The Burmese government will spend almost US$40 million to alleviate water shortages across the country, an official at the Ministry of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development told Mizzima. Director General Soe Ko Ko said the government was allocating 38 billion kyat in coming months to spend on projects aimed at preventing future water shortages ,which hit during the hot and dry months from March to May, Mizzima reported. “In some places, we dig wells and reservoirs; in mountainous areas, we make springs and in some places we repair old wells and reservoirs,” Soe Ko Ko was quoted saying.