Yangon New City Project makes few adjustments

 July 10, 2017

The Yangon New City Project will be carried out with collaboration from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), International Finance Corporation (IFC) and foreign loans, said Yangon Region Minister for Electricity, Industry, Road and Communication Daw Nilar Kyaw at the 2nd Yangon Region Hluttaw meeting held on 10 July.

The new city will be built in the area of Twantay, Kyimyindine and Seikkyi Kanaungto in the eastern part of Yangon. The city is estimated to take up 30,000 acres of land.

Daw Nilar Kyaw said the current plan is to accommodate an additional one to two million people within Yangon’s borders. The government has estimated that Yangon will develop into a mega city in the next 10 years. The Yangon New City Project was submitted to the Region Hluttaw as a solution to Yangon’s ever growing population.

Yangon’s population density was 310 people per sq.km in 1973, 387 people per sq.km in 1983 and was 716 people per sq.km in 2014. The population of Yangon is estimated to reach ten million people in the next ten years.

The new city is planned to have its own generation of electricity with its own grid and will be built with a Public Private Partnership (PPP) system. Water supply will also be carried out with a PPP system.

Daw Nilar Kyaw said the new city project will provide solutions for the squatter issue Yangon is currently facing as well as unemployment, clean water distribution, electrification, road congestions and the expensive prices of real estate.

A group called the New Yangon Development Corporation will be formed to assist in the realization of the new city project and the Yangon Region Government will handle full management of the project.

Yangon Region Hluttaw’s Chairperson for Finance, Planning and Commerce Committee Daw Sandar Min said the Hluttaw meeting that investing companies have changed hands for this massive scale project. “A minister came and explained that Hluttaw representatives who wish to discuss this issue with their respective ministries have until noon on 11 July to ask questions. This is not enough time for us. I want to discuss this at the 5th Regional Hluttaw,” said Daw Sandar Min.

The Yangon South West Development Public Company, Business Capital City Ltd and Shwe Popa International Construction Company formed a consortium as developers for the new city project during the previous government’s administration.

In the current government’s administration, the contract with the previous consortium developers was abolished to give private businesses a chance and to develop underdeveloped regions at the same pace.

By Ko Moe

Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar