9 October

PLOTS  of  land  owned  by  the  Yangon Region government will be  sold  in  three  phases  for  the  purpose  of  setting  up  industrial  businesses  and  public  housing,  said  U  Than,  the  Joint  Secre-tary of the Yangon City Develop-ment Committee (YCDC). “The land  management  committee  will  sell  over  500  plots  of  land  in  Hlinethaya,  Shwepyitha,  and  four Dagon townships in Phase 1;  over  180  plots  from  Myaung-tagar  Industrial  Zone  will  be  sold  in  Phase  2;  and,  over  9,000  acres,  which  were  previously  marked  as  agricultural  zone,  in  East Dagon and Dagon Seikkan townships will be put on sale in Phase 3,” said U Than. “Over 500 land  plots,  which  will  be  sold  in  Phase 1, are not newly developed or designated by the regional gov-ernment. Instead, they are plots that remained undeveloped when new  townships  were  created  in  Hlinethaya, Shwepyitha, and four Dagon  townships.  Urban  and  housing  projects  have  still  not  been implemented on the plots. 

Therefore, the regional gov-ernment has been authorized to manage those land plots, and it plans to sell them,” said U Than.

“Land-use   applications   for  500  land  plots  were  sold  on  7  October  at  the  office  complex  of  the  General  Administration  Department  (Eastern  District),  and  the  applications  have  to  be  submitted  on  8  November,”  he added.

The  Land  Management  Committee will screen the ap-plications  and  sell  the  plots  to  selected individuals and organ-izations for setting up business-es and housing projects. 

“Some  are  competitive  in  applying  for  a  particular  land  plot.  We  will  systematically  screen their applications. Some applications have been attached with the capital statements and project  plans.  The  committee  will screen the proposals, select the  individuals  and  organiza-tions, and forward their names to the regional government. 

The land plots will be sold only  with  the  approval  of  the  regional government,”  said  U  Than.

The lands on sale have the grant deed, said Yangon Mayor U Maung Maung Soe. “Their sale is not for profit. When we get the authorization to sell the lands, we would pre-fer  to  sell  them  to  individuals  and organizations for housing. As the land is being sold by the regional  government,  it  will  have  full  guarantee,”  said  U  Maung Maung Soe. 

The plots that are slated to be sold were previously seized by  the  government,  and  com-pensation had not been awarded to their original owners. 

Therefore,  to  compensate  the  original  farmland  owners,  the lands are being sold again. 

At present, there are over 3,000 cases with the Yangon Re-gion government’s Committee for  Scrutinizing  Confiscated  Farmlands  and  Other  Lands.  Compensation  of  K6.9  billion  was given to farmers on 28 Sep-tember.  In  the  2019-2020  fiscal  year,  compensation  of  K31  bil-lion  would  be  provided  to  the  original farmland owners.    

(Translated  by  Ei  Myat  Mon)
By Nyein Nyein