Narinjara News, December 3, 2022

The MilitaryCouncil is starting arrangements to restart the Nayputaung marble stoneproduction projectlocated on the Rakhine Yoma mountain ranges in Taungup township of Rakhinestate, which ceasedoperations during the term of the National League for Democracy (NLD) government.

In order to restartthe project, the Vietnam-based SIMCO company and the Military Council have already started working on a contract, with adistribution system for stone production.

A joint managementcommittee for the successful implementation of the processes has been already formed with 4 representatives fromthe Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation under the MilitaryCouncil , and 4 representatives from the Vietnamese company, the Military Council’s Ministryof the Home Affairs announced on November 25.

The Myanmargovernment then led by U Thein Sein, granted a 20-year license to the Vietnamese company SIMCO to manufacture decorativemarble stones in Nayputaung in 2012. However, because the project did not benefit the localpopulation, thousands of environmentalists kept under a steady stream of protest between 2013and 2015.

In 2018 the companyrequested the NLD government to close down the project, as the quality of marble stones mined in Nayputaungdeclined in quality and were no longer economically viable, and so all operations wereofficially stopped.

Now, the efforts ofthe Military Council to revive the marble production in Nayputaung, shows that it puts its own ego ahead of the interests ofthe local people, a Taungup local objecting to the project said.

“This is the natureof dictators to do whatever they want without regard for the public atall. I believethat it will not have any positive impact on the development of the region forthe benefit ofthe local people if this project is restarted”, he commented.

Narinjara contactedRakhine State government’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation U Than Tun about thematter, but we were not able to get any response.

The productproduced in Nayputaung is a rare type of marble stone that can be used for home decoration, and an average of 7850 metric tonscan be extracted per year.

Vietnam’s SIMCO company extracted marble stones inNayputaung for 6 years from 2012 to 2018, so the entire mountain is almost exhausted,and if the business continues, there will be no good for the locals, an elder from Taungupsaid.

He added that since1973/74, explosive mines were detonated at Nayputaung to produce and obtain paving stones, and since then the quality ofthe stones had gradually declined.