Friday, August 24, 2012

Riverside development project envisioned for Mandalay

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Friday, 24 August 2012 13:12 Mizzima News

A new “satellite town” outside Mandalay, Burma’s second largest city in the north, has been proposed by a group of investors, local media reported this week.

Downtown Mandalay Photo: sluj78 / flickr

Project organizers said the development would feature waterfront housing, a hotel zone, a retail area, riverside recreation areas, an industrial zone, warehouse areas, a trading centre and education facilities.

The project, which is looking for financial backers, would be built on a 22,000-acre (8,910 hectares) section of land by a public company headed by Khin Maung Aye, the president of the Cooperative Bank (CB).

So far, the public company has seen 3,000 prospective shareholders join the project, company officials said.

The proposed project, located in the Tada Oo Township, would be 8.8 kilometers from the Mandalay International Airport.

Officials said support is being sought from local landowners. Land prices in the proposed area have increased rapidly since news of the proposed project spread.

In Tada Oo, land prices are ranging from 3.5 million to 30 million kyat (US$ 4,022 to $34,482) per acre, according to reports.

The “New City Project” is near the ancient city of Inwa, about 16 kilometres (10 miles) south of Mandalay.

The government has yet to approve the project, and officials warned that progress is not certain because of high land prices.

Khin Maung Aye met members of Mandalay’s business community in June to pitch the development, which the company said could take 10 years to complete.

If the project gets permission from the government, he said CB Bank would also be an investor in the project.

With an area covering 113 square-kilometers, Mandalay has become the country's economic and cultural hub in the north. The area has attracted a large number of Chinese businesspeople in the past decade.

Most of Burma’s external trade to China and India goes through Mandalay. The city, located 716 kilometres north of Rangoon, is located on the east bank of the Ayeyawaddy River, with a population of nearly 1 million people.

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