10 May
The Office of the Union Auditor-General, Ministry of Border Affairs and Ministry of Electricity and Energy jointly held a press conference on their undertakings in third one-year period of the government at the Ministry of Information in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday.
The press conference began with an opening address by Union Minister for Information Dr. Pe Myint.
Office of the Union Auditor-General
Afterwards, Union Auditor-General U Maw Than said there are 15,434 specific areas of auditing of 388 offices in total to have their accounts audited by the Office of the Union Auditor General and its auditing teams.
A report on findings of the Office of the Auditor General for 2017-2018 fiscal year was submitted to the President and the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw on 30 January 2019 and the report is currently reviewed by the Public Joint Account Committee of the Hluttaw before submitting it to the Hluttaw.
In the third one-year period, the Office of the Auditor General gave its remarks over the issues sent by 213 letters from the governmental entities.
Systematic development of regional development works were supported by submitting annual reports up to fiscal year 2017-2018.
Strategic Work Program (2018-2022) was drawn up to implement the aims of Union Auditor General Office. 2018 and 2019 yearly action plans of Strategic Work Program were being drawn up and implemented.
To complying with the international auditing norms, the Office of the Auditor General signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation with Norway Office of the Auditor General as well as cooperating with ADB (Asian Development Bank), World Bank, German development agency GIZ and EU (European Union) towards the emergence of international norms based handbooks and guidelines, to conduct effective auditing, according to enactments in the Union Auditor General Law and to raise the capacity of staffs.
To implement the aims of Union Auditor General Office, the office also drew the Action Plan for 2018-2019. As per the Action Plan handbook on ISSAI based norms followed by international audit offices were drawn up, workshops held, Pilot Audit conducted and attended workshops and meetings conducted by ASEANSAI, ASOSAI and INTOSAI.
The office also conducted basic account and office work courses in Nay Pyi Taw and four state/region audit offices to provide account knowledge service for personnel in other ministries and organisations. Mid and higher level accounting course was held in Nay Pyi Taw. Accountancy Diploma Grade 1 and Grade 2 courses were conducted by Myanmar Accountancy Council in Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon and were producing more than a thousand personnel every year. Certified Public Accountant Part 1 and Part 2 courses were conducted in Yangon producing more than 300 personnel every year.
One of the achievement of the Office of the Auditor General is that the law amending the Myanmar Accountancy Council Law-2015 was enacted on 30 January 2019.
Ministry of Border Affairs
Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Border Affairs U Sai Tun Nyo said the Ministry of Border Affairs was established to ensure there was no lapse in the border and ethnic development of the various regions of Myanmar.
The policies include (a) stability of border areas (b) development of border areas (c) development of socioeconomic life of people living in border areas and (d) development of human-resources of ethnic people residing in border areas.
These include projects such as: building infrastructures and roads/bridges, improving access to safe and clean water, increase access and quality of healthcare available in the area, provide electricity through power line, solar power and engines. The ministry also brings food and other resources such as affordable low-cost housing to IDPs, and armed groups who signed ceasefire with the government.
Achievements in road construction
The ministry has completed up to 608 miles of roads, 191 bridges (including 11 big bridges), 183 box culvert, 29 basic education schools, 4 health centers, 30 drinkable water stations, 99 miles of clean water distribution pipes, 2 transformers, 1735 solar lights, 31 miles of electric cables and 8 hydro stations.
There is one for instance in Kachin State, Putao Khaunglanphu area which took 12 days of trekking to reach. Food often doesn’t reach there by ground transport and the ministry has to support food supply with airlifts.
Collaboration with foreign countries
Regarding the cooperation with foreign organizations, he said there are two bilateral cooperation projects, 11 projects with INGOs, and of the, the Education for Peace and Development-EPD is jointly implemented by the Nippon Foundation of Japan.
Education and Training
The Education and Training Department was founded on 30th June, 1999, with two main aims: to educate ethnic people residing in border areas through basic and tertiary education along with vocational training and improve human resources of people in the area. There is the Education and Training Department headquarters, University for Development of National Races in Sagaing, two degree colleges for ethnic youth in Yangon and Sagaing, one central training school, 45 border youth development training centers, 9 mechanical schools and 5- women’s vocational training schools.
The Ministry of Education have employed more than 10000 students as high school teachers after they have graduated from the degree school. They are employed at 15 relevant ministries along with State/Regional development councils as government employees. The vocational training centers have also produced 1378 graduates that are now working in car repair shops, bike service centers, welding shops and electricity companies. For women, up to 21955 graduates were surveyed to have found jobs and are now working at private garment factories. Certificates are also given along with help in finding employment in Yangon. For instance, 29 garment factories have signed graduates from these schools to work for them. The Pathein and Pakokku training centers for hospitality and tourism also opened December 2017 and has trained up to 387 students.
The Education and Training Department has taken recommendations from the Ministry to keep working on capacity building in the ethnic youth community to help develop the resources of the state and benefit the region as a whole.
Ministry of Electricity and Energy
Regarding the accomplishments of the Ministry of Electricity and Energy in its third-year term, Permanent Secretary of the ministry U Tin Maung Oo said only 44 percent of the whole of Myanmar have access to a power grid. MOEE aims to increase this number to 55 percent in 2020-2021, up to 75 percent for 2025-2026 and 100 percent by the year 2030-2031.
The ministry has increased the output by 12 percent from the previous year. During the current administration’s first year in office, the ministry also increased output by 13 percent compared to the previous.
The permanent secretary is working under the National Electrification Plan-NEP, and about 55 per cent of the country’s total households are targeted to get access to electricity in 2021, 75 per cent in 2026 and 100 per cent in 2030.
Within a year, the administration was able to provide nine towns including 2440 villages (0.52 million of households) with electricity.
The electrification coverage rate has reached 54% with 34146 of 63277 villages, he said.
Achievements in oil and gas sector
The ministry’s Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise has been able to explore to 23 wells within a year on-shore and joint venture companies 17 wells totalling 49 wells.
The wells drilled in the third year period produced 2.31 million barrels of crude oil and 19.019 million of cubic feet of natural gas. The MOGE produced 3.32 million barrels of crude oil and 623,838 cubit ft million of natural gas in the past year.
After the statements of the three ministries, journalists raised questions and the officials replied. —MNA
