Weekly Business News from Myanmar

• 

  Survey for NgweSaung beach area development project has been completed and a plan will be proposed to parliament

  “Planning is in progress after data collection and the estimated period of the project would be 20 years. After the planning is completed it will be made known to the people and all the businesses. Achieving an agreement between businesses and the government will be the first priority,” said one of the directors from the Ministry of Hotel and Tourism.
• 

  Hundreds of workers in Yangon were sacked and some factories stop providing free transport and overtime payments as the consequence of introduction of a national minimum wage

  The introduction of a national minimum wage on 28 August has resulted in hundreds of workers losing their jobs in the commercial capital of Yangon, claims the Federation of Trade Unions Myanmar (FTUM) the Global New Light of Myanmar reported on 7 September.
• 

  Kyah State tourism plan solidifies

  The Committee for Development for Tourism in Kayah State has finished a detailed plan to improve tourism in Myanmar’s eastern state. “The survey started in February and lasted for six months. In the survey, we reviewed the training courses for tourism service, communication and transport from all aspects. There is also some information on how to connect the local products for tourists and cultural heritage in the survey,” U AungSoe, president of the Committee for Development of Tourism in Kayah State, told Myanmar Business Today.
• 

  Myanmar has received USD 2.6 billion of foreign direct investment in the first four months of this fiscal year

  The amount of foreign investment in the first four months of this fiscal year 2015-16 stands at $2.6 billion, according to the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC). The amount of investment is more than three times the $0.7 billion invested in the same period of the 2014-15 fiscal year.
• 

  Five companies have been chosen to import buses for the BRT lite system

  Five companies have been chosen to import buses for the BRT lite system, according to U MaungAung, chair of the BRT lite committee. Authorities hope the BRT lite plan will bring order out of the near-chaos of Yangon’s multiple privately owned buses in competition with each other. Plans call for a November launch for system.
• 

  Wyndham Hotel Group to expand into Myanmar with the signing of the franchise agreement for a 260-room Wyndham Grand hotel in Yangon

  Wyndham Hotel Group announced plans on 2 September to expand its portfolio of offerings in Southeast Asia to Myanmar for the first time with the signing of a franchise agreement for a 260-room Wyndham Grand® hotel in Yangon, according to a press release from the group.
• 

  Myanmar's border trade tops USD 2.4 billion at the end of August: Myanmar's Ministry of Commerce

  Trade between Myanmar and its four neighbouring countries has reached US$2.48 billion this financial year to date, a Ministry of Commerce official told The Myanmar Times.
• 

  Myanmar's Hanthawaddy International Airport project delayed by four years due to fund shortage

  A South Korean company first planned to build the Hanthawaddy International Airport on an old World War Two Japanese airfield near the town of Bago, about 100 km (60 miles) north of the commercial city Yangon. However, the project was abandoned in 1994, soon after a groundbreaking ceremony. The state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said the country’s fourth international airport was now expected to open in seven years.
• 

  Second Thai-Myanmar bridge, linking Mae Sot and Myawaddy, construction begins

  Construction costs have been budgeted at 640 million baht (about US$17.8 million), to be borne by the Thai side. It is scheduled to be completed in 2017.
• 

  International tourists have been allowed to visit the archipelagos in Myeik Township, Tanintharyi Region as a day trip

  In the past, there were restrictions on the visit of Myeik’s archipelago. As for international tourists, they have no chance to visit those islands in Myeik Township.