Irrawaddy

Govt Vows Action After Myanmar Villagers Demand Fertilizer Factory’s Closure Over Pollution

February 2, 2021 by Thiha

YANGON—The chief minister of Yangon Region on Tuesday promised villagers that he would assign two ministers to inspect a fertilizer factory whose closure has been demanded by local residents who say it exposes them to chemical pollutants. Residents of two villages in Yangon’s Twante Township have raised a stink about foul odors from the fertilizer […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: DWRIR, Irrawaddy, Myanmar Villagers, Pollution

$187M Road Planned on Myanmar’s West Coast for ‘Security’ and ‘Development’

December 10, 2018 by Thiha

A coastal road stretching 274 kilometers (170 miles) from Rakhine State’s Thandwe to Gaw Yin Gyi Island in Irrawaddy Region’s Ngapudaw Township will be built at a cost of around 300 billion kyats ($187 million), according to Irrawaddy Region Minister for Finance and Planning U Htay Win. At the instruction of President U Win Myint, […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Bay of Bengal, coastal, deep-sea ports, gas-fired power plants, Gaw Yin Gyi Island, Irrawaddy, Kan Thar Yar Beach, Kyuauk Kyun Bridge, minister for finance and planning, Ngapali Beach, Ngapudaw Township, Pathein Bridge, Rakhine State, region, Shwe Thaung Yan Bridge, Thandwe

Army Shutters Myawaddy Checkpoint in Clampdown on Auto Smuggling

April 3, 2018 by Thiha

Two Border Guard Force (BGF) soldiers refused The Irrawaddy permission to approach a border crossing between Myawaddy and Mae Sot, Thailand on foot on Monday, saying the area was closed. The closure reportedly followed efforts by the army to clamp down on vehicle smuggling across the Thai border. According to Kyaw Than, an automobile trader […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: an automobile trader, BGF, BGF leaders, BGF soldiers, BGF spokesperson, black market cars, cheap cars travel, Irrawaddy, Irrawaddy reporter, Japan, Kyaw Than, Mae Sot, Moei River, Myanmar Army, Myanmar laborers, Myawaddy, Myawaddy Checkpoint, Naing Maung Zaw, Payment, Ports, second-hand vehicles, stolen cars, Thai seller, Thailand, two border checkpoints, Two Border Guard Force

DCA deploys budget, invites tenders to jazz up airports, aviation

November 10, 2017 by thiha

High costs and a lack of travelers passing through some of Myanmar’s airports has resulted in at least four of the country’s ten airlines bypassing those locations altogether. Consequently, as many as eight airports have ceased operations in recent years, accounting for a quarter of Myanmar’s 32 domestic airports. Five out of the eight shuttered […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: : Myanmar National Airlines (MNA), Air Kanbawza, Aneesakan airport, ATR-72 aircrafts, Changi Airports International, Chin State, Coco Island airport, Daw Aye Mra Tha, Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), former World War II airport, Hanthawaddy Airport, Heho Airport, Hpa-an airport, Incheon International Airport Corporation, Irrawaddy, JGC Corporation, Kayin, Magwe airport, mandalay, Myanmar flight information region (FIR), Nay Pyi Taw International Airport, Nyaung U Airport, Pathein Airport, public private partnerships (PPP), Shan State, South Korea, U Ye Htut Aung, Yangon, Yongnam Holdings

Inside myanmar’s incendiary and illegal charcoal trade

November 9, 2017 by Thiha

A year-long investigation into the multi-million-dollar charcoal market and how it moves from the villages of Myanmar into Chinese smelters. A trader turns off his truck’s engine at yet another checkpoint and, again, the soldiers ask him for cash. His truck is filled with charcoal from Myanmar, destined for factories in China’s mountainous southwest province […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: beauty salon, Bhamo upstream, British colonialists, British Empire, Cargo, Ceylon oak, charcoal business, charcoal market, Chau sa Kakan, China, Chinese non-governmental organization, Chinese smelters, cross-border charcoal trade, Dehong Commission of Industry and Information Technology, Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, director of the Natural Forests and Plantations Division, domestic tourist industry, high-grade silicon metal, illegal charcoal trade, Illegal Timber Trade, India, Irrawaddy, Irrawaddy River, Kachin Army, Kachin State, Katha, mandalay, Military, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mongabay documents, Myanmar, Myanmar Government, Myanmar's riverside villages, MYANMAR'S VILLAGE-MADE CHARCOAL, Myanmar’s Forest Department, pale green bags, rainy season, rosewood trees, silicon chips, silicon metal, Solar panels, Tianjin Binhai Environmental Advisory Service Center, Traders, U Kyaw Zaw, Yunnan, Zinlum

