RANGOON—A committee reviewing high-rise construction inspected a further 20 buildings in Rangoon last week, and will submit their findings to the divisional cabinet by Thursday.
“We have [looked at] nearly 20 buildings that still haven’t received final approval,” said Ye Min Oo, spokesperson for the committee, which was formed in June to investigate the construction of buildings nine stories or higher which may not fit with the city’s urban planning standards.
Currently, there are 185 high rises under review which earned early-stage approval by Rangoon’s previous government; the 20 units inspected last week were among these projects.
Developers are allowed begin groundwork for construction after receiving this initial approval from either the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) or the Rangoon Division government. But they are required to then seek final approval from the YCDC’s building department in order to proceed with their plans—this involves submitting detailed design layouts to be reviewed.
Ye Min Oo said the committee will forward their findings to the Rangoon government’s cabinet in time for their next meeting, scheduled for Thursday, to seek final decisions on the fate of the 20 buildings in question.
A committee member told The Irrawaddy that many of the high rises in question were found to have inadequate car parking, which was contrary to their original proposed building designs.
“The 20 units we reviewed last week could still fix [the buildings] to meet the requirements, as they are just in the initial stages of construction, like laying the foundation; they haven’t gotten the final approval for constructing the whole building,” Ye Min Oo said.
Last week, the Rangoon regional government ordered 12 high rises currently under construction to perform modifications including reduction of the height of the buildings and improvement of parking facilities, which garnered complaints from the project developers.
