A Newly formed Yangon Region government committee will make its first site visits to review suspended high rise projects today.
U Phyo Min Thein, Yangon Region chief minister, told parliament last week that the government will finish reviewing the projects and start re-issuing construction permits soon. The investigation of project plans and schematics has already finished, and on-site visits start today.
The city’s construction industry has been coping with the fallout from the freeze of around 200 high-rise projects, which YCDC imposed in May. The projects had received varying levels of approval from the previous administration, but the new government is making sure they correspond to Yangon development plans.
More than 60 of the halted projects had received permits and some 120 had already started construction. The committee’s first on-site visits will be to 12 of the 64 projects to receive permits but where construction has not started, U Than Htay, department head of engineering for YCDC, told The Myanmar Times.
The projects are spread across Ahlone, Botahtaung, Hlaing, Kamaryut, Kyeemyindaing, Mayangone, Tarmwe and Yankin townships.
The 13-person committee is chaired by Daw Nilar Kyaw, Yangon regional minister for electricity, industrial and transportation.
The group also includes representatives from the Association of Myanmar Architects, the Myanmar Engineering Society, the Committee for Quality Control for High-rise Building Projects, Yangon Heritage Trust, the Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association, Myanmar Earthquake Committee and YCDC committee members.
Industry figures including architects have express approval of the government’s investigation into high-rise projects. But contractors have complained that the review is taking far too long and is hurting the entire industry.
Developers in Yangon typically sell units through pre-sales, receiving either upfront cash or installments, which they use to fund the project. With construction stopped, buyers refused to pay and cash flows dried up.
Some construction workers lost jobs when projects were initially halted, while others found daily cash wages replaced by rice and oil. Developers warned that skilled workers would start to look elsewhere if the freeze lasted too long.
Some projects bring back skilled Myanmar workers from Singapore on long-term contracts and employ expatriate technicians.
Related businesses dealing in sandstone and cement have seen sales plummet.
U Than Htay previously told The Myanmar Times that the government had no desire to spend a long time scrutinising the projects, but that close inspection was necessary.
Quoted from mmtimes.
