Many speculators sitting on land in industrial zone like Thilawa Special Economic Zone will faced prosecution as they have not develop the land within a stipulated period after receiving the land from the government.
Some speculators who are ignorant of the law happily “buy” land in industrial zones from the previous owner without knowledge as to the legitimacy of their purchase.
It is a game of musical chair and looks like the music is going to stop. Let’s see who is left standing when the music stop.
“Land buyers speculating in the area of industrial zone, including Thilawa Special Economic Zone, will be facing serious charges” said Myat Thin Aung, chairman of the Hlinethaya Industrial Zone at a meeting with investors last week.
“Many vacant lots possessed by some people –likely to be speculators – are still not being developed yet to run business. We already receive an instruction letter to take the action against those people from the chief minister Myint Swe of Yangon Region,” Myat Thin Aung.
A total of 29 industrial zones were developed in Yangon area. Over 6,000 factories are running in the 20 industrial zones out of 29, he added.
Land speculation has driven up the price of industrial land and negating efforts of the government to attract foreign investment into the manufacturing sector which help create much desired manufacturing jobs.
Currently most foreign investment goes into the oil & gas, mining, hotel and tourism industries – these industries basically exploit the natural resources that Myanmar is richly endowed with. However there is a limit as to how many jobs it can create.
If the Myanmar government is serious about creating mass employment via manufacturing it has to deal decisively against land speculation. Otherwise it will be labelled by foreign investors as the emerging market with the most expensive industrial land.
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