Yangon City area to be expanded
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The area of Yangon City will be expanded in seven places, adding over 100,000 acres to its area, according to Mayor Hla Myint.
The mayor revealed the plan while submitting the “’Yangon City Development Strategy 2040’ to the Yangon Region parliament yesterday.
Myanmar’s commercial city will be expanded in seven steps in order of priority:
The level of priority is calculated based on trade flows, according to the report.
MP Nyo Nyo Thin from No 2 Bahan Constituency said that she felt uncertain about the idea to expand Yangon because the expansion to the south-west is similar to a controversial town expansion project from last year, which was ultimately cancelled by the regional parliament.
She told media after the parliament meeting: “The cash behind the project is subject to questioning if the project is to be implemented. What if it is black money? A financial crisis is taking place now; the dollar appreciation is uncontrollable.”
The report stressed that the city’s rate of population growth is 2.6 per cent every year and that the city is also home to thousands of homeless people and illegal tenants. The report and suggested that the town expansion is necessary to accommodate the ever-growing number of people in Yangon.
