Ponnagyun residents express support for jump-starting industrial zone

By DMG 23 Apr 2022

DMG Newsroom
23 April 2022, Ponnagyun 

Residents of Ponnagyun Township have called for the earliest possible implementation of a long-delayed industrial zone in the township, hoping that the project will create job opportunities for locals.

Ponnagyun Township resident Ko Thar Gyi said the industrial zone will create jobs and spur regional development.

“It is everyone’s knowledge that job opportunities are very limited in Arakan State. People have to go outside of Arakan State and work elsewhere. The state is therefore losing human resources,” he said.

At a press conference in October, the Arakan State military council said it would prioritise the resumption of the Ponnagyun industrial zone project, which was launched some six years ago.

Ma Khin Myat Hlaing from Ponnagyun Township, who now works in Yangon, said she would return and work in her hometown when the industrial zone is established.

“Of course we want to work in our hometown. We have to work elsewhere because there are no jobs available in our hometown. I left my village some three years ago to work here,” she said.

The project was proposed in September 2015 under former President U Thein Sein’s quasi-civilian government. A memorandum of understanding was subsequently signed with the Myanmar Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone Holdings (MKSH), a consortium of 17 companies from Arakan State, to implement the project. 

But the project never properly got off the ground. A second effort under the National League for Democracy (NLD) government was also unsuccessful due to lack of investors.

Myanmar’s military regime is planning to resume the project, and is waiting for the approval of the Central Farmland Management Committee to proceed, said Arakan State’s economics minister under the junta government, U San Shwe Maung.

“We have sought approval from the Central Farmland Management Committee to use farmland [at the proposed site] for the industrial zone. We need to seek approval if we are to use farmland for other purposes,” he told DMG.

In August 2016, the Arakan State legislature approved a proposal to implement the industrial zone as soon as possible.

It will not be difficult for the military council to resume development of the Ponnagyun industrial zone, former Ponnagyun Township lawmaker U Aung Than Tin said.

“It is good if the military council will implement the industrial zone because it will create jobs for local people. The land is ready for use, and I don’t think there is any particular difficulty for the military council to implement the project,” he said.

If the Ponnagyun industrial zone does come into being as planned, it will be the second largest industrial zone in Arakan State after the Kyaukphyu special economic zone (SEZ). The Ponnagyun industrial zone will consist of a garment factory, and plants specialising in food processing, farming equipment manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and phone accessories.