Crackdown on illegal imports nets US$18 million

The crackdown on illegal trade began on November 1, 2012 with the aim of protecting consumers from low-quality goods and increasing tax revenues.

The central committee has made 2,493 seizures worth more than $14 million since then. Teams under the control of regional or state governments have seized $2 million worth of illegally imported goods in 849 cases.

Another 60 or so seizures had been made near Yangon Port. Twenty seizures had taken place during the so-called education period of the crackdown with a combined value of nearly $350,000. During this period those caught with illegal imports were warned or fined but not charged.  More than $500,000 worth of goods was seized near the port in 37 cases after the education period ended.

“Some commodities including expired and inedible foods had to be destroyed,” said Nyunt Aung, a deputy director general at the central committee.

The committee estimates that about 20 per cent of illegal trade enters the country overland and the rest by ports. Starting from July 2, the crackdown will expand to all seaports as well as Yangon’s airport.

Anyone caught with illegal imports at these locations this month will be fined. Starting next month they will face up to three years in jail. 

 

Factory eviction costs 250 jobs

Police and ministry officials evicted the Ready sardine can factory from its premises in an early morning raid on Friday, leaving hundreds of workers jobless. 

Around 150 policemen and dozens of officials wearing armbands arrived at the factory at 4am forcing its owners to move their equipment despite claims that they had a valid lease for the land from the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development.

“It will take three or four months to relocate the factory and we have to build everything from scratch so our workers will be unemployed during this time,” said Soe Moe Kyaw, director of the factory run by Myanmar Makro Industry Company.

Around 250 workers have been left jobless following the eviction, which was ordered by the ministry amid a dispute over the land lease.  

Myanmar Makro said it signed a 30-year lease in 1997 and that it had only completed 14 years of the contract when the ministry announced it was selling the land in a tender in 2011. For a year and a half, the company received several warnings to vacate the land, despite submitting an appeal to the ministry. Executives travelled to Nay Pyi Taw on June 27 to discuss the eviction notice, but were unable to meet with the minister. 

 

Plan to turn to coal for energy 

Myanmar is planning to generate electricity from coal, to serve the 70 per cent of the population that currently live without access to power. 

Stressing that only 30 per cent of the population has access to electricity, the Ministry of Electric Power yesterday unveiled a plan to generate 33 per cent of Myanmar’s total capacity electricity capacity from coal. 

“We have to consider the remaining 70 percent [of the population]. We have abundant water resources, so we can build hydropower plants. Moreover, though natural gas is limited, coal can be used,” Khin Maung Win, a managing director at the ministry told a workshop on clean energy. 

“Clean coal technology ensures lower pollution,” he said, adding that the World Bank’s carbon emission standards will be applied for the construction of coal-fired power plants.