Housing project near Yagon downtown to go ahead in spite locals’ objection

A medium-scale public housing project has been planned at 51st street downtown Yangon, the Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development (DHSHD) recently announced.

Old buildings at the site will be reconstructed, and the project, whose deadline is before end of 2015, will create more apartments. It will also include two 100-room hotels and a large parking for 300 cars, according to the announcement.


Some of the residents at the existing housing opposed the plan, while some desire and support it.

“We have been living here for more than 50 years since the construction (of the housing) completed. As our buildings are that old, we agree with the project. But we are afraid of losing our place. We want our place back when the project finishes,” a resident Khin Maung Aye expressed his concern about the project.

The 51st street housing in Botahtaung township was built in 1956 on a land of two and half acres. It consists of 7 four-storey buildings with total 224 rooms of 416 sq ft average space. The new project will renew it to provide 378 rooms of 600 sq ft, the announcement said.

DHSHD is also working on two large-scale housing projects in suburban Dagon Seikkan township. ‘Ayeyawun’ and ‘Yadana’ projects will totally provide 17,000 rooms and the officials named them ‘low-cost housing’ although people voiced the estimate price K 10 million per unit was not an affordable one.

Such housing projects are intended to provide accommodation for the increasing population of Yangon city, which may reach 10 million according to the estimates in the Urban Development Program in Greater Yangon. In Yangon development plan, town planners have advised to increase population density in some parts of the city, especially in currently populated areas.

source: Eleven Myanmar
http://elevenmyanmar.com/business/2430-housing-project-near-yagon-downtown-to-go-ahead-in-spite-locals-objection