Mawlamyine, 30 August
The price of a 20-liter bottle of purified drinking water has been raised to 1,000 kyats due to the high general cost for fuel and the production of clean water, according to purified drinking water groups in Mawlamyine.
The price of drinking water, which had gradually gone up during the coup, was expected to rise to 700 kyats per bottle in March, but has now climbed to 1,000 kyats per bottle.
The purified drinking water association in Mawlamyine has agreed to start selling drinking water at 1,000 kyats per bottle beginning from 1 September.
“We have to raise the price of drinking water to raise the wages of workers amid high general costs,” a water supplier in Mawlamyine told Than Lwin Times.
The price of a 1-liter bottle of water and various sizes of bottled water would be increased by 300 or 500 kyats for a pack of bottled water.
A resident of Mawlamyine said, “The price of drinking water has skyrocketed amid high commodity prices, so he has to drink only water from our own well”.
Purified water factories are facing high general costs due to power outages under the military regime because they have to use large generators.
Before the coup, the price of purified water was only around 300 kyats for a 20-liter bottle of water. After the military coup, the price increased from 500 or 700 kyats to 1000 kyats.
There are at least ten purified drinking water factories in Mawlamyaing that distribute and sell it to the surrounding areas on a daily basis.
News-Than Lwin Times
Photo-CJ
Thanlwintimes