The Construction Ministry inspected rural development projects in Hsa Taw Township, Karenni State and rejected all the road sealing work carried out and ordered it to be redone said U Htay Yel a Karenni member of the Union Parliament, on 10th December.
He also said that local residents had complained that the foundations of a 25-bed hospital in Hsa Taw Township had been constructed with brick instead of stone, which made the building less solid.
He said: “People told me that when the construction company built the building they did not use a stone layer for the foundations, instead they used a brick layer. They told me about it because they are worried that the building might collapse.”
Although there had been frequent discussions with the construction companies they did not pay attention to what was said and were negligent in their work.
Members of the Union Parliament representing less well-developed areas are each entitled to a 100 million kyats from the Union Parliament budget to put towards a development project of their choice.
They have to propose the project to the Union Parliament, which has to approve it. If their project requires more than 100 million kyats the Union Parliament and the relevant state parliament can provide extra funding.
U Soe Yeh a member of the People’s Parliament (which is part of the Union Parliament) from De Maw So Township explained that the law states that when members of parliament implement local development projects they need to have in-depth discussions with the authorities. If there are any irregularities in the project’s execution it is the politician’s duty to report them to parliament.
He said: “The situation in Hsa Taw Township was bought to the attention of the Union Parliament so the Union Government arranged for an inspection.”
According to a report by a Hsa Taw Township Union parliament member when the officials from the Construction Ministry carried out their inspection they discovered all the irregularities.
Because the Union National Parliament Chairman recently ordered that members of parliament have to collect data and information on sub-standard projects and report their findings back to parliament other township Union Parliament members are now also carrying out investigations.
Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI
