News
Thousands of jobs at risk as high-rises suspended
Foreign investment and the livelihoods of thousands of construction workers have been put at risk by the Yangon Region government’s decision to suspend all construction, developers say. Developers of hundreds of high-rise buildings now under construction in Yangon Region were forced to suspend building work on ...
MPs from 1990 to form draft committee for new constitution
More than 25 years on, MPs elected in the 1990 election that was set aside by the military regime are taking another crack at changing the constitution. The Members of Parliament Union 1990 want to make radical changes to the military-drafted 2008 charter. Both President U ...
Health ministry looks for 1000 doctors
The Ministry of Health in Myanmar is direly short on doctors, and a new plan to recruit 1000 more will barely begin to staunch the gap, according to government officials. As part of its 100-day priority agenda, the ministry has put out a call for 1000 ...
Government relocates Yangon squatters
The Yangon divisional government plans to relocate squatters and provide them with temporary housing, said Yangon Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein on 25 May at a press conference. He warned against trespassing and living on vacant, private or government land from 25 May onward, and said that people ...
The fight for resources in Myanmar’s deep south
Tanintharyi Region, the southern tip of Myanmar, abounds with natural resources and the problems associated with them. Residents in the isolated region face over-mining by foreign companies, the proposed development of a deep-sea port, an oil refinery and a special economic zone, mechanised farming of rubber ...
Thilawa SEZ phase two nears completion
The second phase of a 2400-hectare special economic zone to the south of Yangon will be finished in July, with residential and commercial developments to follow, an official has said. Once the second phase of Zone A is finished in July, a company called Thilawa Property ...
Tender planned for $2b Yangon-Mandalay railway upgrade
A Tender for private companies to work on a US$2.2 billion upgrade of the railway linking Myanmar’s two largest cities will be called at the end of this year, an official said on 23 May. Work on the Yangon-Mandalay railway, led by the Japan International Cooperation ...
Communities demand regulation as jade mining destroys landscape
Ywel Jer remembers a time when Saijarbon, an ethnic Kachin village perched upon a hilltop in Hpakant Township, was surrounded by mountains. In the past 10 years, however, vast mountain areas around the village here in northern Myanmar’s Kachin State have been turned into rubble by ...
Woodside raises offshore gas estimate
Australian firm Woodside Petroleum believes it has found more gas than previously estimated following two discoveries in Myanmar offshore earlier this year. The company has raised the estimated size of contingent resources in two of its blocks by 83 million barrels of oil equivalent to 4481mmboe, ...
Investor excitement builds ahead of MTSH listing
Investor appetite is high for shares in Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Limited, which will on 20 May become the second company to list on the Yangon Stock Exchange, securities firms say. MTSH, established in 2013 by a nine-shareholder consortium, will list 3.9 million shares at a base ...
