Naypyidaw ("seat of the kings") is the seat of government of
Myanmar. Construction began in 2002, and ten years later the city
was ready for occupancy. On November 6, 2005, all ministries were
officially relocated to Naypyidaw. Since then, the city has been the
administrative capital of the country. Following a planned
constitutional amendment, the city is also to become the official
capital of the country.
Naypyidaw, like the capitals of other
federally organized countries Canberra, Abuja and Brasilia, is a
planned city. The area of the city district is about nine times
the size of Berlin. Urban planning has created districts organized
according to purpose, so from north to south there is the "zone of
the ministries" and a diplomatic quarter. To the east of this is
Thabyegon, which is adjoined to the south by the Royal Myanmar Golf
Club. Further south is one of the "hotel zones" followed by the
industrial area with the residential area of Dekkhina Thiri. The
last two are a good eight kilometers from the "city center,"
separated from it by the Yan-Aung-Myin reservoir, on the banks of
which there is another golf course. To the southwest of this is
Lewe, a village a few years ago that quickly grew into a city with
250,000 inhabitants.
Of the estimated well over a million
people living in the city and surrounding area in 2020, most live in
the previously existing towns and villages that are now considered
"suburbs." To the north of the city, these include
Mingon/Milaungong, Thinwindaing where the hospitals are
concentrated, and Pobba Thiri. To the east of this is a local
recreation area, Zayar Thiri, in the middle of which is the guest
house for state visits.
In the southwest is the barracks
district (restricted area), followed by the old town of Pyinmana
with an established infrastructure and its own train station.
Accommodations here are Thu Kha Myaing (Tel. +956721893) and Hotel
Myint Mho San (Paung Laung-14 St., Tel. +959428135863).
The representative buildings in the government district, such as the
presidential palace with 100 rooms or the parliament complex with 31
buildings, are largely shielded from the public by moats and high
fences.
Uppātasanti Pagoda. A replica of the Shwedagon Pagoda in
Rangoon, a national symbol, inaugurated in 2009.
Thatta Thattaha Maha
Bawdi Pagoda. A replica of the sanctuary in Bodhgaya.
National Museum
of Myanmar . Open: 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., closed Mondays and holidays.
Gems Museum. 4-storey building, three of which are for dealers selling
rubies and one with an exhibition area.
Memorial to the Fallen Heroes
(war memorial). 4-fold gate made of alabaster in a large, open space on
a hill. The names of soldiers and civilians who have fallen since the
war for independence and who have received a bravery award are carved
into the walls.
National Herbal Park. Botanical garden dedicated to
the collection and preservation of the country's medicinal herbs. Price:
free.
In the Zayar Thiri recreational area are:
the national sports
complex
Safari Park (entrance fee 2020: US$ 20) and zoo with
air-conditioned penguin house. National Landmark Garden, open 9:00 a.m.
to 8:00 p.m. On the edge of the garden are the Ayeyarwady Hotel and on a
peninsula on the reservoir Tun Myittar Guest House (Tel. +959787336080).
Yezin reservoir, on the southern bank of which there are two golf
courses.
By plane
Naypyidaw Airport (IATA: NYT; 16km southeast).
Theoretically designed for 3½ million passengers per year, the airport
lacks visitors. All Burmese airlines offer domestic flights here, which
is a matter of state support. Otherwise, there are few connections from
abroad, from Bangkok and Kunming.
By train
Nyapyitaw train
station. Trains from Rangoon take 10-13 hours.
Lewe train station. On
the Pyinmana branch line to Kyaukpadaung
By road
Naypyidaw is
on the toll road Rangoon-Mandalay Expressway (part of the AH-1). It
takes 7 hours to get here from Rangoon.
On the normal country
road, it takes 16 hours from Rangoon.
1 Nyaipitaw Bus Stand (near
Myoma Market). Local and long-distance transport.
2 Mandalarminn
Express Bus Stop (near Thapyaygone Market, west side).
There are bus connections, but they are sparse between the individual
districts.
As everywhere in Myanmar, you can easily rent mopeds.
