New Yangon City Project (; abbreviated NYDC) is a major

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

project was proposed by the

Yangon Region Yangon Region (, ; formerly Rangoon Division and Yangon Division) is an administrative region of Myanmar. Located in central Myanmar, the region is bordered by Bago Region to the north and east, the Gulf of Martaban to the south, and Ayeyarwady ...

Government, led by chief minister

Phyo Min Thein Phyo Min Thein (; born 13 April 1969) is a Burma, Burmese politician and former political prisoner who served as Chief Minister of Yangon Region and Yangon Region Hluttaw, Yangon Region Parliament from 2016 to 2021. He also served as an Member of ...

in 2019. Under the process, the initial development proposal drawn up by the Beijing-based China Communications Construction Co. Ltd. (CCCC). View From Kyee Myin Dine

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

The proposed area includes between the Hlaingthaya-

Twante Twante Township also Twantay Township (, ) is a township in the Yangon Region of Burma (Myanmar). It is located west across the Hlaing River from the city of Yangon. The principal town and administrative seat is Twante. The township is home to t ...

motorway and Seikkyi Kanaungto Township. Phase 1, slated for completion by 2020, will include the construction of five villages and townships, two bridges, main roads, industrial zones, power plants, power distribution facilities and water and sewage treatment plants. Phase 2 will encompass development projects from

Dala Township Dala or Dalla Township (, ) is located on the southern bank of Yangon river across from downtown Yangon, Myanmar. The township, made up of 23 wards and 23 village tracks (including 50 villages), is bounded by the Yangon River in the north and east ...

to the

Gulf of Martaban The Gulf of Martaban () or the Gulf of Mottama is an arm of the Andaman Sea in the southern part of Myanmar (Burma). The gulf is named after the port city of Mottama (formerly known as Martaban). The Sittaung, Salween and Yangon rivers empty in ...

. The land is located in a flood-prone area, due to its low-lying elevation, with a maximum elevation of , vulnerable to cyclonic surges like

Cyclone Nargis Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis (; , ) was an extremely destructive and deadly tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar during early May 2008. The cyclone made landfall in Myanmar on Friday ...

. The slated areas were previously excluded from development consideration in the 1980s and 1990s by the Ministry of Construction for this reason.

Ownership

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 A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sectors, private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Revie ...

. The Yangon Region government has contributed 10 billion MMK (approximately US$6.5 million) as initial capital toward the company. In April 2018, the NYDC signed a US$1.5 billion framework agreement with the Chinese-owned

China Communications Construction Company China Communications Construction Company, Ltd. (CCCC) is a Chinese majority state-owned, publicly traded, multinational engineering and construction company primarily engaged in the design, construction, and operation of infrastructure assets, ...

(CCCC) to build the new city's infrastructure, in exchange for CCCC's right to use of in the city.

Controversies

The project has been criticised lack of transparency. In August 2014, Yangon Chief Minister

Myint Swe (general) Myint Swe (; ; born 5 June 1950) is a Burmese politician and retired army officer who has been Vice President of Myanmar since 30 March 2016 and previously served as Acting President of Myanmar from 1 February 2021 to 22 July 2024. He also ...

, launched a project to develop a US$8 billion, 30,000-acre new city west of Yangon. The project was controversially awarded to an unknown firm, Myanmar Saytanar Myothit Public Company, without a

public tender Government procurement or public procurement is the purchase of goods, works (construction) or services by the state, such as by a government agency or a state-owned enterprise. In 2019, public procurement accounted for approximately 12% of GDP ...

. The project was later tabled due to public anger over controversial ties between the firm and Myint Swe. 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,

and Seikkyi Kanaungto had skyrocketed. After 10 months of suspension, it was later approved in June 2015. The project include five river-crossing bridges and city infrastructures. The project is not part of the Master Plan proposed earlier by

JICA The Japan International Cooperation Agency (), also known as JICA'','' is a governmental agency that delivers the bulk of Official Development Assistance (ODA) for the government of Japan. It is chartered with assisting economic and social gro ...

for the development of Yangon City. 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. After months of speculation, Yangon Region Chief Minister

announced that the project would resume at the end of February 2017. 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.

References

External links

* Yangon {{Burma-struct-stub