NAY PYI TAW July 2
Chairman of State Administration Council Prime Minister Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, accompanied by entourages, the chief minister of Yangon Region, the commander of Yangon Command, the Mayor and officials, inspected Dala Shipyard in Yangon this morning.
First, Union Minister for Transport and Communications Admiral Tin Aung San reported to the Senior General on the brief history, objectives, organizational set-up, assignments of staff, allocation of vessels to branches, maintenance of vessel, operations of shipyards, ship repairs in dockyards, ship building in respective financial year, earnings from repairing private vessels and services offered by each branch in the entire country of Inland Water Transport.
Then, Managing Director U Htay Aung of the IWT reported to the Senior General on historical records of Dala Shipyard, first of its kind in Myanmar,repairs and maintenance of vessels in successive eras, tasks being carried out in the shipyard, organizational set-up and assignment of duties for staff, operations of respective docks, building new vessels, plans for repairs and maintenance of vessels in up coming fiscal years and implementation of objectives.
After hearing reports, the Senior General said water transport is the cheapest and fastest mode of transportation of large amounts of goods for the transportation sector of the country. As there are many rivers and creeks in the country, water transportation is the best mode but development of the industry has slowed due to lack of systematic measures.
Therefore, it is necessary for the government to exert efforts for development of water transportation mode while encouraging the private sector to do so. Waterways, ports and vessels must be in good condition.
Jetties to house passengers, goods and vessels are also important in ports. Efforts must be made to build public trust in water transportation.
It will be of great benefit for the country if measures can be taken to improve water transportation mode, which saves costs. Awareness raising campaigns must be launched to transport raw materials which are not in urgent need via waterways.
Although inland transport services have been successful before, financial difficulties and smuggling activities greatly affected the state-owned transport services. As weakness in maintaining long-used machinery and ships could cause disruptions to the state-owned transport enterprises, it is necessary to properly conduct routine maintenance work on a yearly basis or on expiration date basis. In operating the stateowned businesses, solutions should be found as much as possible for staff welfare to achieve the correct improvement of staff ’s performance at work.
Those who deserve to be rewarded are to be honoured , and actions are to be taken against those who are neglectful in taking duties as well. It is necessary to produce skilled human resources on a basis of business type. It is also needed to conduct routine maintenance work for the endurance of machinery.
Inland Water Transport needs to be an organization leading in the water transportation sector of the country and on the other hand, private water transport services are to be encouraged.
Human resources necessary for water transport are to be produced. It is necessary to beneficially exercise the coastal transport system, a transport service of carrying goods by car first and then using vessels.
It is also necessary to effectively use the delta region and rivers such as the Ayeyawady and the Thanlwin in water transport.
Dala Shipyard has a history, and it is necessary to reinforce the force of engineers necessary for it. Studies on shipbuilding can be conducted at partner shipyards, and modernized ship building tasks are to be carried out to upgrade the shipyard. As it is a shipyard with a 150-year history, Dala Shipyard has much experience in building ships and needs to play a leading role in the nation’s shipbuilding projects. If the people take water transport with a sense of trust, there will be smoothness in travel and flow of goods across the country.
That will also become an economic system to be exercised on a nation-wide basis. Therefore, it is needed for the transport sector to take a leading role in doing so.
Then, the Senior General and party took an inspection tour of the shipyard and gave instructions on fixing and maintaining buildings, refilling equipment necessary for shipbuilding work, and reoperating machinery on a full capacity basis. The Senior General and party presented gifts and cash bonuses through officials.