22 August

THE 14th-day meeting of the Second Pyidaungsu Hluttaw’s 13th regular session convened yesterday.

Firstly, the Speaker read the appointment of Colonel Min Than as Minister of Security and Border Affairs of Rakhine State, sent from the President’s Office, and announced the matter has been put on record.

Hluttaw hears national planning & union budget bills
Next, Joint Bill Committee member U Zaw Win read their report and comments concerning the National Planning Bill for 2019-2020 FY. He said the report was based on the findings of 20 joint scrutinizing groups and the Joint Public Accounts Committee and focuses on national projects and investment proposals. The Speaker called for MPs interested in discussing the bill to enrol their names.

Following this, another Joint Bill Committee member, U Nay Myo Tun read their report and comments concerning the Union Budget Bill for 2019-2020 FY.

Joint Public Accounts Committee Chairman U Aung Min then said the revenue received in advance for this financial year has increased by K101,447,000 million and estimated expenditure is slated to be decreased by K418,074.648 million. He requested for the Hluttaw to give its approval.

Speaker provides guidance for effective debate
The Speaker then announced that discussion and submitting proposals to amend the National Planning Bill and Union Budget Bill for 2019-2020 FY will take place on 28 August. He said the capital expenditure amount requested in the budget bill corresponds to the project value accompanying the National Planning Bill and the amount reduced from the two is the same in both reports.

The Speaker said MPs discussing the matter must separate the discussions into three categories, with each focusing on policies and principles, planning and capital expenditure, and revenue expenditure of the budget bill respectively.

In addition, MPs must state which department or organization they wish to discuss upon, provide a summary if they wish to discuss policy matters, or provide in detail the facts and numbers of an amendment they wish to put forward.

Deputy Ministers respond to Union Budget Law 2017-2018 FY
Next, officials from Union-level institutions responded to the Joint Public Accounts Committee’s Report No (11/2019) concerning the Union Budget Law 2017-2018 FY, sent from the Union Auditor-General Office, and to discussions from Hluttaw representatives on the matter.

First, Deputy Minister for Information U Aung Hla Tun responded to the remark made by Dr Khun Win Thaung, MP for Kachin constituency 11.

The Deputy Minister said a Broadcasting Council must be established in line with Section 7 of the enacted Broadcasting Law and they are currently working on passing the related bylaw. He said the state-owned broadcasting media began paying license fees for 164 FM stations across the nation to the Directorate of Communications starting from 12 July 2010. Therefore, there can be no losses to national revenue from FM companies.

Systematic management reduced overdue debts
The Deputy Minister then replied to why the MRTV’s receipt proposal did not include any arrears. He said they included the advertisement revenue from MRTV’s TV and radio programmes and other general receipts, annual payments from affiliated media companies made per their contract with the department, arrears for the 2016- 2017 FY and for three months of 2017-2018 FY in the revenue receipt, which all amounted to K8,200 million.

The Deputy Minister said the companies are late in their payments and the ministry has notified them to be punctual and follow the stipulations in their contract on multiple occasions. He said the companies began making timely payments after amendments were made to the provisions for payments in the contract and they properly managed the payment system. He said this reduced the arrears and allowed for the concise allocation of revenue.

Explaining why requested budget was not fully utilized
The Deputy Minister then replied to the remark in the Joint Public Accounts Committee’s report saying that the ministry was unable to implement the allocated budget in a timely manner. He said they received a directive from the Central Committee on Implementing Stability and Development in Rakhine State during its meeting no. (2/2017) to provide additional FM radios in Rakhine.

The Deputy Minister said they collected funds from the ministry’s various departments and handed over K400 million to their general excess funds and received permission from the Ministry of Planning and Finance to purchase the radios through a call for tender in the Kyemon Daily.

He said the winner of three bidding companies signed a contract with the ministry after winning a tender for K399.992 million to purchase 54,480 radios at K7,342 each. He said the company failed to deliver the promised quota and only purchased 5,448 radios at K39.999 million. He said the remaining K359.992 million for the 49,032 radios left to be purchased was resubmitted.

The Deputy Minister said they notified the particular company they will not be receiving permission for purchasing in the succeeding financial years and proper action was taken against them. He said the K359.992 million for the remaining 49,032 radios was included in the capital expenditure proposal for 2018- 2019 FY.

The Deputy Minister said all the radios of the proposed amount have been purchased and handed over the Rakhine State Government who have completed distribution to the local residents. He said the aforementioned reasons are why they were unable to utilize the requested budget for distributing FM radios in Rakhine State for free.

NPE remaining national debts paid
The Deputy Minister then replied to th
e Joint Public Accounts Committee report’s remark on why the News and Periodicals Enterprise did not include the remaining revenue it has to hand over to the Union Government in its initial amended allocated budget.

He said 20 per cent of NPE’s profits for 2017-2018 FY was handed over and it amounted to K115.336 million. He said the financial report states the handover amount should be K384.371 million and the remaining K269.035 million was completely handed over on 28 June 2019.

Other Union institutions respond to report

Afterwards, Union Minister for Hotels and Tourism U Ohn Maung and the deputy ministers for construction, border affairs, agriculture, livestock and irrigation, transportation and communications, electricity and energy, health and sports, and planning and finance, and Union Auditor-General U Maw Than responded to the Joint Public Accounts Committee’s Report No (11/2019) concerning the Un ion Budget Law 2017-2018 FY.

Joint Public Accounts Committee member U Khin Maung Than then moved for the Hluttaw to approve the report. The Speaker gathered the deliberation of the Hluttaw, received no opposition, and announced the report has been approved by the assembly.—Mawsi, Hmwe Kyu Zin (Translated by Zaw Htet Oo)