As the country needs the educated human resources in building the Union based on democracy and federalism without fail, regions and states with weak education should encourage academic matters, said Chairman of the State Administration Council Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing at the meeting 2/2021 of the Union Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar at the office of State Administration Council Chairman yesterday afternoon.
In his address, the Senior General said it is necessary to prioritize food sufficiency. The number of producers of foodstuffs accounts for 70 per cent in the country. The products made of agriculture and livestock earn the largest amount of foreign exchange.
The Senior General stressed the need for region and state chief ministers to emphasize rural development, enhancement of rural economy and state development in line with the policies of the State.
It is estimated that more than seven million people have learned high school education across the nation according to the census collected in 2019. Hence, it is necessary to prioritize the encouragement of education. “Only when the people have the school education, will they have the knowledge and then technologies.” There is 8.1 per cent of the people who do not have the experiences of learning the school education. In accord with the age-wise terms, the number of students is on the increase in learning primary education but the number is down from middle school education to higher education. Region and state governments need to emphasize the enhancement of education for the rural people.
Plans are underway to establish institutes of livestock and agriculture and then college institutions in all regions and states. If necessary, the university of these subjects will be opened in order to improve the rural agriculture and livestock tasks for the uplift of the living standard of the rural people.
With regard to the fertilizer requirements at home, the Senior General said that there are five fertilizer plants at home. Of them, two plants cannot be run and then the rest three are in operation. The plants in Kyawswa, Myaungtagar and Pathein are manufacturing fertilizers.
The plant in Kyawswa came to a halt for the natural gas problem. Now, efforts are being made to resume its production. Even though this plant will produce the fertilizers with full capacity, it will produce some 300,000 tonnes of fertilizers per year. There are three fertilizer plants. And, 15 million acres of land is under monsoon paddy, three million under summer paddy, and then maize, sesame and cotton and so on. For example, 11 million acres of monsoon paddy are grown along Ayeyawady and Chindwin River banks in addition to more than 2 million acres of summer paddy, more than 400,000 acres of maize, 9 million acres of pulses and beans, over 6 million acres of edible oil crops and over 800,000 acres of industrial crops. Totally, some 30 million acres of crops are grown along the banks of two rivers. If we supply fertilizer to these crops, the volume will be tremendous. You look at the fertilizers imported last three years. Some 1.5 million tonnes of urea and compound fertilizers were imported per year. It cost some US$280 million. This year, the price will double. It will be some US$560 million. As we can produce fertilizers from three State-owned plants which produce 300,000 tonnes, we import 1.5 million tonnes of fertilizers. I mean we have requirements for the production of fertilizers. Its production is based on natural gas. So, we need to produce urea fertilizer plants.”
The Senior General stressed the need to implement river water pumping projects for the supply of adequate water to the farmlands near the water sources and efficiently use the irrigated water to achieve success in agricultural projects.
The country generates electricity through hydropower, wind power and solar power. Region and state chief ministers need to operate small and medium-scale electricity generation projects depending on the situation. He also pointed out the efficient use of natural gas under the energy policy and systematic use of coal. In addition, it is necessary to manufacture cement as well as advanced bricks for construction projects of the State.
Based on a cooperative system, efforts must be made for the development of the rural area. Moreover, it is necessary to gather the raw materials at home and produce export quality products. The Senior General also stressed the need to improve motor roads and railways for the development of public transport.
