Bridges over major rivers can transform local, as well as national, economies. But not everyone is in favour of building a $168 million bridge linking the congested downtown of Yangon with the poor and rural township of Dala to the south.
Environment Lead Story Natural resources News
A second report covering the Myitsone dam project on the Irrawaddy River will soon be submitted to the Burmese president for his consideration.
A business watchdog group warns Burmese companies that if they want to thrive in the post-sanctions economy, they’ll have to be more open and transparent.
Business Lead Story News Suu Kyi
Speaking in Washington, the Burmese leader urged businesses to invest in the Southeast Asian country as a way to advance its democratic transition.
Conflict Kachin Lead Story Military News
Kachin exile groups say US sanctions on the Burmese military should stay in place until the conflict in Kachin State is resolved.
Business Economy Lead Story News
As imports soar in Burma’s booming economy, the country’s largest port struggles to keep up.
Business International Relations Lead Story News
The US decision to further ease restrictions on trading through Steven Law’s shipping port and airports put the blacklisted businessman in a position to profit from the latest changes to the US sanctions regime.
Business International Relations Lead Story News
The US government has decided to maintain most economic restrictions on Burma in an effort to punish those Washington sees as hampering the country’s newly elected government.
The US is temporarily easing trade restrictions on Burma by allowing all shipments to go through its ports for six months, officials said on Monday.
Business Lead Story News Trade
Half of all Burma’s trade flows through the Asia World terminal, owned by blacklisted Steven Law.
Environment Lead Story News Pegu Division
Villagers who say they have suffered from environmental and economic chaos as a result of a newly built hydropower dam in Pegu Division’s Taungtaunggyi held a protest on Sunday, calling[…]
Hsenwi local MP Sai Win Khine said “four Bengalis” were detained when police stopped a bus travelling from Lashio to the border town of Muse.
Business Business Weekly Lead Story News
Burma’s currency was stable again this week; the buying rate for Burmese kyat on Friday was 973 to the US dollar. The price of gold rose slightly to 671,300 kyat per tical, up from 669,000 kyat last week. Fuel and rice prices remained steady.
A 300 megawatt coal power plant is soon to be built in Thaung Khng village, 40 km south of Rangoon, local media reported on Sunday. Eleven Media cited project officials[…]
Drugs DVB Debate Lead Story News Society Video
Panellists on DVB discuss corruption in the drug industry and ask how known drug lords have been able to operate without arrest.
Kachin Land Lead Story Natural resources News
Two local Kachin women, who have been involved in anti-Myitsone dam activities, say they have had their rice rations cut by CPI, the Chinese backers of the Irrawaddy River hydropower project.
The Mobile Team, a government task force responsible for cracking down on illegally imported goods, will expand its operations at the end of June.
DVB Debate Lead Story News Society Video
DVB Debate discusses why forced labour and trafficking in Burma are so widespread and debate how to end modern slavery in the country.
Development Environment Ethnic issues Lead Story Natural resources News
To mark the International Day of Action for Rivers, 14 March, several coordinated demonstrations sprung up along the channel, with locals from all over Burma uniting to demand suspension of the six dams planned for the Salween, one of the last and longest free-flowing rivers in the world.
Environment Ethnic issues Lead Story Natural resources News
The Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF), an advocacy group representing the ethnic minority, has called for the immediate suspension of the Kunlong dam, which they say has led to massive uncompensated land seizures, human rights abuse and military occupation.
A bomb blast in northern Shan state’s Kunlong township on Tuesday left three people dead and two others injured. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Twenty-three farmers who staged a “ploughing protest” in Rangoon’s Dagon-Seikkan township are being sued for trespassing by the Green Asia Company, an arm of Asia World.
Business Business Weekly Lead Story News
BUSINESS IN BURMA THIS WEEK: Sponsors for the SEA Games; international oil firms post finals bids for Burma’s offshore reserves; Japan in position to take over Dawei project; Singaporean bank looks to cater for increased bilateral trade; and Pepsi enters the cola wars.
According to a list of the top 500 taxpayers in Burma, Kanbawsa Bank – with over 2,000 employees – is the highest payer of income tax in Burma, while Myanmar Brewery Ltd pays the most commercial tax.
The Chinese company pushing to restart the controversial Myitsone dam in Kachin state is confident that Burma’s new democratic leadership, including Aung San Suu Kyi, will back the project.
As the investment boom hits Burma, eager Australian firms have been given the green light to enter the race to invest in the impoverished Southeast Asian nation
Will Burma’s economy be invigorated and its citizens made rich by the simple lifting of state control over large swathes of the economy?
The hardliners of Burma’s former junta are being offered lucrative financial incentives to step down and allow the government’s reform process to continue
Has much changed in Burma in the year since Suu Kyi’s party attacked ‘blatant cronyism and corruption’, and how will its transformation to a prized economic asset impact on civilians?
The farmers who protested in Rangoon last week are an example of the struggle to break the mystique and impregnability of the powerful
