Housing department warns squatters to leave project areas

Published on Thursday, 03 January 2013 17:30

A Land to be built a low-cost housing in Dagon Seikkan Township, Yangon (Photo-EMG)

The Department of Human Settlement and Housing Development has warned squatters on January 2 to leave the housing project areas in Dagon Seikkan Township in Yangon region by January 6 at the latest.

Aung Kyaw Oo, director of the department, said that if the squatters do not leave the area after the deadline, the housing department, taking permission from Yangon region government, will start demolishing their houses.

Having planned for two low-cost housing projects in the area, the department held a meeting on January 2 to discuss the issue with stakeholders including the squatters and members of parliament.

The officials said on the occasion that the squatters settling there for years will be entitled to buy the low-cost apartments by installments once the projects are completed.

Statistics show there are around 1,000 houses of squatters in the area, and people who have lived there since before 2010 can buy the low-cost apartments with priority, Aung Kyaw Oo said.

The squatters informed the authorities over the discussion session that new faces had recently come up and built huts in the area to take undue advantage of the situation, imposing themselves as squatters to seek benefits.

The officials declared those imposters erecting huts now in the project areas will not be entitled any benefits but will be prosecuted.

The two housing projects, named ‘Ayeyarwun’ and ‘Yadana’, will occupy more than 220 acres of land where 64 housing buildings will be built.

The projects are expected to take three years to complete, and the price for an average apartment is about 10 million kyats (US$11,400).