There’s a $2bn ‘green’ city rising in Myanmar

The Myanmar government’s ambitious venture with private developers to build a smart city near Yangon’s ring road is being fast-tracked.

The Ministry of Construction, in tandem with Alliance Star Company, will reportedly begin development of the USD2-billion Eco Green City project this year. A final agreement on the project will be signed by the end of February, Deputy Construction Minister U Kyaw Lin revealed to the Myanmar Times.

Set for completion by 2029, Eco Green City sets out to achieve a stated aim of the Yangon Master Plan: the creation of an urban hub with low-cost housing and rental homes by 2040. The project, situated at the periphery of Yangon near the future site of the Hanthawaddy International Airport, is one of four developments eyed by the Urban and Housing Development Department as joint ventures with the private sector.

Although landscaping and construction of the main office building in Eco Green City has already begun, the department has yet to submit project details to the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC), said Daw Moe Thida, deputy director at the Urban and Housing Development Department.

According to Minister of Construction U Han Zaw, the project must be developed “in compliance with the rules and regulations,” the Times noted.

The ministry is formulating a detailed plan of the project with estimates on the value of the project’s benefits to the state.

Eco Green City has been envisioned to yield the equivalent of 4,000 low-cost housing units or about 3,000 affordable housing units on 200 acres of land, U Kyaw Lin revealed to the Times. Implementation of the project will take place across three phases, covering 667.8 acres in the first and 785.32 acres in the second.