Myanmar’s junta asked the companies that built Naypyitaw to contact them about the massive damage caused by the March 28 earthquake, the regime’s newspapers reported on Saturday.
Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing told an April 18 meeting in Naypyitaw that damaged buildings must be assessed to see if they met construction standards and designs.
The senior general said Naypyitaw’s layout would be redrawn and he called for staff housing to be built to withstand a magnitude 8 earthquake.
The junta’s new Buildings Restoration, Utilization and New Buildings Construction Supervision Committee chaired by Defense Minister General Maung Maung Aye told the companies that built government offices, staff housing and other Naypyitaw structures to get in touch.
A source in Naypyitaw said the companies would be asked to reconstruct the capital.
Naypyitaw’s construction began in 2003 under then-dictator Than Shwe to replace Yangon as the new capital through exclusive contracts awarded to cronies. Naypyitaw was soon dubbed the “city of corruption”.
Than Shwe’s regime never disclosed Naypyitaw’s funding sources or the budget used to construct the capital and Naypyitaw construction sources have spoken of substandard work and systemic corruption.
Naypyitaw reported the second-highest earthquake death toll after Mandalay, with heavy fatalities among government employees and their families as hundreds of staff buildings collapsed.
More than 70 percent of government buildings in Naypyitaw were allegedly damaged by the earthquake, including the presidential residence, parliamentary complex, War Office and other military buildings, various ministries and government staff housing.
The parliamentary complex in Zabuthiri Township was constructed by the Associate of Civil Engineering Construction Group (ACE) between 2005 and 2011, according to the company’s website.
ACE is owned by Tint Hsan, who served as sports minister in Thein Sein’s administration. The company is chaired by his son, Phyo Ko Ko Tint Hsan, who was arrested in 2017 for possession of weapons and drugs. He was sentenced to over 30 years in prison in 2020 under the civilian National League for Democracy government but was released in April 2021, two months after the military coup.
Repair work in many damaged areas in Naypyitaw is reportedly yet to begin.
