The 25th-day meeting of the Second Pyidaungsu Hluttaw’s 15th regular session was held yesterday. Union ministries submitted proposals to acquire foreign loans and MPs cast secret ballots on proposals to amend the Constitution. Of a total of 654 Hluttaw representatives, 629 attended and 25 were on leave.
First, Union Minister for Transport and Communications U Thant Sin Maung and Deputy Minister for Planning, Finance and Industry U Maung Maung Win explained a proposal from the President’s Office to acquire 40.604 billion Yen from JICA for the Yangon-Mandalay Railway Improvement Project’s Phase III.
U Thant Sin Maung said the loan will fund the project to upgrade the Yangon-Mandalay railway, which is separated into two phases – the Yangon-Taungoo section and the Taungoo-Mandalay section. He said the loan is a time-sliced loan, given out in installments, and this is the third installment for the first section of the railway.
The interest rate is at 0.01 per cent, the grace period is 10 years and the repayment period is 30 years. After the grace period, repayment needs to be every six months. U Thant Sin Maung said the upgrade would reduce the duration on the Yangon-Mandalay railway from 14 hours to less than 8 hours.
Next, Union Minister U Thant Sin Maung and Deputy Minister U Maung Maung Win explained a proposal from the President’s Office to acquire a loan of USD 125 million from South Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) for the transport ministry.
Speaker U T Khun Myat called for MPs interested in discussing both proposals to register their name.
This was followed by a secret ballot on category (3) of proposals to amend the Constitution, which includes 19 proposals.
The proposal to amend Section 262-(a)(i) was the only proposal to receive more than 75 per cent of votes in favor at 591 votes while the remaining 18 proposals failed to meet the same requirements.
In detail, the proposal to amend Section 261-(c) received 237 votes in favor, Section 261-(d) received 235 votes, Section 261-(e) received 235 votes, Section 262-(a)(iii) received 229 votes, Section 262-(n)(ii) received 399 votes, Section 264-(a) received 230 votes, Section 264-(b)(i) received 226 votes, Section 264-(b)(ii) received 407 votes, Section 264-(c) received 226 votes, Section 285-(a)(iv) received 501 votes, Section 285-(f) received 407 votes, Section 285-(g) received 405 votes, and Section 286-(a) received 408 votes.
Next, the Speaker announced that voting for category (3) of amendment proposals has concluded and voting for category (4) will commence on 19 March, during the 26th-day meeting of the Second Pyidaungsu Hluttaw’s 15th regular session.—Aung Ye Thwin, Aye Aye Thant (Translated by Zaw Htet Oo)
