Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing looks set to add to his already sizable fortune as regime crony U Aung Myo Min Din, who has deep ties to the coup leader and his family, is involved in Russia-backed luxury housing projects and tourism in Rakhine Promotional plan for Bang’s famous Ngapali beach.
The Russo-Myanmar Association for Friendship and Cooperation (RMAFC) signed a memorandum of understanding with Treasure of Ngapali Development Co. Ltd. (a local company the junta says) to develop a luxury beachfront condominium project and collaborate in the prestigious tourism sector Feb. On the 4th, RMAFC Deputy Chairman Anatoly Bulochnikov attended the event.
Hotelier U Aung Myo Min Din, the founder of Amazing Hotels & Resorts Group and chairman of the Myanmar Hoteliers Association and Ngapali Hotel District Committee, is behind the project, sources said.
While the junta described Treasure of Ngapali Development Co. Ltd. as “local,” Bulochnikov and another Russian citizen were listed as directors of the company, according to the Directorate General of Investments and Companies (DICA). The company is also active in forestry and logging, mining support services, specialty construction and motor vehicle trading.
“Nowadays, Ngapali would not have been able to achieve such development without his (U Aung Myo Min Din) participation,” said a local businesswoman who owns hotels in Ngapali and Miao U.
The project could even be developed on land he owns in Ngapali, she said.
U Aung Myo Min Din’s Minor Myanmar Co. Ltd. and Amazing Hotels and Resorts Co. Ltd. have long leased the 15-acre (6-hectare) land in Nupali from the military, trading since 2007, according to the Ministry of Defense.
U Aung Myo Min Din, 53, who owns the Amazing Ngapali Resort Hotel and Ngapali Golf Club, is preparing to build another hotel on 10 acres of land in Ngapali. Locals and hotelier sources said it would be a new addition to his Ananta hotel chain, which includes Ananta Inlay Resort Hotel in Nyaung Shwe and Ananta Bagan Hotel Myanmar in World Heritage Bagan.
Before 2010, U Aung Myo Min Din reportedly operated a travel company, Adventure Myanmar Travel, and four hotels, including Hotel Amazing Kaytu, in Toungoo, Pego. Yet Amazing Hotels & Resorts Group has become the most successful hotelier in Myanmar’s hospitality industry since coup leader Min Aung Hlaing became military chief in 2011. From 2011 to 2018, his business grew to include 12 Amazing-branded hotels and resorts, an unusually rapid expansion for Myanmar, where obtaining bank loans and raising capital has been extremely difficult. These multimillion-dollar luxury hotels are located in the country’s most popular destinations, including the commercial capital Yangon, Mandalay and many beaches.
His ties to the Min Aung Hlaing family date back to when he was a high school student with Daw Kyu Kyu Hla, the wife of the army chief of staff, and many believe paved the way for his later success. Business sources told The Irrawaddy that U Aung Myat Mintin was a favorite of Min Aung Hlaing’s family because he was well-mannered and hard-working.
“Every businessman knows who they can get big money from and who can help expand their business in Myanmar in a short period of time,” said a tour operator.
Hotel industry sources also said that Min Aung Hlaing’s son, Aung Pyae Sone, invested in the Ananta hotel chain. Given this connection, it is thought that Min Aung Hlaing’s family was likely involved in the recently signed Russian-backed deal for a luxury residential project and tourism promotion at Ngaburi Beach.
U Aung Myo Min Din has previously denied having the support of the junta chief and his family.
He is also one of the few hoteliers allowed to operate casinos in Myanmar. His Hotel Marvel in Mandalay has been running a casino since early 2022, a year after the coup, according to sources in the city.
The Adventure Myanmar Group of U Aung Myo Min Din and his wife Daw Aye Aye Myint won the tender to rent out the hotel in 2013 for more than $400,000 a year. At the time, he was able to sign a 30-year lease for the Mandalay area with a government led by the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) government.
“Most of the people who go there (Hotel Marvel) to visit the casino are Chinese citizens who come as tourists. Some people live in Mandalay for business,” said a travel agent who arranged for Chinese who wanted to gamble. Transportation to Marvel Hotel.
But he has many other companies and businesses.
As far as Irrawaddy knows, founding the Adventure Myanmar Group of Companies was the first step in starting a business for U Aung Myo Min Din and his wife, Daw Aye Aye Myint, and most of their other companies in the years and decades that followed.
According to DICA, the group has been active in agriculture, crude oil and gas extraction, mining and quarrying, manufacturing of refined petroleum products, basic pharmaceutical products, construction, auto trade and telecommunications. His practice has expanded nationally in these sectors as well as in hospitality and tourism. His companies in these other sectors include AMG Transport Company Limited, SV Resort Company Ltd., Min Din Company Ltd. and Minor Myanmar Co. Ltd.
From 2015, he expanded his business by founding other companies namely Amaztel Company Limited, Safety Plus Myanmar Company Limited, Aung Myanmar Min Company Limited and Great Arts & Development International Company Limited.
In the latter, he was joined by two others as a director of the major shareholder of Hantharwady Development Public Company, which is seeking state approval to invest a total of about US$184 million in mixed-use land developments including housing and industrial projects in the Bago area.
Revolutionary fighters and activists against the junta say people like U Aung Myat Mintin are clearly becoming the breadwinners of Min Aung Hlaing and those around him.
“As long as they cooperate with the junta, they are funding the junta so that they can continue to oppress and slaughter the people,” said U Nay Zin Lat, a committee member representing the Lok Sabha.
As chairman of the Myanmar Hoteliers Association, U Aung Myat Mindin’s role in generating foreign exchange for the cash-strapped regime through tourism became more apparent last year.
U Htay Aung, the junta’s Minister of Hotels and Tourism, discusses with U Aung Myo Min Din and some other major hoteliers at the Myanmar Hoteliers Association’s annual meeting in Nay Pyi Taw on April 25, 2022. At the meeting, Aung Myinttin promised to overcome challenges facing the hotel and tourism industries under the leadership of the junta, state media reported.
Then in January this year, U Aung Myo Min Din was one of the prominent and powerful cronies invited by Min Aung Hlaing to attend the recent Independence Day commemoration in Nay Pyi Taw Activity.
For observers monitoring the activities of Myanmar’s junta cronies, it was a sign that U Aung Myo Min Din — once the new kid in town — was no longer just a hotelier with ties to the junta leader’s family , but has become a key figure in the regime’s cronies and pillars. The latest agreement with the Russians in Ngapali may soon provide further evidence.
