New Yangon City Project (Burmese: ရန်ကုန်မြို့သစ်စီမံကိန်း; abbreviated NYDC) is a major urban planning project was proposed by the Yangon Region Government, led by chief minister Phyo Min Thein in 2019. Under the process, the initial development proposal drawn up by the Beijing-based China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC).

New Yangon City
LocationYangon Region, Myanmar
Coordinates16°47′40″N 96°04′11″E / 16.794477269257253°N 96.0698285999283°E / 16.794477269257253; 96.0698285999283
Websitenydc.com.mm
Companies
DeveloperNew Yangon Development Company
Technical details
Size4,745 hectares (11,730 acres)
View from Kyimyindaing Township

In 2020, the Myanmar government has invited investors to submit competing proposals against a Chinese company’s proposal to develop an industrial park and related infrastructure for the New Yangon City project. The Myanmar government’s Swiss Challenge Tender Committee announced that   expressions of interest by companies wishing to compete in the “Swiss challenge” tender process to implement the project would be overseen by the German consulting firm Roland Berger. In its announcement, the committee gave interested companies just seven days to submit their expression of interest (EOI), setting a final deadline for submissions of 3:00 pm, on 22 October 2020.

The Myanmar government then received 16 proposals from nine countries, including Japan, Singapore, Italy, Spain and France, to compete against a Chinese company’s proposal for the New Yangon City project. Shortlisted applicants will receive information within seven working days after the deadline for EOI submissions. The information will include details on the industrial park, including the scope of infrastructure work, documents to be submitted and a timeframe for the tender process, according to the committee.

The committee said CCCC has 45 working days to match the winning challenger.

Proposed development

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The proposed area includes 4,745 hectares (11,730 acres) between the Hlaingthaya-Twante motorway and Seikkyi Kanaungto Township. Phase 1, slated for completion by 2020,[1] will include the construction of five villages and townships, two bridges, 26 kilometres (16 mi) main roads, industrial zones, power plants, power distribution facilities and water and sewage treatment plants.[2] Phase 2 will encompass development projects from Dala Township to the Gulf of Martaban.[3] The land is located in a flood-prone area, due to its low-lying elevation, with a maximum elevation of 5 metres (16 ft), vulnerable to cyclonic surges like Cyclone Nargis.[4] The slated areas were previously excluded from development consideration in the 1980s and 1990s by the Ministry of Construction for this reason.[4]

Ownership

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The Yangon Region government incorporated a company, the New Yangon Development Company Limited (NYDC), under the Special Companies Act in 31 March 2018 to undertake this development project as a public–private partnership.[5][6] The Yangon Region government has contributed 10 billion MMK (approximately US$6.5 million) as initial capital toward the company.[2] In April 2018, the NYDC signed a US$1.5 billion framework agreement with the Chinese-owned China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) to build the new city's infrastructure, in exchange for CCCC's right to use of 28 square kilometres (11 sq mi) in the city.[7]

Controversies

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The project has been criticised lack of transparency. In August 2014, Yangon Chief Minister Myint Swe (general), launched a project to develop a US$8 billion, 30,000-acre new city west of Yangon.[8] The project was controversially awarded to an unknown firm, Myanmar Saytanar Myothit Public Company, without a public tender.[9] The project was later tabled due to public anger over controversial ties between the firm and Myint Swe.[9]

The project was later put out to tender, and in January 2016 three companies were chosen to implement a smaller version of the new city project, spread over almost 12,000 acres.

The Yangon Region Parliament previously suspended the proposal. The land prices in neighbouring areas Dala, Twante and Seikkyi Kanaungto had skyrocketed. After 10 months of suspension, it was later approved in June 2015.[10][11] The project include five river-crossing bridges and city infrastructures.[12] The project is not part of the Master Plan proposed earlier by JICA for the development of Yangon City.[13] The preliminary works for Bargayar Aletchaung bridge, one of the five proposed river-crossing bridges, was carried out in March 2016 and so far Yangon South West Development Public, Business Capital City Development Ltd and Shwe Popa International Construction are working in the project.[14][15][16]

After months of speculation, Yangon Region Chief Minister Phyo Min Thein announced that the project would resume at the end of February 2017.[17] CCCC, which has negotiated a framework agreement with YCDC for developing the project, was sanctioned by the World Bank between 2009 and 2017 for fraud and corruption infractions.[6]

References

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  1. ^ "Plenty of political will but no cash for New Yangon project". Nikkei Asian Review. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  2. ^ a b "New Yangon City Phase-1 expected to cost over $ 1.5 bln | Eleven Myanmar". elevenmyanmar.com. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  3. ^ "Yangon's new city vastly ambitious but govt's role called into question". The Myanmar Times. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  4. ^ a b "Experts Raise Alarm Over Flood-Prone Location of 'New Yangon City' Project". The Irrawaddy. 2018-06-18. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
  5. ^ "Development Co to Build New City West of Yangon River". The Irrawaddy. 2018-04-02. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  6. ^ a b "Chinese firm finalises new Yangon city proposal". The Myanmar Times. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
  7. ^ "New Yangon City Chief Grilled Over Chinese Contractor's Reputation". The Irrawaddy. 2019-03-08. Retrieved 2019-03-28.
  8. ^ Lynn, Kyaw Ye. "New life for Yangon's new city". Frontier Myanmar. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  9. ^ a b Mon, Su Myat. "Yangon government committed to controversial 'new city'". Frontier Myanmar. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  10. ^ "Yangon Parliament Endorses Resurrected City Expansion Plan". The Irrawaddy. 2015-06-16. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  11. ^ "Myanmar's controversial new Yangon town expansion project to resume after suspension". Archived from the original on July 13, 2015.
  12. ^ "Three companies submit tenders for Yangon New City Project".
  13. ^ "JICA rejects link between master plan and 'new city' expansion".
  14. ^ "Myanmar go-ahead to three firms for all-new Yangon city project".
  15. ^ "ရန်ကုန်မြို့သစ် စီမံကိန်းတွင်ပါဝင်မယ့် တံတားငါးစင်းအနက် ပထမဆုံးတံတားကို စတင်ဆောက်လုပ်ဖို့ပြင်ဆင်နေ" (in Burmese).
  16. ^ "Real estate rush in Twante township".
  17. ^ "Multi-Billion Dollar Rangoon Southwest Expansion Set to Begin".
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