📰 Naypyidaw · page 2

Landmark

Main article: Uppatasanti Pagoda* Similar in size and shape to the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, Uppatasanti Pagoda was completed in 2009.[43] This new pagoda is named the Uppatasanti or "Peace Pagoda". The stake-driving ceremony for the pagoda was held on 12 November 2006.[44] The invitation card for the ceremony opened with a phrase "Rajahtani Naypyidaw (the royal capital where the king resides)".[45] The pagoda is just 30 cm shorter than the Shwedagon Pagoda.[46] Uppatasanti translates roughly to "Protection against Calamity". It is the name of a sūtra prepared by a monk in the early 16th century. It is to be recited in time of crisis, especially in the face of foreign invasion.[47]

Administration

The Naypyidaw Union Territory is administered at both the State/Region level, and as a municipality at the local level under two different governing bodies.84 Naypyidaw is one of three cities in the country to have municipal governance, the others being Yangon and Mandalay.[48]85

Naypyidaw Council (NPTC) is the regional administrative body of the territory, and is under the direct supervision of the President of Myanmar.[49]86 The council is appointed by the President, and must have no less than 5 and no more than 10 members and include both civilians and military personnel.87 The Chairperson becomes the ex-officio Mayor, and the Head of the General Administration Department (GAD) of the territory becomes the Secretary of the council.[49][50]88 Matters under the jurisdiction of the Council include: general planning, coordination of internal security, nature conservation, emergency management, oversight of civil service organisations within the territory, and any other duties assigned to it by the constitution or law.[49]89

Naypyidaw Development Committee (NPTDC) is the local government body of the territory.90 The committee is appointed by the President, and must have at least 5 members, but no more than 9.[51]91 The Chairperson of the Committee becomes the Mayor of Naypyidaw, the vice-chairman becomes the Vice-Mayor, and the Head of Office becomes the Joint Secretary of the committee.[51]92 Because both laws make the chair of the Council and Committee the mayor, the same person holds both offices.93 Matters under the jurisdiction of the Committee include: urban planning, land-use planning, planning permission, traffic management, various public works (sewage treatment, water supply, sanitation, roads, bridges, drainage, etc.), and other local competencies.[51]94 Unlike the NPTC which must request funding for its budget from the Union government, the committee is permitted to levy taxes to fund its work.[51]95

The current mayor is Dr. Maung Maung Naing, appointed as the Chair of Naypyidaw Council on 2 February 2021.[52]96 Dr. Myo Aung of the National League for Democracy party served as Mayor from his appointment on 1 April 2016, until his arrest on 1 February 2021, during the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.[53][54]97

Administrative divisions

Naypyidaw Union Territory consists of 2 districts subdivided into 8 townships.98 Pyinmana, Lewe, and Tatkone townships were all formerly part of Yamethin District in Mandalay Region.99 Ottarathiri, Dekkhinathiri, Popphathiri, Zabuthiri, and Zeyathiri are all new townships under construction.100 Like the townships in the rest of the country, they are governed by a development affairs organisation (DAO) which includes a Township Administrator appointed by the General Administration Department, and an elected Township Development Affairs Committee (TDAC).[48]101

• Ottara District102
• Ottarathiri Township (ဥတ္တရသီရိ မြို့နယ်, from Pali ')103
• Pobbathiri Township (ပုဗ္ဗသီရိ မြို့နယ်, from Pali ')104
• Tatkone105
• Zeyarthiri Township (ဇေယျာသီရိ မြို့နယ်, from Pali ')106
• Dekkhina District107
• Dekkhinathiri Township (ဒက္ခိဏသီရိ မြို့နယ်, from Pali ')108
• Lewe Township109
• Pyinmana Township110
• Zabuthiri Township (ဇမ္ဗူသီရိ မြို့နယ်, from Pali ')111

There is sometimes some controversy about land use and changes in land ownership related to the urban spread of Naypyidaw.112 In late 2014, for example, there were suggestions in parliament that land grabs were occurring near the Dekkhinathiri Township and that existing laws needed to be amended to provide better protection for farmers.[55]113 There has also been criticism from some members of parliament about the size of the Naypyidaw Union Territory and the fact that money is being spent on urban infrastructure (such as lighting around lakes) although the facilities do not attract much use.[56]114

