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[LaoPo]

Burma's new capital city [Naypyidaw] unveiled



Burma's military rulers have been showing off their new capital for the first time to the outside world.

The new city, called Naypyidaw, or Abode of Kings, is being built about 460km (300 miles) north of the old capital, Rangoon.

Until now few outsiders were allowed to go there, but the foreign media has been invited to the capital to watch the huge Armed Forces Day parade.

However, it is still not clear why the generals have moved here.

The military has built itself a fortress-like complex to the east. This is where Burma's reclusive leader, General Than Shwe, now lives.

From:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6498029.stm


In pictures: Burma's new capital



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6498475.stm

LaoPo

[soundman]

Interesting.

Maybe we can get some geosat images?


Soundman.

[LaoPo]

soundman, on 2007-03-27 14:55:28, said:

Interesting.

Maybe we can get some geosat images?


Soundman.

The new city and surroundings are very clear on Google Earth. I can post some images later but have to go now, unfortunately.

LaoPo

[Sing_Sling]

Thailand could do worse than follow this example and start a new capitol city with a proper infrastructure. But then Myanmar is a wealthy country . .. (firmly TiC)

[buriramboy]

Sing_Sling, on 2007-03-27 21:30:34, said:

Thailand could do worse than follow this example and start a new capitol city with a proper infrastructure. But then Myanmar is a wealthy country . .. (firmly TiC)

exactly, i watched the report on BBC world and that was one of the points they were making, how can such a poor country that spends next to nothing on education and health care afford to build something like this????
BB

[bkkmadness]

Overall it's a poor country but there are some very wealthy people there. Same old situation, wealth not distributed amongst the people. With this new fortress capital it looks like it's heading the way of N.Korea, although saying that a friend who just came back from there said it's becoming more open for foreign travel.

Shame Myanmar is in such a state, it's a beautiful country and one that if developed correctly in the future could certainly rival Thailand as one of Asia's top travel destinations.

[Thai-Spy]

Sing_Sling, on 2007-03-27 21:30:34, said:

Thailand could do worse than follow this example and start a new capitol city with a proper infrastructure. But then Myanmar is a wealthy country . .. (firmly TiC)

The Thai capital has already been moved before because of Burmese "influence".

[cdnvic]

A bunch of incompetent "generals" building toy cities with slave labour. Those boobs make Thailand look first world in comparison.

[Nebukanezar]

Guess that means we won't suffer any shortages of cheap Burmese maids any time soon

[Richard W]

LaoPo, on 2007-03-27 14:47:47, said:

However, it is still not clear why the generals have moved here.

The military has built itself a fortress-like complex to the east. This is where Burma's reclusive leader, General Than Shwe, now lives.

One suggestion is that it was to make externally induced 'régime change' more difficult. If they're selective about who lives in the new capital, it might also make revolution more difficult.

[mark lamai]

the money comes from China.
same for the new airport buildings.
same for the road rebuilding in the north-east.

BTW. did you know that Thais are now buying land inside Burma (in from Mae Sot)
for agriculture and importing the produce into Thailand.

BTW2. you should see the new USA embassy being built near Inya Lake.
It is absolutely enormous and looks like a huge concrete bunker.

BTW3. If China boycotted Burma, the junta would collapse in 6-12 months.
the other moneys from Thailand, Singapore etc is tiny in comparison.

[cdnvic]

Nebukanezar, on 2007-03-28 05:10:48, said:

Guess that means we won't suffer any shortages of cheap Burmese maids any time soon

Don't get caught with one.

[mark lamai]

"Guess that means we won't suffer any shortages of cheap Burmese maids any time soon"
well i see that as an attempt at humour - ok
but
the treatment of Burmese refugees and guest workers in thailand is a disgrace.
it is disgusting and should be illegal.
it is disgusting that it all well known and allowed to happen.


story:
bangkok policeman, married, is sent to the north for some months work (he does smuggling investigations).
sees a 14 year old Burmese refugee girl ,
buys her for marriage for 2 pigs,
lives with her for 6 months,
goes back to Bangkok, leaving her pregnant and never sees her again.
he told me this story quie proudly.

[sutnyod]

What about the name? When I was there 2005 everybody was moving to Pyianmana. Why did they change the name? (well, assuming that this new capital is still the same everybody was moving to, HAD to move to....)

[sriracha john]

mark lamai, on 2007-03-28 06:19:20, said:

the treatment of Burmese refugees and guest workers in thailand is a disgrace.
it is disgusting and should be illegal.
it is disgusting that it all well known and allowed to happen.

