THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR

(Wednesday, 4 March 1998)

**********************************************************************

  1. Yangon City Maha Thingyan Festival to be held in accord with Myanma cultural traditions
  2. Minister inspects modern asbestos factory project
  3. Ministry of L & F urged to systematically implement fishing, aqua-culture, distribution
  4. Meeting seeks means to develop passenger and freight transport
  5. Number of courses doubled, number of post-graduate students multipled at Institutes of Technology in less than one year
  6. Vietnamese Minister of Industry arrives
  7. MHI Factory No 1 inspected
  8. MIC Chairman receives President of Nomura Trading Co
  9. Minister inspects dams, summer paddy fields
  10. Mandalay wins championship trophy of 43rd ISD Soccer Tourney
  11. Phensedyl seized at Bo Aung Kyaw Container Yard
  12. Minister oversees railroad repair work

_____________________

(1) Yangon City Maha Thingyan Festival to be held in accord with Myanma cultural traditions

YANGON, 3 March - Measures for holding the 1359 ME Yangon City Maha Thingyan Festival on extensive scale and beautifying the city were discussed at a meeting attended by Secretary-2 of the State Peace and Development Council Lt-Gen Tin Oo at the Yangon City Development Committee meeting room No 4 this morning.

Also present were Chairman of Yangon Division Peace and Council Commander Maj-Gen Khin Maung Than, Chairman of YCDC Mayor U Ko Lay, Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Brig-Gen Thura Myint Maung, Vice Chairman of YCDC Vice Mayor Col Maung Pa, Secretary Col Myint Aung, the Joint-Secretary, YCDC members. heads of the departments and officials of the departments concerned.

_________________________

(2) Minister inspects modern asbestos factory project

YANGON, 3 March - Minister for Industry-1 U Aung Thaung inspected the modern asbestos factory project on Lower Mingaladon Road in Insein Township this morning.

He was accompanied by Deputy Ministers Brig-Gen Thein Tun and Col Than Zin, Managing Director ,U Than Shwe of Myanma Ceramic Industries and officials.

U Than Shwe and Factory Manager U Shwe Aing briefed the minister on installation of machines with the assistance of Japanese engineers and arrangements to distribute asbestos to departmental and private factories on completion of the factory.

The minister gave instructions on extension of asbestos factories to meet the demand of departmental and private factories and to collect data on asbestos requirement of the factories.

He also urged the officials to make efforts to complete the factory as targeted.

Chief Engineer Mr Miyachi of Daimaru Inc of Japan then briefed him on construction of the factory in detail.

After inspecting the project, the minister gave instructions. He also presented gifts to the Japanese engineers.

________________________________

(3) Ministry of L & F urged to systematically implement fishing, aqua-culture, distribution

YANGON, 3 March - A meeting to discuss fishing and distribution of marine products was held today at the Fisheries Department with an address by Secretary-2 of the State Peace and Development Council Lt-Gen Tin Oo.

The State Peace and Development Council dissolved Committee to Control Meat and Fish Prices and Committee to Boost Marine Products which were under the supervision of Ministry of Commerce and assigned duties to Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries to super-vise fishing, aqua-culture and local and foreign distribution, he said.

Ministry of L & F should systematically implement fishing, aqua-culture and local and foreign distribution tasks and should ensure security at sea, he noted.

He urged fishery entrepreneurs to work in accord with the principles and to cooperate with departments in ensuring security at sea.

Minister for Livestock and Fisher Brig-Gen Maung Maung Thein presented progress in implementing fishing and aqua-culture projects.

Entrepreneurs presented situation of fishing and plans to cooperate with departments.

The Secretary-2 attended to their needs.

Minister for National Planning and Economic Development U Soe Tha, Minister at the Office of the Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council Secretary of Myanmar Investment Commission Brig-Gen Maung Maung, Minister at the Office of the Prime Minister Brig-Gen Lun Maung Deputy Minister for Livestock and Fisheries U Aung Thein and officials of the State Peace and Development Council Office and the respective departments were also present.

The Secretary-2 also accepted 3,000 viss of fish presented by Managing Director U Htay Myint of Annawa Fisheries Holding Ltd for Tatmadawmen of the parade columns of the 53rd Anniversary Armed Forces Day.

Lt-Gen Tin Oo and party also looked into the requirements of entrepreneurs engaged in deep-sea fishing.

____________________________________

(4) Meeting seeks means to develop passenger and freight transport

YANGON, 3 March - A meeting was held today at the Ministry of Energy to coordinate passenger and freight transport with an address by Secretary-2 of the State Peace and Development Council Lt-Gen Tin Oo.

Minister for National Planning and Economic Development U Soe Tha, Minister at the Office of the Prime Minister Brig-Gen Lun Maung, Deputy Minister for Home Affairs Brig-Gen Thura Myint Maung, Deputy Minister for Energy U Tin Tun, Vice-Adjutant-General Brig-Gen Maung Nyo, Director of Supply and Transport Brig-Gen Tin Tun, Officer on Special Duty at State Peace and Development Council Office Lt-Col Than Tint and heads of departments concerned were also present.

Chairman of Yangon Division All Bus Lines Control Committee U Phone Kyaw and Managing Director of Road Transport U Maung Maung Naing reported on passenger and freight transport.

The Secretary-2 attended to the needs in developing passenger and freight transport.

____________________________________

(5) Number of courses doubled, number of post-graduate students multipled at Institutes of Technology in less than one year

YANGON, 3 March - Minister for Science and Technology U Thaung addressed the opening of the postgraduate courses at the Yangon Institute of Technology in the YIT assembly hall this morning.

