Thingangyun, Hlaing, Mayangon See Most Illegal Constructions
Within the Yangon City Development Committee’s (YCDC) jurisdiction of 33 townships, most of the illegal constructions are located in Thingangyun, Hlaing and Mayangon townships, according to YCDC.
YCDC said very few land owners have proper paperwork in those townships.
According to the regulations, construction is not allowed over three floors if the land owner doesn’t transfer official ownership of the land to their name.
“The sale of land isn’t done with proper documentation. The agreements are done informally. According to the rule, only three-storey buildings are permitted if the land owner doesn’t have their own name on the land grant,” said U Thant Zin Myat, deputy director of the Engineering Department of YCDC.
A Condominium Law dealing with sales of apartments and condos is currently awaiting parliamentary approval. If this law comes to action, it will be safer to buy and sell apartments and condos, said U Thant Zin Myat.
Over 2,000 illegal constructions have been sued under the YCDC building bylaws this year. Among these illegal construction projects, over 700 projects are from Thingangyun, and over 400 constructions are from Hlaing and Mayangone each.
“According to the law, we even have authority to destroy those [illegal] buildings. However we encourage builders to apply for legal construction permits,” said U Thant Zin Myat.
As property and real estate sector saw a boom since 2011, YCDC started examining multi-storey construction projects for compliance to law. YCDC is also in the process of implementing an online application system for licences, according to officials.