Quake-Stricken Myanmar Calls on Foreign Investors to Help Rebuild

PHNOM PENH (Bernama): Myanmar is inviting foreign investors to participate in the redevelopment efforts two months after the devastating earthquake destroyed major infrastructure and left thousands homeless.

He was speaking at the “Rebuilding Myanmar: Post-Earthquake Economic Recovery,” in Nay Pyi Taw on Friday.

About 3,700 people lost their lives and 5,104 others were injured in the natural disaster.

“The disastrous earthquake has had a direct impact upon 600,000 people or so with thousands of people having been forced to move out of their places,” he said.

The government has outlined three development strategies – extend humanitarian relief and social protection, infrastructure reconstruction and revive the economy.

The focus will be on five key areas for swift economic recovery – energy, agriculture, transportation, telecommunications and public infrastructure.

“We gather here today not to demonstrate our melancholy over our substantial losses but to seek ways to survive like the phoenix that could have resurrected as well as how to rebuild.

“Today’s forum is not only a venue for the talk show but for laying down the foundation for achieving a roadmap,” said Min Aung Hlaing, according to the state media.

The World Bank estimated in April that the damages from the earthquake could touch RM42 billion (US$10 billion) and the costs of rebuilding may double that amount.

Twenty-one countries delivered over three million metric tonnes of relief supplies and sent about 1,000 relief workers and medical staff supported by 287 doctors following the disaster, reported the state media.

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