Also present were Deputy Ministers for Science and Technology U Hlaing Win and Brig-Gen Thura Aung Ko, the directors-general, rectors, pro-rectors, professors and officials of the departments and institutes under the ministry, faculty members and students.

_____________________________

(6) Vietnamese Minister of Industry arrives

YANGON, 3 March - A 16-member delegation led by Minister of Industry Dr Dang Vu Chu of Vietnam Socialist Republic arrived here by air this evening at the invitation of Minister for Industry-2 Maj-Gen Hla Myint Swe.

They were welcomed at Yangon International Airport by Minister for Industry-2 Maj-Gen Hla Myint Swe, Deputy Minister U Thein Tun, Ambassador of Vietnam Mr Nguyen Dang Khoa and staff of its embassy and officials of concerned departments of the ministry.

______________________________

(7) MHI Factory No 1 inspected

YANGON, 3 March - Minister for Industry-2 Maj-Gen Hla Myint Swe inspected construction of an office building of the clinic of Factory No 1 of Myanma Heavy Industries on Inya Lake Hotel Street this morning.

He was accompanied by Deputy Minister U Thein Tun and officials.

After hearing reports presented by officials, the minister instructed them to complete the building before 15 March.

He then proceeded to the Factory No 1 and inspected assembling of buses and Hino TE 21 trucks there.

He gave instructions on appointing new skilled workers and selling waste materials.

___________________________________

(8) MIC Chairman receives President of Nomura Trading Co

YANGON, 3 March - Deputy Prime Minister Chairman of Myanmar Investment Commission Vice-Admiral Maung Maung Khin received President Mr Hiroshi Ikeda and party of Nomura Trading Co Ltd of Japan at his office at 3 pm today.

Present also were officials of the Government Office and MIC Office.

_______________________________

(9) Minister inspects dams, summer paddy fields

YANGON, 3 March - Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation Maj-Gen Nyunt Tin, together with district and township authorities and heads of departments, arrived at the site designated for construction of a dam across Wegyi Creek 17 miles east of Paungde, Pyay District, on 1 March morning.

The minister was briefed on construction of the dam by the director of Construction-2 of the Irrigation Department, on availability of water as a result of construction of the dam by acting Director-General of the Irrigation Department U Myo Myint and regional situation by chairmen of District and Township Peace and Development Councils.

The minister gave instructions, and inspected the site chosen for construction of the dam Wegyi Dam, 4,300 feet long and 117 feet high, will be constructed across Wegyi Creek near Theme Village, Paungde Township.

The dam will be able to irrigate 45, 000 acres of crops, and is situated in the area between the catchment areas of Taungnyo Dam and Taungnawin Dam, and as a result, all the catchment areas will be contiguous.

Next, the minister proceeded to Taungnyo Dam already built in Nattalin Township, and inspected condition of water storage, water supply for summer paddy cultivation and maintenance of the dam.

The minister gave instructions on improvement of canals, making the best use of water and minimizing loss and wastage of water.

________________

(10) Mandalay wins championship trophy of 43rd ISD Soccer Tourney

YANGON, 3 March - Mandalay beat Yangon 4-3 in the final of the 43rd Inter-State and Division Soccer Tournament at Aung San Stadium this evening after penalty shoot.

Among the spectators were Chairman of Yangon Division Peace and Development Council Commander of Yangon Command Maj-Gen Khin Maung Than, senior military officers, President of Myanmar Football Association OSD of Ministry of Sports Col Thaung Htaik and Adviser Col Ngo Ciin Pau and officials.

The two teams played 11 draw until the final whistle of the regular time.

During the extra time, both sides could not score.

Mandalay beat Yangon 4-3 in penalty shoot and won the championship trophy.

In earlier match, Kachin beat Sagaing 2-1 for the third place.

Officials presented prizes to first, second and third winners respectively.

_________________________

(11) Phensedyl seized at Bo Aung Kyaw Container Yard

YANGON, 3 March - Acting on a tip-off by authorities of Yangon Port, a combined team comprising members of Yangon Anti-Drug Squad and Seikkan Township Police Force seized 2,179 bottles of Indian-made Phensedyl cough syrup weighing 174.75 litres from eight boxes at Bo Aung Kyaw Container Yard of Yangon Port 17 February afternoon.

There has been no claim by consignee for the boxes for two months since they arrived at the port by mv Mibiscus on 14 December 1997 from Calcutta via Singapore.

The authorities found out that there were bottles of Phensedyl in the boxes when a bottle of Phensedyl accidentally dropped from a box while preparing to send the boxes to the warehouse at which they were to be auctioned off.

According to the documents related to the boxes, it was found that the address to which the boxes were to be sent was An Kannappan & Sons of 84, Shwebontha Street.

In connection with the case, Seikkan Township Police Force booked An Kannappan, 76, son of U Annamali, of 29, 94th Street, Mingala Taungnyunt, and his sons Mani (a) Elango (a) Aung Naing, 37, and Kumar (a) Sitthanbaram (a) Hla Htay, 32, under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law.

_____________________________

(12) Minister oversees railroad repair work

YANGON, 3 March - Minister for Rail Transportation U Pan Aung inspected a railroad section between Yangon and Tawa on Yangon-Mandalay Railroad this afternoon.

He was accompanied by Managing Director U Kyaw Nyein of Myanma Railways and officials.

The minister gave instructions to meet the set standards in repairing rail tracks.

He then met officials at Tawa Station and explained to them priority tasks.

________________________________________

To view with photos, please browse at - http://www.myanmar.com/nlm/