World Bank Arm Defends Mandalay Cement Factory Project Amid Civil Society Opposition

July 3, 2017 by Thiha

Following an open letter sent to the World Bank’s President Jim Kim by a coalition of community-based organizations opposing a proposed plan to support the expansion of a cement plant in Mandalay Region and the coal mine that fuels it, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) maintains that the project is worthwhile. The open letter was […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Burma’s banking industry, Civil society groups, coal mine, coal projects, controversial palm oil project, Dinant Corporation’s plantation project, Earth Rights International, Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, ERI, ERM, ESIA, financial backing, IFC, IFC’s water mangement plan, Irrawaddy, Kachin State, Karen activist Ka Hsaw Wa, Karen Environment and Social Action Network, KDNG, KESAN, Mandalay Cement Factory Project Amid Civil Society Opposition, Mandalay Region, military forces, Myanmar, Myanmar civil society, Myitkiyna, NGO, Sagaing Division, Shwe Taung Cement Company, Shwe Taung Group chairman Aik Htun, Sino-Burmese tycoon, STC, The Asia Wealth Bank, The International Finance Corporation, the Kachin Development Networking Group, the Shwe Taung Cement Factory, the UK-based Environmental Resource Management, the World Bank’s President Jim Kim, US authorities, US oil, Vikram Kumar, WASHINGTON, World Bank Arm, World Bank chief Jim Kim, World Bank coal-screening criteria

Myanmar’s toxic legacy of large dams

March 22, 2017 by Thiha

The country’s first strategic environmental review provides a chance to demand more from investors and dam builders, but is still being seen as too little, and leading to fierce resistance by marginalised communities. In September spectacular drone footage revealed the beauty of the waterfalls, rapids, ancient temples and islets of the Nam Pang River, a […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Aung Myint, aung san suu kyi, Bago, builder, Burma River, China, country, developer, gas, Hatgyi, Himalayan, hydropower, IFC, investor, Irrawaddy, Kachin, Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN), Kun Hing, Kunlong EIA, Ministry of Energy and Electricity, Mong Ton Dam, Myanmar Centre, Myanmar’s toxic, myint sone, Nam Pang River, oil, Renewable Energy Association of Myanmar (REAM), Saw Tha Phoe, Southe east Aisa, strategic environmental assessment (SEA), Thailand, Thein Sein, Vicky Bowman, village

POSCO Daewoo launches agribusiness in Myanmar

January 24, 2017 by Thiha

POSCO Daewoo is launching an agribusiness venture in Myanmar as the company’s future growth engine. According to a POSCO Daewoo official, Sunday, Korea’s largest trading affiliate under POSCO group has secured construction and investment approval from the Myanmar government to build a rice processing complex (RPC) in Twante, the most accessible delta town from Yangon […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: China, Daewoo, gas, Indonesia, infrastructure, Irrawaddy, korea, Myanmar, oil, POSCO, rice processing complex (RPC), trader, Twante

Dollar Exchange Rate Climbs, Shakes Up Burma’s Business Community

November 23, 2016 by thiha

RANGOON — The US dollar exchange rate—at its highest since the new government came to power in April—has Burma’s business community looking for better trade policy. “In the black market, the exchange rate is currently 1306 kyats [US$1] per dollar; it’s too high for importers. If the import demand increases, it could impact the prices […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Burma, central bank, China, Commerce Industry, Irrawaddy, Rangoon, The Central Bank of Myanmar, U Khin Maung Nyo, U Ye Min Aung, U Zaw Min, Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers

Myanmar pushes for more hydropower projects

August 16, 2016 by thiha

NAY PYI TAW, YANGON – The Ministry of Electric Power reiterated the necessity of hydropower projects, citing an increase in power demand. Htein Lwin, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Electric Power, said during the press conference to mark the government’s first 100 days in power in Nay Pyi Taw that there is a need that Myanmar […]