Myanmar real estate news

Yangon needs smart urban planning: experts


Myanmar real estate news Smart planning is urgently needed to accommodate millions of people expected to move to Yangon over the next 20 years and to rebalance existing population densities, urban development experts say.

The city’s population is expected to rise from 5 million in 2012 to an estimated 14.25 million in 2042, and 18.48 million in 2052, said U Toe Aung, deputy director of Yangon City Development Committee’s Department of City Planning and Land Administration.

“We need to enlarge and develop new cities in time for that increasing population,” he said during a May 27 seminar at BuildTech Yangon 2016.

But mere expansion is not enough without better balance, he added. Every day, 40pc of employees commute to the central business district in downtown Yangon. To relieve the resulting congestion, it is necessary to rebalance the distribution of population, he said.

“If a secondary business district were established, population density, overcrowding and congestion would be reduced. According to a YCDC survey, population density downtown exceeds 365.5 people per acre, but is only 10 people per acre uptown.”

More than half Yangon’s population is in the lower income bracket, so effective and efficient housing policy is an urgent necessity, said U Toe Aung.

“The government is responsible for looking after the long-term interests of the community, so that future generations will inherit a city which is convenient and pleasant to live in,” he said. An urban blueprint for the city recommends the creation of seven new satellite towns, over 118,732 acres. “Land-use policies have to be established for those new cities. Many existing townships in Yangon already lack public spaces, and the new cities should have playgrounds, parks, schools, hospitals and all the necessary infrastructure,” he added.

There is a particular need for additional housing in Thilawa special economic zone, where dozens of new factories are being built, he said.

“We need to build a new city near Thilawa, in Thanlyin township, for the 20,000 workers we expect to move there,” he said. “We will need a new seaport near Thilawa otherwise the traffic from the existing port will be too heavy,” he said, adding, “To build a new city is not easy. It cannot be done by a single developer, but we can divide each new city into zones to be developed separately.”

Urban expert U Kyaw Latt said much of uptown Yangon is unoccupied land that could be used to rebalance the city’s population distribution.




Quoted from mmtimes.