Officials on Wednesday held the first piling ceremony for the construction of a housing project for civil servants and retired government employees in the Mandalay Region, a senior official said.

The ground breaking ceremony for the housing project for civil servants. Kyaw Ko Ko / The Myanmar Times

The project will be constructed in a 33.22-acre land near Me Kin Kone village in Patheingyi township in the eastern part of Mandalay Hill, said U Aung Kyaw Oo, director for Urban and Housing Development Department of the Ministry of Construction.

It will contain 1552 apartments and will be completed in March 2018.

“The project is a State level project. There are two kinds of units – rental housing and houses for sale. It is mainly for civil servants and retired government employees,” he said.

“It will also include housing for bachelors and single women,” he added. “We will sell it through installment scheme. The units for sale are for retired government employees while rental houses are for serving civil servants,” he said.

“The Urban and Housing Development Department drew a five-storey building with four apartments each, but we made 10-storey building with eight apartments each depending on the land space.

“We increased the storey as we build yearly. The buildings will be very high and we will use elevators. It is not easy for retired civil servants to go up to the floors so we use elevators,” he added.

State vice president (1) U Myitn Swe attended the piling ceremony. The Ministry of Planning and Finance will provide the budget for the housing project, while the regional government provided the land, which is estimated to cost K10 billion (US$7.29 million).

The Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association will undertake the project, said U Aung Kyaw Oo.

As for the apartments on sale – a 400-square-feet unit is priced at K9 million, a 500-square-feet unit would cost K11.5 million, a 600-square-feet unit would cost K14 million, a 750-square-feet would cost K17 million and a 900-square-feet unit would cost K20 million.

The units can be paid for in installments over 5, 8, 10, 12 or 15 years.

“They will get apartments according to their ranks and salaries,” he said.

The Region Urban and Housing Development Department will continue to implement housing projects, targetting the construction of more than 10,000 new apartment units this fiscal year.

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