YCDC set a deadline to move Myanmar’s biggest car trading market,
Hantharwady, to former vegetable market Thiri Mingalar on February 20.
The trading square has been earmarked by the city for building a
department store, residential apartments, automobile showrooms and a
public car park, after YCDC sold it to Shwe Taung Development Company
for the project in March 2012.
There are 22 food and tea shops
and more than 100 small shops selling snacks and betel chew at
Hantharwady. The deposit for food and tea shops is K240,000 a room; most
occupants renting have put down their deposit in 2001. If YCDC returns
the deposit money on a lease, the tenant can no longer claim a legal
relationship with YCDC and must vacate the property.
“Eight staff
from YCDC came to the square and called all the shops to take back
their deposit money on [February 25]... Nobody signed for their deposit
except for two small shops selling snacks and betel,” said U Nay Min
Thit, owner of Super Matta food and tea shop.
“We have to pay
monthly room fees plus a rubbish tax, a shade tax and city development
tax. But YCDC hasn’t accepted our monthly room fees ever since March
2012, when they released their tender for redevelopment through state
media. We have been so worried since last year and now it’s finally
happened [that we have to leave the area],” he said.
On February
16, YCDC announced that occupants must remove all automobiles from the
trading square and vacate all shops and automobile service centres by
February 20. But residents and business owners living and trading at
Hantharwady met with YCDC officials after protesting for more
transparency over the deadline.
Following a meeting between YCDC
officials and leaders from the anti-relocation committee on the same
day, YCDC introduced the new “Yangon Car Plaza” plan. YCDC announced
they will construct apartments and a car park with a capacity for 600
vehicles to accommodate residents, and 52 automobile car showrooms for
trading. They would also build a public car park that can house 600
vehicles, YCDC said.
“There is no plan for shops in this new
project. So far, they are only thinking of implementing their project
and have given us promises [YCDC] is not sure of. They said they will
relocate shops here to another place, but they can’t tell us where and
how. Now, some automobiles have already been relocated to Thiri Mingalar
market, the space we were promised, but not all of them are from
Hantharwady. Some of those automobiles are from Min Ye Kyaw Swa Street,
because they can’t find space in a trading square,” said U Min Ko Oo,
chairman of the anti-relocation committee.
More than 1000
residents and business owners at Hantharwady signed a petition against
YCDC in February and sent letters expressing their concerns to President
U Thein Sein, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s Committee for Rule of Law and
Tranquility, the Yangon mayor’s office and ministers for YCDC on
February 25.
Demonstrators in support of the anti-relocation
committee continued to protest on February 26, 27, and 28. However, YCDC
closed all entry points to Hantharwady on the morning of March 1 and refused to allow car trading, cutting off traders’ access to cars that were parked in the square’s lot overnight.
Twenty
thousand protestors gathered outside the square on March 1 to
demonstrate against YCDC, while Myanma Central Association for
Automobile Purchase and Selling (Yangon) prepared letters to policy
makers.
source: The Myanmar Times
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