Case in point is the new thread:

Survivors Of Thai Death Ships Sue Owners, 39 Fisherman Died and were simply Dumped Overboard

[LaoPo]

mark lamai, on 2007-03-27 23:40:17, said:

BTW2. you should see the new USA embassy being built near Inya Lake.
It is absolutely enormous and looks like a huge concrete bunker.

Right!

Here's a picture from that New USA EMBASSY.....just a few hundred meters away from Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's residence...where she has 'house-arrest' already or many years.....

It's indeed HUGE !
BTW: It's not in the new Capital of the Burmese regime; it's in Yangon/Rangoon, the 'Old' Capital.



Question: Why does the USA need such a huge Embassy complex in such a relatively small and poor country ?

LaoPo

[cdnvic]

LaoPo, on 2007-03-28 07:25:59, said:

mark lamai, on 2007-03-27 23:40:17, said:

BTW2. you should see the new USA embassy being built near Inya Lake.
It is absolutely enormous and looks like a huge concrete bunker.

Right!

Here's a picture from that New USA EMBASSY.....just a few hundred meters away from Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's residence...where she has 'house-arrest' already or many years.....

It's indeed HUGE !
BTW: It's not in the new Capital of the Burmese regime; it's in Yangon/Rangoon, the 'Old' Capital.



Question: Why does the USA need such a huge Embassy complex in such a relatively small and poor country ?

LaoPo

Isn't there some pipeline going through there?

[LaoPo]

The new Capital City of the Military - Naypyidaw -

I have studied the surroundings of Naypyidaw on Google Earth and the images are quite sharp actually.

Here are the results:

Overview of the 'Capital City' with on the left a Man-Made Lake with a dam and on the right a natural lake




Several Photos of the new Burma Ministries; I counted about 35-40 HUGE modern buildings which are on the right from the LEFT Man-Made Lake:



Residences/Villas of the Burmese -Military- Ministers:

 Burma_Ministers_residences.jpg   209.77K   52 downloads

BELOW are 5 images EAST of the Natural Lake on the East; there are enormous and many buildings; they look like military (living/sleeping) quarters for soldiers;

INTERESTING are 3 or 4 huge -private- palace-like houses which are completely surrounded by walls and/or gates. Further it's noticed that these 3/4 houses are very close to the mountains; I even think that the largest house must have an underground tunnel to the mountains.....

 Burma_Top_Generals3.jpg   188K   23 downloads

 Burma_Top_Generals4.jpg   181.68K   29 downloads  Burma_Top_Generals5mountains.jpg   168.19K   31 downloads

Further it is interesting to see that the Ministries and quarters of Ministers are about 30 kms away from the 3/4 -private- villas of the Top-Generals who are close to the mountains on the right side of the overall photo (#1).

All in all, it looks like a new, completely Military kind of City, rather than a Capital City....

Paranoid ???

LaoPo

[canuckamuck]

Myanmar is going the North Korea route; China loves these little pet military governments. Myanmar is also loaded with resources that China will gladly receive for some sweetheart deal.
Say what you want to slag the Americans, 10 or 15 years from now, China will be the world police, or at least the Asian police; and they will be just as fair and honest as the regular Asian police forces we all love. Such a rosy day approaching.

[sutnyod]

cdnvic, on 2007-03-28 07:30:40, said:

Isn't there some pipeline going through there?

pneumatic deliveries?

[PhilHarries]

All very Orwellian, the select few living in luxury supported by myriads of faceless minions scurrying around at their master's bidding.

I am not a number I am a free man! (I know that's not Orwell but it's in the same vein)

[canuckamuck]

LaoPo, on 2007-03-28 07:25:59, said:

Question: Why does the USA need such a huge Embassy complex in such a relatively small and poor country ?

LaoPo[/color]

Gee I don’t know why Americans would need a lot of security to have an embassy in such a stable and fun loving place like Myanmar. Just doesn’t make sense.

[LaoPo]

In pictures: Inside Burma's new capital

 Burma_Ox_carts_and_truck_with_teak.jpg   42.46K   16 downloads

Teak trucks are a constant sight, amid allegations that the military government is funding the new capital by giving logging rights to construction companies.

 Burma_new_capital_broad_highways.jpg   25.5K   14 downloads

Broad highways and boulevards connect the new city's areas. The quality of the roads is in stark contrast to the rest of the country. There are plans to widen some highways to 12 lanes.

 Burma_new_capital_City_Hall.jpg   29.92K   19 downloads

City Hall sits surrounded by new lawns and gardens. There are still few signs of life in most government buildings, despite the forced movement of thousands of civil servants from Rangoon.

