Development gap between rural and urban areas must be narrowed as much as possible for development of the country: Senior General

September 17

Efforts must be made for the development of PyinOoLwin area through the tourism industry, said Chairman of the State Administration Council Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing in meeting with members of Mandalay Region and PyinOoLwin Township Administration Councils, departmental personnel and town elders at the township hall of PyinOoLwin yesterday morning.

Mandalay Region Chief Minister U Maung Ko and officials reported on the progress of the social, economic, health and regional development sectors of Mandalay Region.
In his speech, the Senior General said as the infection rate is high in PyinOoLwin District, it has been inserted into the list of stay-at-home programmes since July. Several COVID-19 infected persons hit more than 430,000 on 15 September with a less infection rate than the previous month. PyinOoLwin dubbed as Flower City, Travel City and Education City faced halting of business triggered by infection of the pandemic. Only when the infection rate declines will the restrictions be eased.

As the third wave of the disease was high with the infection rate in June and July, the Senior General himself led the central management measures for taking the preventive, containment and treatment measures in order to control the rapid infection rate and effectively undertake prevention, control and treatment tasks. Consequently, a decline in infection rate can be seen to some extent at present. Hence, supervision and inspection must be done in all sectors. It must be an actual decline but data.

Although the emphasis was placed on the prevention of COVID-19 in the early year, effective measures could not do due to a shortage of health staff. Public service personnel must stay away from party politics and must have knowledge about the difference of staff duties from party politics. Health staff members were invited to re-join the workplaces through announcements.

The State Administration Council especially emphasizes the purchase of vaccines for prevention and control of the disease. Thanks to the earnest efforts of the government, vaccines purchased from foreign countries arrive in Myanmar one batch after another with the plan to complete vaccination for 50 per cent of the total population of the country at the end of this year.

The Senior General called for the implementation of modern agriculture and livestock farming in the Mandalay Region. The whole country has 15 million acres of monsoon paddy to ensure food sufficiency for the 100 million population. Mandalay Region with some 700,000 acres of paddy has 50.30 per cent of food sufficiency for its 6 million population. Hence, it is necessary to widen the scope of farmers to raise the per-acre yield of crops. Only when the region produces regional products, will the region have richness, contributing to the wealth of regions and states and then the country. River water pumping projects must be implemented to irrigate the farmlands. As Mandalay Region implements the solar system, such kind of solar system should be applied in pumping up the water from the rivers. The solar system is crucial for environmental conservation. He called for undertaking systematic agriculture and livestock farms.
The Senior General urged officials to strive for achieving success in the breeding of chicken, pig, goat, cow and fish in the region. The livestock farms must be improved to produce value-added products. It is necessary to consider the ways to distribute milk and dairy products in addition to frozen products to the domestic market as well as foreign market. As Mandalay Region has good potential to successfully engage the breeding of dairy cows, emphasis must be placed on undertaking such a kind of business.

If high quality and nutritious foods can be produced in the region, local people can consume them to have good immunity. If so, shortages of agricultural and livestock products are unacceptable. That is why it is necessary to ensure food sufficiency as the first priority. Moreover, the Seintalone mango of Mandalay and edible oil products are marketable in foreign countries. Hence, efforts should be made for the systematic production of fruits and agricultural products.

The Senior General instructed officials to supervise the decline of commodity prices for the basic foodstuffs caused by unbalanced supply and demand.

It is necessary to consider water sufficiency and utilization, enhancement of education qualification, health facilities and proper public transportation in drawing the urban development projects. The construction of roads must meet international standards. The future plans should comprise electric bus service, electric circular train service and subway service for the people. The current government, temporarily serving the responsibilities, is prioritizing the solving of public difficulties and infection of COVID-19.
The Senior General stressed the need to shape PyinOoLwin as a health city with health care and services based on a green environment. It is necessary to provide aid to local people for manufacturing value-added products via basic agricultural and livestock farms. Then, the Senior General urged them to emphasize systematic farming, effective utilization of lands under the prescribed rules and widening the market for domestic products.

PyinOoLwin is crowded with foreign tourists as it stores green and pleasant flowery plants all year round. Efforts must be made for the development of the PyinOoLwin area through the tourism industry. Road areas must be expanded with clean and neat measures for the visits of travellers.

The Senior General expressed his satisfaction with the improvement of the education sector in PyinOoLwin and Mandalay Region. At a time when the infection rate can be reduced as expected, schools will be reopened. Likewise, plans are underway to enhance the standard of the sports with the upgrade of football grounds and sports fields where selected players can take training.

The development gap between rural and urban areas must be narrowed as much as possible for the development of the country. If efforts can be made to ensure a better economy and the creation of jobs for the rural people, population density can be reduced in the urban area. He called for serving the interests of the State and the region to improve social, economic, health and development tasks of the regions they serve duties.

Later, the Senior General cordially greeted the attendees at the meeting. —MNA