In 2020 you had to expect to pay 25,000 kyat per day.
The price level is higher than in the rest of the country.
Myoma
Market infoedit
Thapyaygone Market. Open: 6:00am–6:00pm.
Junction
(Western style shopping centre, part of a nationwide chain), Yaza
Thingaha Rd. Open: 9:00am–7:00pm.
Snacks at the Myoma Night Market.
The city planners have designated three hotel districts with around one hundred accommodations. Almost all of them are upscale hotels.
Central Post Office, Taungnyo Road (near Myoma Market). Open: Mon-Fri
9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Consulates
As of the end of 2021, the
consulates for citizens of German-speaking countries are all still in
Rangoon:
Germany: Emergency telephone: +95 9 502 3209
Honorary
Consulate of Austria: +95 1 503 914
Switzerland: +95 1 230 7465
The city was located in a field about 3 kilometres west of the town
of Pyinmana and about 320 kilometres north of the former capital,
Rangoon, because it was an important training camp for soldiers and
officers of the Burmese Independent Army that first fought the British,
and where General Aung San later set up his headquarters, which achieved
victory over Japanese troops during their occupation of the country
during World War II. Pyinmana became an icon for the Burmese military,
as it was the place where the Burmese managed to defeat superior
invading armies.
The city is located approximately in the centre
of the country, at a railway junction and communications centre close to
the Shan, Chin and Karen states, ensuring a continuous military presence
near the most conflictive regions. Another advantage of the new location
is its location far from Rangoon, a city congested due to its large
population and which made the expansion of government buildings
impossible. The main reason, according to Burmese opposition to the
country's military regime, was to move the city away from the coast to
protect it from a possible foreign invasion led by the United States.
The country's military government began moving ministries from
Rangoon to Naypyidaw on 6 November 2005. Five days later, on 11
November, at 11 a.m., a second convoy of 1,100 military trucks, carrying
11 battalions and 11 ministries, left Rangoon for the new capital. The
repetition of the number 11 is due to the observations of the stars by
Than Shwe's personal astrologer. Most of the ministries were expected to
be in the city by the end of February 2006. However, due to the lack of
schools and other infrastructure, officials were moved into the city and
separated from their families until the city had the necessary
infrastructure. To the east of the city is a fortified compound, where
Burma's leader, General Than Shwe, resides. The army headquarters are
located in a separate compound from the ministries, and citizens are
prohibited from entering the military zone. Traders and vendors are
restricted to an area near government offices.
On March 27, 2006,
more than 12,000 soldiers marched through the new capital in their first
public event, a mass parade on Armed Forces Day, the anniversary of the
country's liberation from Japanese occupation. Photographs were
restricted to the parade site, after which three huge statues
representing Burmese kings Anawrahta, Bayinnaung and Alaungpaya U Aung
Zeya, the three most important kings in the country's history, could be
seen.
In November 2006, the groundbreaking ceremony was held for
the construction of a large religious complex in the new capital, very
similar to Shwedagon in Rangoon. The complex will be crowned with a
98-meter pagoda, the same height as Shwedagon, and should be visible
from most of the city.
Indian journalist Siddharth Varadarajan,
who visited the city in January 2007, described the vastness of the new
capital as "the ultimate insurance against regime change, a masterpiece
of urbanism designed to defeat any would-be colour revolution – not by
tanks and water cannons, but by geometry and cartography." He has
published a photo blog that is the first glimpse of the city's
architecture.
Due to the anti-government protests in Burma in
2007, the UN sent a special envoy to assess the situation. On 30
September 2007 the envoy met with the head of the Burmese military junta
in Naypyidaw and later travelled to Rangoon, where he met with
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
On 23 May 2008, UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon became the first foreign dignitary to
visit Burma's new capital at the scene of the humanitarian crisis
unleashed by Cyclone Nargis in the country. He obtained from the junta's
number one, Generalissimo Than Shwe, "a commitment to allow the entry of
all humanitarian workers, regardless of their nationality", as well as
the regime's acceptance that Rangoon airport would be used as an
international platform for distributing aid.
