Myanmar Divides “New Yangon” To Generate Investor Competition

• Samphors Sao
• 21 September 2020
• Construction Focus
• 3102 Views

Photo by​ UK-ASEAN Business Council

The government of Myanmar has divided its “New Yangon City” commercial development project to generate competition against the giant Chinese-government backed contractor responsible.

New Yangon City was planned as an 8,100-hectare industrial-commercial zone on the Yangon River costing around US$8bn. Conceived by Aecom, two bridges, a 13-sq-km industrial estate and commercial and residential buildings comprised the initial design.

In 2018, the Myanmar government signed a US$1.5bn agreement with state-owned contractor China Communications Construction Company (CCCC). A loophole remained for other bidders, but interest stalled given the investment required.

On 29 July, Myanmar Investment Minister U Thaung Tun announced the splitting of the project into smaller schemes to encourage more investors and to adhere to international best practice and transparency. The move also effectively reduced concerns that one​Chinese company would have control of the entire project, estimated to eventually comprise an area of 60,000 hectares, twice the size of Singapore.

• Projects Development
• Road and Infrastructure