YANGON: In Naypyidaw, staff housing damaged by the powerful earthquake are being repaired and new housing is being built. Of the 683 staff housing units damaged at the blue level, 675 have been repaired.
On Friday (Dec 19), Union Minister for Construction U Myo Thant, chairman of the Building Renovation and New Construction Supervision Committee, along with committee members and departmental officials, inspected the renovation of staff housing and the construction of new housing by the state in the Naypyidaw Council area that was damaged by the Mandalay earthquake.
The Union Minister, along with his team, inspected the repair work of buildings that were assigned the orange colour level and said that the Union Minister has made arrangements to repair buildings damaged by the earthquake by classifying them into blue, orange, and red levels according to the level of damage and to carry out repairs in a phased manner.
The Union Minister said that Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to be followed according to the type of damage have been compiled and distributed jointly by the Myanmar Engineering Council, the Myanmar Federation of Engineers, and groups consisting of experts from various engineering sectors.
Therefore, the repair companies and the relevant departments need to strictly follow them in the supervision part.
The Union Minister said that out of the 683 blue-level employee housing units, 675 have been repaired and returned to the relevant departments, and employees who were temporarily living in modular houses have been relocated to the buildings.
He continued, "Out of the 426 orange-level staff housing units, 60 have been repaired and the relocation of staff is ongoing, and a total of 11,585 staff and officers have been relocated to their original housing units."
The orange-level buildings currently being repaired have suffered minimal structural damage, but significant damage, so repairs need to be carried out regularly and quickly according to SOP, he said.
Then, the Union Minister and his team arrived at the worksite in Block No. (8-A) of the Naypyidaw Council area where new staff housing is being built.
Officials from the Ministry of Construction and the Naypyidaw Municipal Development Committee explained the implementation of housing projects, while officials from the company association explained the housing project objectives, progress, completion, and future work plans by relevant sectors.
In response to the presentations, the Union Minister said that when rebuilding employee housing, it is necessary to know and follow the policy to systematically calculate and build to withstand earthquakes up to magnitude 8.
The quality inspection of construction work will be strictly inspected, and companies need to prepare in advance and pay attention to ensuring that the materials meet the specified quality and are completed within the specified time frame from the start of the work. - Eleven Media/ANN
