Community resists the monopolization of the Township Chief Engineer

March 3, 2015

Thanbyuzayat

The Myanmar National Development Project has approved a fortune of more than 70 million kyat to establish an electric power supply system which will range three miles and three furlongs in Krone Krote Village, Thanbyuzayat Township, Mon State, however, local residents reject the management of Township Chief Engineer U Hline Myo Kyaw, accusing him of intentions to monopolize the fund.

Local residents believe that U Hline Kyaw Myo intends to monopolize and mismanage project funds according to his own interests.

Sharing the community’s views on the issue, Venerable Monk Poke Pha Hongsar, Abbot of Krone Krote Village stated that, “U Hline Myo Kyaw wants to monopolize the project, the same as he [did with projects] organized in other villages. He wants to individually buy materials, electric poles and electric cables in order to manage the whole project as he likes. But, we’ve already been aware of his abuse and if we can’t get fair management for the project, we will buy materials and recruit workers by ourselves. If he [U Hline Myo Kyaw] doesn’t agree with our request, we will contact the district-level authority and the Chief Minister of the State. The authorities have already stated that the project must be driven by the community; the Township Chief Engineer is only responsible for showing his approval. Now, under the instruction of the district-level authority, we’re starting the project by ourselves. I, and the District Electric Officer, seriously blamed U Hline Myo Kyaw for his abuse of power; he had no word to respond.

“We’ll buy the electric poles by ourselves,” continued the abbot, “if we buy the poles ourselves, the cost per pole is only about 85 thousand kyat. If we let the Township Chief Engineer buy the poles, the cost per pole will be 110-120 thousand kyat. Purchasing electric cables will be exactly the same. If we let U Hline Myo Kyaw buy materials, he will tag the price as he likes and the costs are getting expensive. If the Chief Engineer continuously denies the request of the locals, I already informed him that I, myself, will lead the villagers to sue him for his abuse. He had no word to say.”

According to the venerable monk, “The national development fund can set up the electric cable just up to the entrance of the village. We have to collect three hundred thousand kyat per house to set up the cable throughout the village. We’ve planned to collect one hundred thousand kyat per house at each stage of development, first when setting up the electric poles, then when setting up the power supply system, and again for the villagers to have access to the power supply. We’ll set up three electric bulbs and two electric sockets per house; each house must provide an additional cost of 30 thousand kyat for that. If the villagers want more electricity, we’ll fulfill their desire when the project is completed.”

Government staff IMG_20150225_171902 from the Thanbyuzayat Township Electric Office also revealed that U Hline Myo Kyaw has stated that he plans to introduce military rule upon the office administration. U Hline Myo Kyaw has occupied his position as Thanbyuzayat Township Electric Engineer for just three months, and on his first day he revealed to his staff that he would be administering the office in accordance with military law.

According to one staff member, “U Hline Myo Kyaw is a new face to the locals and he thought that the Mon people in Thanbyuzayat know nothing, as he moved from Rangoon. He always said that he was a military officer, but we never knew his rank. He mentioned to his staff that he would administer the office according to military rule, and ordered the staff to assemble at the parade group in front of the office every morning. His new enforcement makes the staff disappointed.

“Moreover, he banned the staff from setting up the electric meter boxes in Thanbyuzayat Township, explaining that there was an overload on the electrical transformer. But, he accepted the bribe from the locals for setting up new electric meter boxes, and the locals had to bribe him 90 thousand kyat to set up a single meter box and to copy official paper documents. He restricted the authority of the staff to monopolize the power. As he administered the office with his own rule, the staff hated him a lot. Some staff reported his abuse of power in setting up meter boxes, and he replied that those were exceptions and he had no power to refuse the demand.

“If he really worries about the transformer, he must totally ban setting up electric meter boxes, but now, he restricted the authority of the staff in order to accept more bribes from the locals. He is very corrupt, but I have limited knowledge about the details.”

In 2014, government authorities announced that residents from Mon and Karen States will receive electricity to their homes, which would be available once the authorities had constructed electric power in Mawlamyine.

However, to date, the government has yet to provide electricity for all village residents, and local electric administrators have gone so far as to encourage residents who have not received electricity from the government to obtain it themselves. Residents must rely on themselves, collecting money from each household, in order to apply for electricity from the government.

Written by Modinator · Filed Under News