Union Ministers inspect rehabilitation processes in Rakhine State

 

June 07

 

Union Minister for Border Affairs Lt-Gen Tun Tun Naung, accompanied by Union Ministers U Myo Thant and Dr Thet Thet Khine and Rakhine State Chief Minister U Htein Lin inspected collective cleanup activities, maintenance along the Sittway beach, sawing logs at sawmills and unloading processes of relief items at jetties in Sittway Township of Rakhine State yesterday.

 

First, the Union minister and party inspected cleanup activities conducted by over 500 people including members of the Myanmar Police Force, Fire Brigade, departmental staff and locals along the Sittway strand road and beach.

 

Then, they oversaw the maintenance of concrete roads, platforms and stone retaining walls with adequate manpower and machines conducted by the Sittway District Road Department of the Ministry of Construction along the strand road of Sittway.

 

On arrival at sawmills near the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project and they gave proper instructions regarding sawing logs into timber to be used in repairing storm-affected buildings.

 

Construction materials are allotted to repair the destroyed school buildings, hospitals and religious buildings and provided to the public. Moreover, logs of teak to be sawn are also transported by boats and vessels to sawmills in Sittway and distributed to the respective regions. A total of 1,897 tonnes of teak — 644 tonnes of finished teak and 1,253 tonnes of unfinished teak arrived in Sittway to date and 730.95 tonnes of teak were distributed to the respective areas.

 

Furthermore, the Union minister and party also checked the loading processes of relief items and supplies onto boats and vessels from MCL-3 and MCL-5 ships docked at Sittway Port and Charities ship docked at Phaungtawgyi jetty of Myanma Port Authority.

 

Then, they proceeded to the Rakhine State government office and gave instructions to immediately distribute paddle-operated and battery-powered water purifiers donated by the AHA Centre.

 

At noon, they attended the donation ceremony for rehabilitation of Mocha-hit areas held at the Rakhine State government office and received a total of 42.5 million cash donations and 2,000 CI sheets.

 

To electrify Sittway other towns in the northern part of Rakhine State, 16 groups including 581 staff and 62 units of machinery are employed to repair the 230 kV power cable and 66 kV power cable while there are 15 groups — 14 groups including 642 staff and 36 kinds of machinery and one private company group for the maintenance of downtown power cables.

 

The maintenance of the 230 kV power cable is completed by 93 per cent for the An-MraukU-Ponnagyun section while 100 per cent for the 66 kV power cable of the Ponnagyun-Sittway section. Therefore, the electricity will be transmitted to Sittway soon.

 

The maintenance of 11 kV and 400 V power cables is 94.45 per cent finished in Sittway, 99 per cent in Kyauktaw and 100 per cent in Ponnagyun, Pauktaw, Rathedaung, MraukU, Minbya, Myebon, Maungtaw and Buthidaung townships. All these townships will have access to electricity in the first week of July.

 

In addition, the Ministry of Border Affairs and the Ministry of Cooperatives and Rural Development also supply clean drinking water to storm-affected areas of Rakhine State using mobile water trucks, water purifiers and mobile solar-powered water purifiers.

 

Three mobile water purifiers have been distributed to Sittway while two to Rathedaung and one to Minbya township and three more mobile water purifiers will be allotted to Kyauktaw, Ponnagyun and MraukU townships.

 

Similarly, a total of 210 Life Straw water purifiers that can purify about three gallons of water per hour have also been distributed to 143 villages in Sittway, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung, Kyauktaw, Minbya, MraukU, Buthidaung, Maungtaw and Myebon townships. One water purifier can purify water for 100 people a day.

 

Moreover, officials purify water using three solar-powered water purifiers that pump water from ponds in the wards of Sittway township. Such water purifiers can purify about 300 gallons of water per hour. Seventeen more solar-powered water purifiers will be distributed to the storm-hit villages.

 

The Ministry of Cooperatives and Rural Development also arranged saltwater pumping activities at the lakes of Rakhine State. Operations are underway at 222 lakes in Ponnagyun, Pauktaw, Rathedaung, MraukU, Kyauktaw, Minbya, Myebon and Sittway townships and 142 lakes are completed while 19 lakes are in operation and 61 lakes remain.

 

Furthermore, the relief and rehabilitation-related materials are transported to Rakhine State by Tatmadaw vessels and planes. Between 15 May and 5 June, the Tatmadaw planes transported 381.928 tonnes of materials 114 times, Tatmadaw vessels for 11 times and private vessels nine times, totalling 16,298.6 tonnes. These materials are also transported to disaster-hit areas by Tatmadaw vessels 17 times with 815.24 tonnes while 1,487.63 tonnes by trucks and vessels of inland water transport. — MNA/KTZH