27 November

Vice President U Henry Van Thio, who is the Chairman of the National Water Resources Committee (NWRC) attended and addressed the NWRC coordination meeting 3/2019 held at Ministry of Transport and Communication meeting hall in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday morning.

The meeting was attended byUnion Ministers U Thant Sin Maung, U Ohn Win and U Win Khaing, Deputy Ministers U Tin Myint, U Kyaw Myo and U Soe Aung, NWRC members, Permanent Secretaries, directors general, advisory group members, experts and officials.

In addressing the meeting the Vice President said that after NWRC was formed coordination meetings were held to develop water and related sectors, effectively manage and use water resources, support effective and beneficial cooperation with international organizations and coordinating on future works and this was the eleventh such meeting.

Through the coordination meetings coordination works between water related ministerial departments and organizations, effective coordination in implementing the committee’s work processes and resolution of water related problems were conducted.

Kayin, Mon and Taninthayi were the states and regions where flooding and inundation occurs during 2018. Short, mid and long term programs were observed to be drawn up and implemented by committees to mitigate flooding and inundation formed in these states and regions. In this monsoon season, Kayin, Mon and Taninthayi faces flooding and inundation again while a landslide occurred in Mon State Paung Township.The Netherlands was contacted through bilateral joint coordinating committee for assistance on flooding and inundation and in mid-September a Disaster Risk Reduction Team consisting of experts from the Netherlands came and conducted a study in Kayin and Mon states where natural disasters were encountered. A report will be sent by the study team and once this was received, it’ll be distributed to related state/region governments and ministerial departments.

“Now that the rainy season is over, there’s a likelihood of shortfalls in potable and irrigation waters, and ministerial departments and organizations are to cooperate with state and regional government departments to make preparations”. To mitigate the long term water shortfall problem, immediate short terms as well as long term solutions were to be drawn up, submitted and conducted. Coordination were to be conducted to provide potable and irrigation water, generate electricity, mitigate flooding and inundation and preserve the natural environment through dams and reservoirs.

Laws, rules, orders and notices were made to prevent and mitigate contamination of water resources from extraction of natural resources. It was an important work for relevant ministerial departments and organizations to place great emphasis on ensuring that these laws, rules, orders and notices were abided by. The momentum of annual monsoon tree planting work wasto be increased yearly for greening gem producing regions and to preserve the natural environment.

NWRC and water related ministerial departments and organizations were enthusiastically conducting works for water sector development and were participating in the best way in international and regional cooperation works.

NWRC and water related ministerial departments and organizations cooperating and working together with international and regional organizations for water sector development. The projects and studies conducted need to be truly effective and beneficial to our country and the majority of the people. Necessary coordination between related ministerial departments and organizations were to be conducted.

Massive amount of funds were used annually by the State for development in water as well as in all sectors and the effective usage of the funds need to be systematically managed according to laws, financial regulations, instructions and guidelines.

Emphasis must be placed toward drawing up in a timely manner the National Water Law that was interconnected to prevailing laws and rules. Requirements and coordination required between ministerial departments and organizations were to be discussed openly.

Committee members and representatives from ministerial departments and organizations were to discuss and suggest on conducting water related works, cooperating with international organizations and coordinating with ministerial departments and organizations.Relevant ministerial departments and organizations were required to successfully implement an all-round water resource management system that was beneficial for the country and the people and to successfully implement the duty and responsibility and future work processes of the committee, said the Vice President.

Next, committee Vice Chairman Union Minister for Transport and Communications U Thant Sin Maung explained about drawing up National Water Law, preparation status for overcoming water shortfall and maintenance of waterways.

Afterwards committee joint secretary Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems acting Director-General U Win Hlaing explained about works conducted by the committee and implementation of decisions made at NWRC coordination meeting 2/2019.

The meeting came to a close with concluding remarks by the Vice President. —MNA (Translated by Zaw Min)