A Happy New Year to all and I hope you are having a good start to 2019.
We ended 2018 with a very important milestone in the life and work of NYDC. We presented the first version of the master planning of the New Yangon City at a highly successful Visionary Workshop. The workshop was attended by Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein, committee members from Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), members of the Association of Myanmar Architects, and Myanmar Engineering Society, as well as various stakeholders of NYDC, and a few invited guests.
During the workshop, our consultant for the Master Plan, AECOM, presented the first draft version of the master planning of the city, which incorporated the study on Strategic Flood Risk Assessment, carried out by Royal Haskoning DHV, and the study on Traffic & Transport Planning conducted by Oriental Consultants.
As you can appreciate this is an important step because this Master Plan will dictate what our New Yangon City will look like in the decades to come. It was indeed a lively discussion and we received many constructive advice from participants. The Yangon Chief Minister was also actively participating in answering questions which included flooding, water resource as well as the enhancement of ecological systems and the need for cities to provide recreational areas.
AECOM is working towards the finalisation of the Masterplan along with the other consultants and we should have the next version ready in a few weeks. Subsequently, we will be holding a Town Hall to reveal the final Masterplan for further consultations before it will be adopted. Parallel to the finalization of the Masterplan, we are working hard to prepare for the first NYDC Challenge on the initial infrastructure works which we hope will be ready by the middle of February.
Invest Myanmar Summit 2019
The New Yangon City team will be joining the Yangon Regional Government at the inaugural Invest Myanmar Summit (IMS) 2019 to be held in Nay Pyi Taw on 28 – 29 January 2019. Organized by the Myanmar Investment Commission, DICA and UMFCCI, the event is a collaboration between the Union Government of Myanmar, the Region States of Myanmar and the business community to create a platform for international and local investors to discover the investment potential of Myanmar. Over 120 regional and private business projects worth over USD$3 billion will be showcased at the event.
The New Yangon City project is one of the few projects that will be featured under the Yangon Regional Government projects. During the event, we will be explaining to investors the four key areas which we are looking for investments and for private sector collaboration: Public Transport, Municipal Waste, Convention Center, and Telecommunication.
I will be participating as a panelist on the Closing Plenary, “A Private Sector Perspective – Attracting Foreign Investments to Myanmar” on how Myanmar could transform itself into an attractive FDI destination for foreign investors. At this juncture of time, attracting FDI to assist us in developing our economy is of crucial importance. From infrastructure building to manufacturing, from advancing our technology in agriculture to boosting our export capacity, from uplifting our education systems to improving our healthcare service, every sector could use the advantages brought by responsible FDI to build a better nation.
I hope many of you will be joining us at the www.investmyanmar2019.com on 28 and 29 January at MICC-2 in Nay Pyi Taw.
Regards,
Serge Pun