Shops still overcharge for building materials despite warnings from junta, AA

26 May 2023

DMG Newsroom
26 May 2023, Sittwe
 
Despite warnings from the Arakan Army (AA) and Myanmar military regime, shops are charging higher than normal prices for building materials and other consumer goods in the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha, said residents.
 
In his video address to Arakan State residents on May 16, two days after the state was hit by a devastating cyclone, AA chief Twan Mrat Naing warned “merchants trading basic foodstuffs and other goods not to exploit the people suffering from troubles by overcharging their goods.”
 
The AA and its political wing, the United League of Arakan has helped some shopkeepers in Sittwe, Kyauktaw and Ponnagyun townships for alleged price gouging.
 
Junta officials led by Arakan State Administration Council’s economic minister U San Shwe Maung went to shops across Sittwe, and warned shopkeepers not to overcharge.
 
A building material shop owner on Merchant Street in Sittwe said: “The economic minister and around ten other officials came to my shop, and asked me about the prices before and after the storm. They told us not to overcharge on building materials.”
 
Some building material shops are overcharging, and authorities need to do more to ensure shops do not overcharge, said Ko Tun Maung from Mingan Ward.
 
“A shop charged me 15,000 kyats for a viss of roofing nails. The price was just 8,000 kyats before the storm. I had no choice but to buy them because I needed them,” he said.
 
Some building material shops in Sittwe central market are even charging 20,000 kyats for roofing nails since they are in high demand, said residents.
 
 “We have hired carpenters to repair our houses. So, we had no option but to buy them at 20,000 kyats per viss,” said Sittwe resident Daw Khin Than.
 
Some building material shop owners have called on authorities to carry out checks and punish those who are overcharging.
 
“[Authorities] should carry out checks for the sake of poor families who were affected by the storm,” said a shop owner from Mingan ward.
 
Apart from building materials, the prices of other goods have shot up in the aftermath of the cyclone.
 
Sittwe, Ponnagyun, Rathedaung, Kyauktaw and Pauktaw townships suffered most from Cyclone Mocha that hit Arakan State on May 14. Some 95 percent of houses and buildings were damaged or destroyed in those townships, and victims urgently need food and shelter.