Transport

Roads

The four-lane, 323.2 km Yangon-Naypyidaw highway links Naypyidaw with Yangon directly and is part of the 563 km Yangon-Naypyidaw-Mandalay Expressway.115 There is a 20-lane boulevard.116 Like most roads in the city, it is largely empty.[32][57]117 Naypyidaw has four-lane roads and multilevel, flower-covered roundabouts (traffic circles).118

Air

Nay Pyi Taw International Airport, also known as Ayelar Airport, opened in December 2011 and is 16 km south-east of the city, between the towns of Ela and Lewe.119 It has been served by all domestic airlines—Air Bagan, Air Mandalay, Myanmar National Airlines, FMI Air and Yangon Airways—with regular flights to Yangon and other cities across the country.[58]120 According to the Transport Ministry, the airport has a 3.6 km long runway, a control tower 69 m high and handle up to 65,000 flights annually.[59]121 Airlines from Thailand and China used to serve international flights in the past, but the airport now caters only to local destinations.122

Buses and taxis

Public transport services are limited between neighbourhoods.[27]123 Government ministries run shuttle buses in the morning and evening to their respective buildings.[60]124

The city has a central bus station[3] and one taxi company, which is operated by the military.[27]125 Motorbikes are banned from some roads in Naypyidaw city limits, including sections of Taw Win Yadana Road, as a result of hundreds of traffic accident-related deaths in 2009.[61]126

Railways

Further information: Myanmar Railways

Naypyidaw Central railway station was opened at milepost No. (233/0), between Ywataw station and Kyihtaunggan station on the Yangon–Mandalay Railway with a station area of 9000 x 4000 ft and a covered area of 826.5 acre.127 Construction began on 8 December 2006 and Naypyidaw railway station was opened on 5 July 2009, even though the overpass, locomotive shed, concrete road leading up to the station, parking lot, passenger lounge and platform were not completed.[62]128

Before the opening of Naypyidaw railway station, Naypyidaw was served by Pyinmana and Lewe stations, though only Pyinmana station is on the main rail line (which extends from Yangon-Bago-Naypyidaw-Thazi-Mandalay).129 Lewe station is on the way from Pyinmana to Kyaukpadaung.130 It takes nine hours by train to get from Yangon to Pyinmana; trains leave at 12:00 and arrive at 21:30 local time.[63]131

In August 2011, Russian news media announced that a Russian-based firm would be constructing a 50 km metro line, which would be the country's first underground rail system, underneath Naypyidaw.[64][65]132 However, the Rail Transportation Ministry then announced that the plan had been cancelled due to lack of demand and budgetary limits.[66]133

Education and research

Higher education

Yezin (a few kilometers north-east of Naypyidaw and Pyinmana)134

• Yezin University of Veterinary Science135
• Yezin Agricultural University136
• Yezin University of Forestry137

Nay Pyi Taw138

• University of Technology [67][68]139
• Naypyitaw State Academy140

Research

• Forest Research Institute (FRI), Yezin141
• Department of Agricultural Research (DAR), Yezin142
• Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute (SABRI)[69]143

Healthcare

The city is served by five public hospitals: 1000-bed Naypyidaw General Hospital, Naypyidaw Women Hospital, Naypyidaw ENT Hospital, 100-bed Naypyidaw Traditional Medicine Hospital, and Naypyidaw Orthopaedic Hospital.[70][71][72]144 There is also a 300-bed Obstetric, Gynaecological and Children's Hospital of Defence Services, which is one of the teaching hospitals of Myanmar Defence Services Medical Academy.145 The nearby towns of Lewe, Pyinmana, and Tatkone each have one hospital.[35]146

Sports

Myawady F.C., a Myanmar National League football club, is based at Wunna Theikdi Stadium in Naypyidaw.147

