Robust cities 'key' to sustainable growth

The development of Myanmar’s cities will play a crucial role in ensuring sustainable economic growth for the country as a whole, government officials and experts agree.

“The development of the rural sector will not be sustainable unless we have the urban development that it can depend on,” Sett Aung, vice governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar and chairperson of the Thilawa Special Economic Zone Management Committee, told the Myanmar Urban Development Conference in Yangon late last month.

He added that links between rural and urban areas are becoming increasingly vital for comprehensive development in the country. Urban development creates a wholesale and retail market for local and foreign investors alike, he said. 

 “Whenever we talk about investment, in many developing countries as well as underdeveloped countries, we have been so much constrained by the lack of infrastructure development.”

He emphasised the importance of both soft and hard infrastructure in making efforts to strengthen the nation’s economic growth.

“Urban development can be possible within a short period of time, provided we have the right technology, right technical knowhow, and the right financing. However, the soft infrastructure that is desperately needed for s favourable investment climate is very difficult create,” said Sett Aung. 

As chairman of Thilawa SEZ and former Deputy Minister for National Planning and Economic Development, he said the economic zone can show how this can take shape, serving as a test case for the government’s decentralisation policy. While hard infrastructure will be in place soon, soft infrastructure will follow. 

 “Once it is proven to be very successful, then it can be replicated in many other areas.”

All companies operating in the zone are required to follow a special set of rules and regulations, drafted with help from international experts. Investors are welcomed to share their opinions, advice and comments – considered “the software” that the country needs to meet international standards. 

Chua Wee Phong, chairman of Sphere Conferences, which organised the conference, expressed the need for urban planning, particularly in Yangon.

 “In Yangon, land prices in the city centre range between US$1,000 to $3,000 per square foot, while land in prime areas outside the city centre fetch between $800 to $1,500. Many Myanmar businessmen and developers are riding on the property boom to develop new residential and commercial buildings.”

Construction Minister Kyaw Lwin said that Myanmar has committed to strengthen such areas as electricity, water supply, agricultural, employment, trade and investment. 

“It is undeniable that most of the priority areas are related to urban development,” said the minister.

“Our government has taken incremental steps towards urbanising Yangon, gradually upgrading and formalising informal settlements, working towards a steady supply of electricity for the people, and the establishment of the Construction and Housing Development Bank, to name a few. There remains much to be done.”