Yangon

The Japan International Corporation Agency is working on a master plan to completely re-develop Yangon’s crumbling infrastructure.

The plan will tackle areas such as transportation, sewage, water and the city’s waste.

One of the biggest concerns is the traffic. Every day hundreds of thousands of people wait for hours in long traffic jams.

Every day bus driver Zaw Lin Aung tries to navigate through the congested streets of Yangon.

It’s hot, noisy and his bus is always overcrowded. He must wait for hours in mile-long queues along with, it seems, every other person in the city.

“Many city buses come to town; there are more and more taxies. This is why the roads are so blocked.”

Fed up of the traffic problem Zaw Lin Aung set up a Transportation Workers Union to work out ways to improve the traffic. “The city buses should be replaced with smaller minibuses. Then highway systems should be established. We need a master traffic plan.”

About 5 million people live in Yangon and that’s expected to rise to 10 million by 2030. The city won’t be able to support a population of that size, says taxi driver Ko Tun.

“In other developing countries, like Korea, they started with transportation. Then economic benefitscame afterwards.”

Recently the Japan International Corporation Agency said they are working with the Myanmar government to create a master plan to completely re-develop Yangon’s crumbling infrastructure. They aim to develop areas such as traffic, water, sewage, waste and the environment.

First on the list is the traffic and improving public transport. JICA, with the government, want to build a Bus Rapid Transit system to ease the congestion. In the plans, Yangon’s old circular railway will be renovated and become an integral part of the city’s transport system. The plan will also cover improving parking laws. Short term plans include training bus drivers.

Hla Aung is the President of Rangoon Committee of Motor Vehicles. “So they follow the traffic rules and communicate with the people.”

The Master Plan will cost an estimated 25 billion US dollars and developers hope it will be completed by 2040. It’s still in the initial stages but, if it is successful, will completely transform and modernise the city.