Friday, June 7, 2013

Democratic Voice of Burma

Democratic Voice of Burma

Scaling back the military will be a ‘gradual’ process

Posted: 07 Jun 2013 03:46 AM PDT

At the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Naypyidaw on Thursday, Union Minister Soe Thane said scaling back the military’s stronghold in parliament would be a gradual process.

Burma needs investors with staying power: experts

Posted: 07 Jun 2013 03:28 AM PDT

Burma’s investment suitors should be prepared to commit long term to the rapidly opening nation, experts said, as foreign firms weigh the risks of doing business in the former pariah state.

Reforms in the impoverished Southeast Asian country have stirred intense interest from international business, but observers say the country must repel those chasing a quick buck if it is to avoid falling victim to its own hype.

Burmese businessman Serge Pun said the country was trying to ensure that a first wave of investors would not be subject to extreme risk, but added those with a responsible long-term view would “benefit”.

“If you come in thinking, ‘This is a dangerous place, highly risky. I’d better make my money quick,’ I think you stay home,” he told a conference at the World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia in the capital Naypyidaw.

“Because this is not a dangerous place, this is a place with a lot of potential.”

Foreign firms are now queueing up to enter the country, which is strategically located, has vast natural resources and a largely untapped market with a potential 60 million new consumers.

Big brands such as Coca-Cola, Ford motors and brewer Heineken have all recently announced they are dipping their toes into a country where investment is needed in every sector.

But with its oil and gas reserves, as well as its history of civil unrest and cronyism, experts warn Burma must encourage responsible investment as it looks to avoid the so-called “resource curse” of a natural bounty that fails to benefit ordinary people.

“Myanmar (Burma) is the perfect candidate for the resource curse. It’s more likely, by every indicator… for the resources to be a conflict exacerbating factor than anything else,” said David Harland, of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.

Reforms have widened the web of firms peering into the country, according to Aung Naing Oo, who is responsible for promoting investment in Burma.

He said that in the past resource firms dominated investment interest, but now he sees everyone from hoteliers to manufacturers looking to set up factories for garments, electronics and food processing.

Investors have, however, raised concerns about the legal system and poor infrastructure – road and rail networks need major renovation, electricity is inconsistent and mobile and Internet services are patchy.

A lack of experience among the workforce is also seen as a great challenge, with experts warning that the country has “lost” a generation of young people, the victims of junta policies that weakened the school system.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged the private sector to invest in the skills of young people.

“Corporate responsibility is good business,” she told the forum.

She said she understood firms’ needs to make profits, but added: “They must try to maximise our benefits as well.”

Around a thousand delegates from more than 50 countries are gathered for the three-day conference – a regional edition of the annual gathering of business and political luminaries in the Swiss resort of Davos.

Many of those attending are experiencing the country and its sprawling junta-built capital for the first time.

While some newcomers have expressed astonishment at Naypyidaw’s shabby hotel rooms and gaze disconsolately at BlackBerries rendered redundant by a lack of coverage in the country, others with more grounded expectations have been impressed.

One Korean businessman told AFP that he had been “impressed” that Burma had pulled off such a large international event.

Burma’s dramatic emergence from military rule has astonished the international community, with reforms under a new quasi-civilian government including the release of political prisoners and the welcoming of long-detained Suu Kyi into a fledgling parliament.

Luc de Waegh, founder of Burmese investment advisory firm West Indochina, which has been working in the country for 20 years, described the changes as “close to a miracle”.

But he warned of “unrealistic expectations” that the economic situation will progress at the same speed as sweeping political changes.

“It doesn’t happen like this,” he said.

Relocated villagers decry conditions of new land

Posted: 07 Jun 2013 03:17 AM PDT

While being relocated to make way for a controversial hydropower project in southern Shan state, villagers from Pinlaung township say they've been given inadequate compensation and have access to unsanitary drinking water.

While government officials had made earlier promises guaranteeing the relocated villagers they would be provided with clean water and farmland to ease the transition, locals say officials have done a substandard job.

According to one villager interviewed by DVB, the land they've been relocated on has poor soil that is not fit for farming and residents did not have proper access to drinking water.

"We were promised full electricity and water access at the new location, but there is not enough drinking water – they built a huge drinking water pond there, but the water is very muddy," said the villager.

More than 8,000 villagers from dozens of villages in Taunggyi district's Pinlaung are in the process of being relocated to the hills about a mile west of their original land, which will be inundated with water once the Swiss-backed Upper Paunglaung Hydropower Dam is completed in 2015.

Villages were told to begin relocating to the higher ground last August. Earlier this month, officials warned the remaining villagers to vacate the land and said they would not be held responsible if their houses were flooded.

According to one community leader, residents had not been provided with transportation or assistance during the relocation process.

"Now it's already started raining and we cannot move our household materials to the new location as the roads have been damaged," he said.

Locals were provided compensation equal to the amount of their houses' value upon relocation. However, villagers claim the funds have not covered the costs to construct new houses as materials and labour prices have risen as the new arrivals begin to rebuild their homes.

Villagers had also pleaded with officials to provide them with free electricity, but government officials said such a request would likely not be fulfilled.

"For water supply, we will build water-storage ponds because the new village will be on a hill. But I can't comment on the electricity price," said deputy director general of the Ministry of Energy's Thaung Han, according to a report in the Myanmar Times.

"There is nowhere in the country that receives free electricity."

According to a report published by the Burma Rivers Network, electricity produced by the dam is likely to be sent to the country's capital Naypyidaw and local communities are not likely to receive power from the 140-megawatt project.

Burma’s reforms ‘irreversible’

Posted: 07 Jun 2013 03:13 AM PDT

During a BBC World debate at the World Economic Forum on East Asia in Naypyidaw, President's Office Minister Soe Thane said Burma is on the road to becoming a democratic nation and the changes are irreversible. However, Aung San Suu Kyi said the people's commitment and determination would be responsible for pushing the reform process forward.
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