Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems (DWIR)

Waterways Department was organized and founded in 1972 by combining the Dredging and River Conservancy sections of Department of Marine Administration, Ministry of Transport and Communication and parts of Hydrographic Surveying section of Port Corporation, Ministry of Transport and Communications.

In 1999, the Department was extended and reorganized as the Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems.

As the part of cooperation between Myanmar and the Netherland according to the MoU for cooperation in the field of Integrated Water Resources Management signed in May 2013, the second Joint Steering Committee (JSC) between Myanmar and Netherlands was held and Multiannual Working Plan was signed on 17th November 2014 at DWIR office in Yangon, Myanmar. Mr. Peter Heij, NL Competent Authority of the MoU, Director General of the Directorate for Spatial Development and Water Affairs, the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, handed over the Executive Summary of Myanmar Integrated Water Resources Management Strategic Study “From Vision to Acction” to U Htun Lwin Oo, Myanmar Competent Authority of the MoU, Secretary of National Water Resources Committee - NWRC, Director General of the Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River Systems, Ministry of Transport.

Element of the Working Programme identified for the cooperation between Myanmar and the Netherlands are -

1. IWRM data collection, information and modelling activities;
2. Capacity building (Universities and training facilities);
3. Knowledge transfer and advice by High Level Expert Team IWRM;
4. Strategic study on implementation of IWRM and follow-up activities in Myanmar;
5. From identification of possibilities for concrete projects “no regret” to ‘learning by doing projects’.