Small business owners in Magwe division’s Gangaw township have expressed disappointment with municipal authorities who have not provided them the anti-poverty loans that they applied for more than year ago.

A resident in Gangaw said the township’s municipal authorities announced an anti-poverty credit scheme in August 2011 that would provide small businesses with low interest loans.

“In August, 2011, the [municipal authorities] called on small business owners to apply to the loan programme for poverty alleviation,” said a local business owner. “And the loan still hasn’t come yet.”

According to the business owner, each applicant shelled out about 250,000-400,000 Kyat ($293-$469) after paying the necessary taxes and fees and obtaining business licenses.

An official in Gangaw township municipal office denied charging people application fees but said they did have to pay the necessary taxes and commissions. The office said the delay in issuing the loans has been raised with the Rural Development Department in Naypyidaw, which blamed ongoing restructing within the departmental for mishap.

“All we can do is to submit their complaint to the concerned government ministry, “ said the unnamed official. “The concerned ministry told us to direct them to get the loans from the Myanmar Economic Bank.”

Since November 2011, 131 vendors in Gangaw have received micro-loans under poverty alleviation programmes.