser factory in Myanmar
Marubeni Corp, one of Japan’s largest trading firms, has planned to expand its businesses in Myanmar including construction of a chemical fertiliser factory, local media reported. A team led by Tetsuro Terasaka, general manager at Marubeni’s representative office in Yangon, reportedly met with Win Tun, union minister for Environmental Conservation and Forestry, and Aung Naing Oo, director general at the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, in Nay Pyi Taw recently.
India to Assist in Mandalay refinery upgrade
Mandalay’s Manntanpayarkan oil refinery will be upgraded with aid from India and will produce 92 Ron (unleaded gasoline), a Myanma Petrochemical Enterprise source was quoted as saying in local media. Myanmar has two more oil refineries besides Manntanpayarkan – Thanlyin and Chauk.
Myanmar to send workers to Taiwan
Officials from Myanmar and Taiwan are talking about permitting Myanmar workers to move to Taiwan’s manufacturing sector, local media reported, citing senior officials from the Federation of Myanmar Overseas Employment Agencies. If all goes well, workers from Myanmar will be sent to Taiwan after May, the report added.
Myanmar to import minicars through border gates
Myanmar will soon allow imports of minicars, which have less than 1,000cc engine power, through border gates, local media reported Commerce Minister Win Myint as saying in Tamu Town, on Indian Border, recently.
GIZ to assist Myanmar banks
The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) will assist three Myanmar private banks in terms of financial techniques for the development of country’s small and medium-sized enterprises. Under the government to government aid program, GIZ will provide the financial techniques to Small and Medium Enterprises Development Bank, Kanbawza Bank and Yoma Bank. The aid program will run from March 2014 to September 2015.
India, Myanmar, Thailand road project at feasibility stage
A feasibility report is being prepared for the proposed highway to connect India with neighbouring Myanmar and Thailand, an Indian minister said. “Presently, projects are at feasibility-report stage,” Minister of State for Road, Transport and Highways, Sarvey Sathyanarayana, told the Indian parliament, Indian media reported. “India agreed to undertake upgradation of the Kalewa-Yagyi section of trilateral highway and construction of 71 bridges in the Tamu-Kalea section,” Sathyanarayana said.