 Burma_80000_workers_new_capital.jpg   23.72K   19 downloads

Around 80,000 workers are involved in building the new city. Allegations of forced labour surrounded the early building work, though the government denied them.

(note LP: maybe the government can show copies of the paychecks....? )

More Pictures:

http://news.bbc.co.u...res/6507419.stm

LaoPo

[LaoPo]

burma: Regime cashes in on energy, but locals in the dark

Military-ruled Burma has recently signed a raft of energy deals with its power-hungry neighbors, winning the junta a desperately needed income stream.

But Chinese and Thai dams to be built on Burma’s rivers to power their own economies and Asian companies drilling for natural gas off the coast to boost fuel exports are cold comfort for impoverished locals.

Most have been left in the dark as blackouts stretch through most of the day, even as reclusive officials in the new administrative capital Naypyidaw in Central Burma enjoy an abundance of energy.

The sprawling capital, once a mountainous backwater and home to government and military offices since last year, boasts 24-hour electricity, amply lit streets with few cars, and fairy lights that twinkle around ministry buildings.

That contrasts starkly with Rangoon, Burma’s biggest city, where people and businesses do without electricity for most of the day, and they are hurting.

“Now we average about four hours per day with power in our industrial zone, about a 50-percent decline from eight hours per day in March”, a businessman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters.
“Many factory owners have to rely on generators, mostly. The price of diesel is also going up now. But we have no choice”.
As of September last year, Burma had an installed capacity of 1,775 megawatts. Just one of the dams Thailand is building on the Salween River has a capacity to produce three times that amount.
“We had good sales in previous months... but they have declined over the last three weeks because of the daily blackouts”, said one electronics shop owner.
Burma’s official energy statistics provide some insight though many questions are left unanswered by bureaucrats responsible for administering one of the world’s most isolated states.
According to the Burma Electric Power Enterprise, 40 percent of the electricity generated in 2005 was never sold to consumers or businesses.
While some electricity is normally lost during transmission and distribution, the enormous shortfall has never been explained and electricity officials could not be reached for comment.
In Rangoon, the nation’s former capital and its commercial hub, the power shortage is hammering a moribund economy and for many, the lack of power also means a lack of water as most pumps are electric.
“We normally get about six hours per day, but we can’t do anything since it usually comes on at night”, said Htwe Htwe, a 50-year-old Rangoon housewife, who complained that the outages prevent her from cooking or cleaning.
The Southeast Asian country is under a series of American and European economic sanctions imposed over the junta’s rights abuses and the house arrest of 61-year-old democracy leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
But the impact of the sanctions has been weakened as Burma’s neighbors such as China, India and Thailand are spending billions of dollars for a share of its vast energy resources.
According to 2006 official figures, 13 foreign oil companies are working on 33 energy projects in Burma, but none of the benefits appear to have have filtered through to the general population.
For those who can afford it, generators have become a necessity. But soaring demand for fuel has sent prices surging and created further shortages in an already unstable market, petrol dealers say.
This has forced frustrated consumers onto the black market where prices are up about seven percent for petrol and diesel -- when it is available at all. Otherwise, people go without.

http://www.mmorning.com/ArticleC.asp?Artic...mp;CategoryID=7

LaoPo

Edited by LaoPo, 2007-04-24 09:08:03.

[Mid]

Aung San Suu Kyi appears at protest in Burma
By Sarah Marcus and agencies
Last Updated: 4:17pm BST 22/09/2007

Quote

A Buddhist monk in Burma has described how Aung San Suu Kyi came out of her home and paid her respects to monks protesting against the ruling military junta.

In an unprecedented move, armed guards allowed about 1,000 protesting monks past the roadblocks leading to the Nobel Peace Prize winner's house. She has been detained there for 12 of the past 18 years.

Aung San Suu Kyi has become an internationally recognised figurehead of the pro-democracy movement in Burma since her National League for Democracy won 1990 elections by a landslide. The military never accepted the result and the 62-year-old now has virtually no contact with the outside world.

advertisementThe monks stopped outside her home for about 15 minutes and chanted a Buddhist prayer. Witnesses said Aung San Suu Kyi did not appear to speak to the monks.

There was no interruption from about 20 uniformed security police, who had opened the roadblock. After the monks left the road was again closed.

One monk, who did not give his name, said "Today is extraordinary. We walked past lay disciple Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's house today. We are pleased and glad to see her looking fit and well". "Daw" is a respectful term used in referring to older women.

snip

telegraph.co.uk