With Mayu Market yet to be repaired, shopkeepers struggle to do business

By Admin 24 Jun 2023

DMG Newsroom
24 June 2023, Sittwe

Shopkeepers in the temporary Mayu Market are having difficulties as nearly all of the shops in the bazaar were severely damaged or destroyed by Cyclone Mocha, and have yet to be repaired or rebuilt.

Most shopkeepers lost their merchandise in the storm, and have not been able to reopen their shops since the cyclone made landfall over Arakan State on May 14. But some shopkeepers, driven by the need to put food on the table, have returned to the market since Friday, roofing their damaged shops with tarpaulin sheets.

“It has been more than one month since the market was closed. I have been facing hardships, and I decided to return to business today amid heavy rain,” said Ma Nwe Nwe Lin, a shopkeeper at the Mayu Market.

At a June 3 meeting between Arakan State municipal authorities and Western Shining Star Public Co Ltd, which is building the Mayu Shopping Complex at the site of the old Mayu Market, shopkeepers called for the temporary market to be rehabilitated.

The municipality said it would report to the Arakan State Administration Council, and Western Shining Star Public Co Ltd said it would repair the temporary market if approved by the military regime.

Some shopkeepers have asked that they be allowed to move into the Mayu Shopping Complex, but the developer told them it would be some three months before they could make the move as work on the new shopping centre is ongoing.

“We want to move to the new market because we don’t know when the authorities will repair the temporary market,” said shopkeeper U Kyaw Min Htike. 

“Municipal authorities collect taxes from shopkeepers every day. So, they should also take responsibility for repairing the market when it is damaged. This is a market managed by the government. So, they should not neglect it,” said Daw Ma Oo Khin, who runs a clothing shop at the market.

There are a total of 114 shops at the temporary market.

Director U Kyaw Moe of the Arakan State municipality told DMG that the municipality has reported to the Arakan State Administration Council about repairing the temporary market.

“We are waiting for their instruction,” he added. 

DMG’s calls to Arakan State Administration Council spokesman U Hla Thein went unanswered.

Shopkeeper U Kyaw Min Htike said: “We want to move to the new market because we don’t know when the authorities will repair the temporary market.”

Following a plan put forward in 2016 to build the Mayu Shopping Complex on the site of the old Mayu Market, a temporary market was built near Lawkananda Temple. Shopkeepers from the old market have been told they will get free spaces at the new facility when it opens.