Urbanisation plan for Dagon Myothit ready

 

U Than, the adviser, said the farmland in those four townships will be urbanized and developed as new extended townships to Yangon. So, the YCDC and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) agreed to integrate the land development into Strategic Urban Development Plan of the Greater Yangon.

“At the moment, farmers are still using the land for farming. We will compensate them in accordance with the market land price when the implementation begins. We hope to start the implementation next fiscal years (2015-16),” the adviser added.

The development will begin on the land between riverbank of Nga Moe Yeik Chaung and No.2 Main Road and later in East and North of Dagon Myothit.

 “The focus is to increase the population where the population density is very low. Due to the development, Laydaunkan train station will be upgraded to be a major station. The areas closed to the station will be developed into commercial as well as highway express station,” the adviser said.

 The Greater Yangon Strategic Urban Development Plan will focus on the rise of population by 2040, with the first priority to develop urbanisation projects in East Yangon and Thanlyin and secondary is to develop townships like Dala, Hlegu and Shwepyitha, the adviser added.    

Compensation is now a key issue in Yangon as villagers are paid to move out of farmland earmarked for development. 

Farmers near Thadukan industrial zone have been waiting for compensation for over a year from concerned authorities. Against the market price for land in the  Thadukan industrial zone at Ks 350 million-Ks 700 million per acre, some farmers are paid Ks 2.2 million.

 “Thadukan industrial zone was established in 1989 and the DHSHD confiscated 540 acres of farmland from 68 farmers. No compensations were awarded to the farmers,” Tin Win, a farmer leader, said.

Handling the compensation issues are Yangon Region Government, Farmland Investigation Committee-1 (Yangon), the Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development (DHSHD) and Industrial Zone Management Committee of Yangon Region.

During the negotiations with Thadukan industrial zone officials, the farmers demanded that they be paid the current market price for their farmland as compensation. But the farmland investigation committee member, Soe Myint, who is also in charge of Thadukan industrial zone’s compassionate grant committee, promised to pay only K 2.2 million in compensation to the farmers. 

There are 2,339 vacant industrial land plots and 1,299 warehouses covering more than 4,418 acres in 29 industrial zones in Yangon Region. It was learnt that these industrial land plots and warehouses would be given back to the government.

The industrial zone management committee released an announcement, ordering the owners of the vacant industrial land to send a detailed report of what type of enterprise, construction duration, the date to start running the enterprise and investment capital.