Rangoon regional assembly on Monday began inviting tender bids from large-scale Burmese developers for a new town plan to be located west of the city centre.
Application forms will be available until 21 July, and submitted tenders will be opened and analysed on 18 August, state media reported on Tuesday.
The new town plan project, designed in coordination with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, is set to be founded on 11,716 acres of land between the Panhlaing River and the Twante-Yangon Canal, west of the Hlaing River.
“The new town plan is one of seven modern housing projects of the Greater Yangon Development Strategic Plan 2040,” reported state-run Global New Light of Myanmar on 14 July. “The seven modern housing projects will be established on more than 100,000 acres of land on the outskirts of Yangon [Rangoon] and accommodate more than 10 million people.”
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Nicknamed the ‘New Town’, ‘New City’ or ‘New Rangoon’ development, the project has been shrouded in controversy since it was first unveiled last year.
On 22 August, the chief minister of Rangoon announced the multi-billion-dollar real estate development contract had been given to a previously little-known developer. Following widespread criticism and media scrutiny of the secretive deal, the Rangoon government quickly rescinded the contract and announced that a competitive bidding process for the contract would be held.