Main sights

Religious sites

• Uppatasanti Pagoda148
• Maha Thetkya Yanthi Buddha149
• Thatta Thattaha Maha Bawdi Pagoda (replica of Buddha Gaya)150
• Maravijaya Buddha151

Museums and memorials

• Memorial to the Fallen Heroes152
• National Museum153
• Defence Services Museum154
• Naypyidaw Gems Museum155
• Planetarium156
• The Museum of Sport[73]157

Recreation

• Naypyidaw Safari Park158
• National Herbal Park159
• Naypyidaw Zoological Gardens160
• Naypyidaw Water Fountain Garden161
• National Landmark Garden162
• Naypyidaw Hot Spring Resort163
• Wunna Theikdi Stadium164
• Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium165
• Zayarthiri Stadium166

Concert halls and theatres

• Myanmar International Convention Centre 1 (MICC-1)167
• Myanmar International Convention Centre 2 (MICC-2)168
• Open-Air Theatre[74]169

Arts and entertainment

The Myanmar Motion Picture Academy Awards are held annually in Naypyidaw given to the highest achievers in Burmese cinema.[75]170 There is a movie theater in the Junction Centre Mall as well as in the Ocean Supercenter.171 There are two others in nearby Pyinmana, and one in Tatkone Township.[35]172

Media and communications

The headquarters of the Ministry of Information is located in Naypyidaw.173 Since 2009, Naypyidaw has had mobile phone coverage.174

Print

The Myanmar Alin and the Kyaymon in Burmese and the New Light of Myanmar in English are available in Naypyidaw.175 Since 18 November 2011, the Ministry of Information has begun publishing a weekly journal called the Naypyidaw Times, to report on government policies.[76]176

Radio

There are a number of AM and FM stations broadcasting in Naypyidaw.177 The main available channels in Naypyidaw are Myanmar Radio (operated by MRTV), Cherry FM, Mandalay FM, FM Bagan, Padamyar FM, Pyinsawaddy FM, Shwe FM and City FM.178

Television

MRTV, MRTV-4 and MWD are the main channels, broadcasting Burmese-language programmes in Naypyidaw.179 Privately owned enterprise Sky Net provides more than 70 pay-TV channels of local and international origin.180 MRTV broadcasts 19 free-to-air channels and MWD broadcasts 8 free-to-air channels.181 Other TV channels such as Channel 7, 5-plus and Myanmar International, the English-language channel that targets overseas audiences are also available.182

Costs and issues

One estimate puts the cost in the range of $3–4 billion USD, although only part of this estimate is for cash spending because non-cash investments were also reportedly involved in supporting the construction effort.[57]183

There is now continual travel by vehicles along the 300 km highway from Yangon to Naypyidaw, which is four lanes for most of the way.184 There are relatively few vehicles for much of the time on the road.185 Most trucks travelling north from Yangon to Naypyidaw and Mandalay are prohibited from using the highway.186 The Asian Development Bank has estimated that allowing more trucks onto the road would save over $100 million per year in reduced travelling time and other savings.[77]187 There are plans to turn the road into a six-lane highway for greater safety.[78]188

The proportion of housing that meets expatriate needs is limited because the majority of existing apartments are for government employees.[79]189

In popular culture

In March 2014, Naypyidaw was one of the locations featured on the British motoring TV show Top Gear during a two-part special event in Myanmar.[11]190

In 2018, Naypyidaw was featured on the TV show Dark Tourist.191

See also

List of purpose-built national capitals

List of capitals of Myanmar

Naypyidaw Victoria rape case

Further reading

Dulyapak Preecharushh, Naypyidaw: New Capital of Burma, 2009, White Lotus. ISBN 978-9744801302

External links

Nay Pyi Daw – A photo album

Inside Naypyidaw, The Flying Dutchman blog, 15 June 2007 (one of first two tourists to visit Naypyidaw, includes many photos)

Abode of Kings in a Derelict Kingdom, Disposable Words blog, 15 June 2007 (second of first two tourists to visit Naypyidaw, more photos)

BBC Top Gear Series 21 Episode 6