Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, chairman of the State Administration Council (SAC), urged to make economic investments based on water resources at the National Water Resources Committee (1/2023) meeting held on April 4.
At the meeting, he said "water" means nature's best gift to our living world and the human environment. As a person, we have to use "water" starting from getting up in the morning. "Water" is the main requirement in the production of various agricultural crops such as rice that people consume. In addition, in the production of electricity, which is very important in today's social life, the "hydroelectric power generation sector" is a much lower cost and renewable energy, which is widely used around the world. In the role of transportation, starting from the rivers and the oceans, they have been doing trade and transportation by the boat and ships since the beginning of urban civilization until today.
"Water and land" are the main resources for the modern development of a country. The effective and efficient management of water and land is the main source of the country's prosperity. Today, every country in the world is trying to meet the needs of water, and they are working for the prosperity of the country.
Due to the abundance of natural rivers and lakes in our country, the amount of clean water that can be obtained from rivers every year is the second largest among ASEAN countries after Indonesia. According to the records in 2011, we are in the fifth place in Asia after China, India, Indonesia and Bangladesh. By looking at this fact, we will see the abundance of water resources in our country, he said.
Although more than 800 million acre-feet of fresh water flows annually from the river networks, including the four major rivers in Myanmar, only about five percent of the fresh water that flows is used for agriculture, home and industrial uses. Therefore, it will be seen that there is good potential to make economic investments based on water resources. Therefore, it is important to properly manage fresh water resources, to develop continuously, to effectively preserve the forests of the watershed and prevent water pollution, he said.
The National Water Resources Committee needs to supervise to set the necessary policies for the development of the water sector, to have sufficient access to drinking water and agricultural water in urban and rural areas, to have access to fresh water needed for industrial activities, to ensure that there is no garbage disposal in the rivers and streams, and to properly cleaned and treated the waste water that will flow into the rivers. Just as every country in the world is constantly striving for the development of their country, our country must also continue to strive for development in all sectors, including the water sector. Therefore, he would like to urge all committee members to work hard to implement the tasks of their committee for the development of the water sector and to carry out activities that will be more beneficial to the ethnic people, he said.
The meeting was attended by Deputy Chairman of the National Water Resources Committee, Deputy Prime Minister and Union Minister for Transport and Communications, General Tin Aung San, the Union Ministers of the Committee, Chairman of Nay Pyi Taw Council, Committee secretary and officials and Chief Ministers of the regions, states and mayors attend through video conferencing.
