YANGON, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will auction off the building of National Library in the first week of February as part of the country's privatization program, local Voice journal reported on Monday.

    The government's Privatization Commission has set a deadline date for Feb. 7 for the bidding of the library building, the commission was quoted as saying.

    The move constitutes part of the government's plan to privatize some state-owned buildings left behind after the move of the administrative capital to Nay Pyi Taw from Yangon in late 2005.

    In June 2007, the government formed a committee, chaired by the minister of National Planning and Economic Development, for auctioning some state-owned buildings remained in the former capital.

    The auction also covers some housing project buildings being implemented under government supervision and related land plots, while some are set to be retained.

    Myanmar is privatizing more and more state-owned enterprises for effective operation and has put 17 more such enterprises under the Ministry of Livestock Breeding and Fisheries and the Ministry of Commerce's Agricultural Produce Trading to be sold out through competitive bidding since last December. They included one ice factory, 10 rice mills and six brand oil mills respectively located in the country's Yangon, Ayeyawaddy and Bago divisions.

    Invitation of applications for the auction was extended to national private individuals and organizations with a deadline date set for Jan. 17 this year, the commission said.

    According to statistics, a total of 237 state-owned enterprises out of 288 proposed from 10 ministries have been privatized in Myanmar as of November last year since the country began implementation of a plan of privatization in 1995.

    The privatization plan covering those enterprises nationalized in the 1960s was introduced in a bid to systematically turn them into more effective enterprises, according to the commission.

    The plan is carried out by auctioning and leasing or establishing joint ventures with local and foreign investors. These enterprises covered by the plan also include textile factories, saw mills, cinemas and hotels.