Yangon Region Legislative Assembly speaker Tin Maung Tun told Mizzima yesterday, 9 February, that the new Yangon assembly would try their best to tackle the issue of alleged squatters in Yangon Region.
Tin Maung Tun was elected as the speaker on the first day of the first session of the second assembly held on 8 February. He was elected as a member of the assembly from Dagon Township constituency 1.
“All assembly legislators will join together to tackle this slum city issue. Our assembly will work with directives given by our party leader and other announcements and news releases,” He said.
Although the Yangon Region legislative assembly said that they would try to tackle the slum city issue, they have not yet said what they intended to do.
Legislators from the National Unity Party (NUP) moved a motion in the first Yangon assembly to tackle the issue of slum cities in Yangon Region but the Region government could not act and just put the motion on record.
In their election manifesto, the NLD promised that they would implement an urban development plan at the earliest date and would strive for the resettlement of homeless people who had migrated to urban areas due to natural disasters, land grabs and for economic reasons.
The number of alleged slum dwellers or squatters has reached over 100,000 in Yangon Region alone and the local government is demolishing slum houses in Mingaladon, Hlinetharyar and Dagon Seikkan townships.
Town planning experts and civil engineers told Mizzima that the government should explore ways of tackling the issue of slum dwellers or homeless people by giving them affordable housing or temporary housing in cooperation with the private sector and construction companies. They should also survey the number of homeless and squatters rather than just demolishing their makeshift houses.