After years of mismanagement and short-term planning that have resulted in a clogged, dirty downtown area and insufficient transport infrastructure leading out from the city, town planners have begun working on a 30-year master plan for Yangon.

Both public and private sectors are involved in the planning process, which aims to rehabilitate a city that has suffered under decades of mismanagement and poor planning.

The town plan has a nominal completion date of 2040 and aims to create a blueprint to make Yangon one of Southeast Asia’s most vibrant cities once again.

U Sun Oo, vice chairman of the Association of Myanmar Architects and a participant in the planning process, said: “I warmly welcome the drawing of a new master plan for the city.

“We can create a plan that will reduce chaos and create public spaces for people to enjoy,” he said.

“As far as I can see, there are no public spaces such as convention centres, museums and parks in the downtown area. And I don’t see that developers or planners are thinking of the long term, where the population will increase and pressure will build on streets and car parking.

“Town planning cannot be effective if we look only at the short term,” U Sun Oo said.

He added that the plan should use a multi disciplinary approach that incorporates infrastructure, socioeconomic and aesthetic needs.

“The greater town plan shouldn’t rely on a single disciplinary approach and must think in terms of physical planning and socioeconomic considerations as well,” he said.

He said participants in the planning process include officials from Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), the ministries of Construction, Social Welfare Relief and Resettlement, Science and Technology, Electrical Power, as well as the Association of Myanmar Architects and Myanmar Engineering Society.

U Sun Oo said urban renewal and expansion were key features of the plan.

“We can improve Yangon in two ways: The first is by urban renewal – demolishing whole blocks to make way for green parks or transport infrastructure. And to expand the urban area we need to build ring roads to better connect the centre of the city with Thaketa, South Okkalapa, North Okkalapa, Shwe Pyi Thar, South Dagon and Dagon Seikkan townships,” said U Sun Oo.