India on Tuesday handed over 250 pre-fabricated houses to the displaced Muslim families who are currently residing in Myanmar's Rakhine state. The houses were built under the Rakhine State Development Programme (RSDP) at a cost of USD 25 million.
Ambassador of India Saurabh Kumar handed over the documents related to the pre-fabricated houses to U Aung Kyaw Zan, Joint-chairman of Returnee Resettlement Work Committee and the Minister for Electricity, Industry and Transportation of Rakhine state government, at a function held in Maung Daw.
Myanmar's Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Win Myat Aye, who was present on the occasion, thanked the Indian government for its assistance and recalled the growing bilateral ties between the two countries.
Of the 250 houses, 148 units are for Shwe Zar, 60 for Kyein Chaung Taung and 42 for Nant Thar Taung. All these three locations fall under northern Rakhine.
India and Myanmar had in 2007 signed an MoU on RSDP for the socio-economic development of the area. The construction of 250 houses was the first initiative under the RSDP. Another 22 proposals which includes solar power related projects, construction related projects, agriculture mechanization projects and capacity building projects are presently under consideration, the Indian embassy in Yagon said in a statement.
The Indian embassy had in June 2019 handed over to the Rakhine state 40 computers for use in Sittwe Computer University and 15 each of tractors and crawlers for use in the farm sector.