No more than 35 per cent of Yangon can be covered in high-rises under a new draft zoning plan that local authorities are pushing to enshrine into law.
State-backed media reported that the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) is making “concerted efforts” to wrap up the draft, drawn up in 2013 and scrutinized by representatives from the business, cultural and social sectors.
Limits on construction in green spaces and industrial zones are also specified in the plan, according to the Global New Light of Myanmar.
Even amid a construction boom in the city over recent years, Yangon lacks regulations governing what can be built where. The city is home to thousands of heritage, colonial-era buildings.
Earlier this year, a review of planned high-rises instituted by the new ruling National League for Democracy party led to confusion and anger among developers, after some were told to cut floors from existing projects.
“The plan is very necessary for Yangon,” Than Htay, head of YCDC’s building engineering department, told the Myanmar Times in May. “It’s difficult to decide on [building] permits. The zoning plan has already fixed that and will arrange what kind of buildings should be in which zone.”
In a comprehensive 152-page strategy for Yangon released yesterday, nonprofit Yangon Heritage Trust advised that the city’s heritage ‘colonial core’ downtown should be preserved, and high-rises limited to the edges of the city.
