AN awareness seminar was held on the importance and applicability of earthquake-resistant construction steels in post-earthquake reconstruction at the Myanmar Engineering Council’s office in Lanmadaw Township, Yangon Region, on 28 June.
At the seminar, Union Minister for Industry Dr Charlie Than first said that the process is underway to establish three standards for steel as mandatory standards. Using an average of one million tonnes of iron and steel for construction in Myanmar annually, the domestic production of iron and steel is only over 200,000 tonnes per year, about 800,000 tonnes are imported from abroad, there is a need to strictly inspect the quality and standards of iron and steel to produce domestically as well as iron and steel imported from abroad. He stressed the production of iron and steel for construction to meet the standards and have good quality.
The Myanmar Engineering Council chairman then delivered a welcoming speech, while the Myanmar Iron and Steel Association chairman and rector of the Hmawby Technological University delivered a lecture on the topic of knowledge of iron and steel standards. Similarly, the Vice-Chair of the Myanmar Steel Industry Association gave a talk on the inclusion and usability of earthquake-resistant construction-grade steel in post-earthquake reconstruction efforts, pathways towards more reliable steel, and upgrading domestic factories to enable the production of earthquake-resistant construction materials.
The director-general of the Department of Industrial Supervision and Inspection gave a talk about “Quality Production of Steel Bars under the Law”. The director-general of the No 1 Heavy Industries Enterprise gave a talk on “Myanmar Standard Specification related to detailed standards for plain carbon steel bars and deformed carbon steel bars for reinforced concrete (MM ASTM A615/A615M – 18).” The professor and dean of the Department of Civil Engineering, Sagaing University of Technology, gave a talk on “Importance of Steel Bars for Construction Projects”.
The deputy director of the Department of Marine Administration gave a talk on the topic of “The Role of Earthquake-Resistant Steel”, and deputy general managers of No 1 Heavy Industries Enterprise discussed the inspection of iron smelting plants and the quality inspection of iron and steel produced. The attendees asked questions, and the officials of each sector answered them. The Myanmar Engineering Council chairman made a concluding speech.
The seminar was attended by Yangon City Development Committee Chairman Mayor U Bo Htay along with departmental officials, patron, chair and executive members of the Myanmar Engineering Council, engineers certified by the Myanmar Engineering Council, and iron and steel manufacturing entrepreneurs.
In the afternoon, the Union minister inspected the original chemical laboratory being built in the research institute compound in Insein Township and instructed officials to make arrangements for the fastest testing of chemical substances, to improve the capabilities of the staff who will test chemical substances, and to systematically formulate the plans for the future work of the laboratory with inspecting the equipment installed to detect microorganisms.
Afterwards, the Union minister inspected the production of medicine bottles in a government-private partnership at the Insein Pharmaceutical Factory. — MNA/MKKS