Regarding the adequate production of cement and iron rods at home, the Senior General said that there are 19 cement plants—16 private-owned plants and three State-owned ones. They can produce 16.17 million tonnes of cement at full capacity. Some plants can produce it in a dry process and some in, wet process. Actually, Myanmar is skilful in the production of dry processes. So, cement plants need to be transformed to produce the stocks in the dry method. So, the government will disburse the loan to these projects. We will loan foreign exchange for the purchase of materials abroad. It must be under the work procedures. Encouragement must be given to produce cement at home. In the collection of data, we can produce 16 million tonnes of cement and consume 10-11 million tonnes. I mean it is sufficient to use cement. It is nothing to import cement. But some said they imported cement is quality one. So, we have to improve the quality of cement at home. Our products must meet the standards of EU, UK, US, China and Japan. Our plants need to set aims to meet these standards. If not, the plants must be closed. Otherwise, our products will not be quality. So, I instructed region and state chief ministers to inspect cement plants in their regions such as Shan State and Mandalay Region as well as Nay Pyi Taw Council Area. And then, these plants must produce the products under the policy. If so, the import volume of cement will decline. And, we need to drop the import volume to zero. Moreover, we have iron materials to be used in the production of steel materials. Such a kind of production can rely on some sites on a commercial scale for many years. Iron rods are imported. So, I encourage the construction of steel mills. We should not be satisfied with the production of small iron rods. We need to produce various sizes of iron rods such as H beam and I beam for the construction of bridges. It is a must. If we don’t use raw materials at home and import all kinds of stocks, the country will be poor. So, we are making efforts for an adequate volume of cement. We invite anyone at home and abroad to establish new fertilizer plants. We will coordinate the supply of natural gas and electricity as main inputs for the production of fertilizers. Moreover, if we can generate electricity from renewable energy and reduce the consumption of natural gas and supply it to plants, the project will succeed. So, we need to consider it but there are no easy ways for the projects. We need to keep the concept of how to develop the nation in mind. So, we have adopted an energy policy. I’d like to highlight the steel. We will encourage the establishment of steel mills like fertilizer plants. We pledge to provide necessary assistance for any local and foreign businesspersons for operating the steel mills.”
The Senior General stressed the need to reduce local edible oil and fuel consumption to increase the trade surplus income.
In respect of the transport sector, the Senior General said: “We need to encourage public transport. Efforts must be made to use trains, circular train and bus lines. So, I have ordered them to resume rail transportation with losses. I arrange the running of trains even though destructionists commit the sabotages. And, I order to upgrade the railways as it is beneficial for the State but unbeneficial for the economy. We need to encourage public transport. If we transform public transport to electric ones, the benefit will be greater. So, I urge all to generate electricity. The plan must be implemented to operate the electric trains across the nation. Circular trains must be run along the circular railways. All the vehicles must be electric ones in the urban area. So, we review such a policy. Upon completion, we will declare that steps of implementing the electric car for private cars must be implemented yearly. Heavy machinery and vehicles may be transformed into electric ones. We will observe the technical know-how similar to other countries. Private cars and buses can be transformed into new ones. We will adopt the plans to transform these vehicles into electric ones. If not, our country will lag behind the development of others. The country will be poor for the value of the fuel.”
The Senior General also gave guidance to reduce the import of foodstuff and personal goods as much as possible and urged all to produce these products at home.
He also stressed the need to cultivate cotton plants to meet the standard of yielding products from the international community. So, cooperation is being conducted with foreign countries to improve the techniques of growing cotton plants.
It is necessary to implement the politically adopted policies and enhance the economy and enforce the disciplines. If the economy of rural people can be uplifted, the country will have economic development. As the country needs the educated human resources in building the Union based on democracy and federalism without fail, regions and states with weak education should encourage academic matters. Only when the people have high education, will they have knowledge and techniques and understand the democracy as well as Union level and Union spirit.
The Union ministers submitted their reports and sought approvals.
The country generates electricity through hydropower, wind power and solar power. Region and state chief ministers need to operate small and medium-scale electricity generation projects depending on the situation. He also pointed out the efficient use of natural gas under the energy policy and systematic use of coal. In addition, it is necessary to manufacture cement as well as advanced bricks for construction projects of the State.
In his concluding remarks, the Senior General stressed the need to appoint the full strength of teachers at basic education schools. The Ministry of Education needs to turn out qualified education staff.
He stressed the need to produce economists and legal experts as well as agriculturists to the enhancement of the rural economy. Those who studied modern techniques abroad must be deployed in the correct positions.
Based on a cooperative system, efforts must be made for the development of the rural area. Moreover, it is necessary to gather the raw materials at home and produce export quality products. The Senior General also stressed the need to improve motor roads and railways for the development of public transport.
Efforts must be made to stabilize the economy in order to firm the value of Myanmar currency. Arrangements are being made to control the currency value in order to stabilize the banking system as much as possible. Ministries need to supervise the tasks with farsightedness.—MNA
