Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi said at meeting with people held in Kawthaung that the Tanintharyi Region government was weak in reaching out to people.

The State Counsellor arrived in Kawthaung on February 14 in the evening and met with local people at Myitzuthaka Hall on February 15.

“I want to say in brief, the region government should have been settled and cleared all presentations made by the people and their requirements. In my tours to many regions and states I’ve made, I noticed that Tanintharyi Region government did not have close contact with their people as much as it should be,” Aung San Suu Kyi said.

State Counsellor who is on tour to Myeik, Kawthaung and Dawei townships to meet people said on February 13 at the meeting with people that she came here to admonish Tanintharyi Region government.

During her tour to Myeik and Kauthaung, local people presented their issues on health, education, roads and bridges including some trivial issues and they were reportedly repeated these issues many times. Aung San Suu Kyi said at the meeting with people that these issues should have been settled long before by the region government.

Local people from Myeik, Kawthaung and Dawei staged a demonstration during her tour there and they demanded action against alleged corruption committed by some cabinet ministers and the chief minister of Tanintharyi Region and also they demanded action be taken against Tanintharyi Region National League for Democracy party Chairman Aung Soe.

Moreover at the meeting with people held at Myitzuthaka Hall in Kawthaung, the local people from Kawthaung presented their demands and staged a demonstration against overcharging of electricity bills more than the stipulated rate by the company which won the tender for supplying electricity in the township and also against some irregularities in this utility service.

The State Counsellor replied to them by saying, “We shall look into this issue as a priority but it cannot be settled immediately. However, we shall do our best to settle this issue.”

In Tanintharyi Township, people in Dawei pay 200 kyats for each unit (Kwh) but people in Kawthaung are paying over 400 kyats and up to 500 kyats in some places per unit.

The State Counsellor said at the meeting with people in Kawthaung that the incumbent government in Tanintharyi Region was trying to provide electricity to people in the entire Tanintharyi Region with a cheap price after 2020 by connecting it with the national power grid.