Naypyidaw is organised into several zones.
Residential zones are carefully organised, with apartments allocated according to rank and marital status. The city has 1,200 four-storey apartment blocks. The roofs of the apartment buildings are colour-coded according to the jobs of their residents; employees of the Ministry of Health live in buildings with blue roofs and employees of the Ministry of Agriculture in those with green roofs. Senior government officials live in mansions, of which there are about 50. However, in 2019 it was reported that quite a few of the ministerial mansions were not used and were left in a state of disrepair in overgrown compounds.
The ministerial zone of the city contains the headquarters of the ministries of the government of Myanmar. All the ministerial buildings are identical in appearance. A parliamentary complex consisting of 31 buildings and a 100-room presidential palace are also located there. The area also contains the city hall building, which has many features of Stalinist architecture, but with a Burmese-style roof.
High-ranking military officers and other key officials live 11 km away from regular government employees in a complex said to consist of tunnels and bunkers; this area is restricted to the public. The city also houses a military base, which is not accessible to citizens or other personnel without written permission.
The government has set aside 2 ha of land each for foreign embassies and UN mission headquarters. The Chinese embassy has formally opened its temporary liaison office in 2017. The liaison office is the first foreign office to be allowed to open in Naypyidaw. Bangladesh and Malaysia have also signed agreements to open embassies in Naypyidaw. The government confirms that 11 other countries have submitted proposals to move their embassies to Naypyidaw, namely Russia, China, the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey and Kuwait. In February 2018, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi chaired a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Naypyidaw where she urged foreign governments to move their embassies to the capital.
The hotel zone features a handful of chalet-style hotels on the outskirts of the city. There are twelve hotels located in or around Naypyidaw. Eight of them are located in the hotel zone of Naypyidaw, and two are in Laeway (Lewe) on the Yangon-Mandalay highway. Forty villas were built near the Myanmar Convention Centre in preparation for the 25th ASEAN Summit held in Naypyidaw in November 2014. Construction of the villas was started in 2010 by the government. However, funds were limited, so the project was later put out to tender for completion by private sector investors. A total of 348 hotels and 442 inns were built to accommodate athletes and spectators for the 2013 Southeast Asian Games held in Naypyidaw.
Naypyidaw's Myoma Market is the city's shopping centre. Other shopping areas include Thapye Chaung Market and the Naypyidaw Junction Centre. Junction Centre is the city's first private shopping centre. There are also local markets and a food court.
Lake Ngalaik Gardens is a small water park located along the Ngalaik
Dam near the village of Kyweshin on Lake Ngalaik (about 11 kilometres (7
mi) from Naypyidaw). Opened in 2008, the facilities at Lake Ngalaik
Gardens include water slides, nature resorts, accommodation and a beach.
The gardens are open to the public during the Thingyan holidays.
Also opened in 2008 is the 81-hectare (200.2 acre) National Herbal Park
featuring displays of plants with medicinal applications from all major
regions of Myanmar. There are thousands of plants in the park,
representing hundreds of different species. Behind the city hall, there
is a park with a play area and water fountain complex, which hosts a
musical light show each evening.
Naypyidaw Zoological Garden
opened in 2008 with 420 species and now houses 1,500 animals. The zoo's
main attraction is the climate-controlled penguin house. The animals
were shipped there from the old one in Yangon. Naypyidaw Safari Park
officially opened on 12 February 2011.
Naypyidaw also features
two golf courses, the Naypyidaw City Golf Course and the Yaypyar Golf
Course, and a gem museum.
Similar in size and shape to the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon, the Uppatasanti Pagoda was completed in 2009. This new pagoda is named Uppatasanti or "Peace Pagoda". The opening ceremony for the pagoda was held on 12 November 2006. The invitation card for the ceremony opened with a phrase "Rajahtani Naypyidaw (the royal capital where the king resides)". The pagoda is only 30 cm shorter than the Shwedagon Pagoda. Uppatasanti roughly translates to "protection against calamity". It is the name of a sutra prepared by a monk in the early 16th century. It is to be recited in times of crisis, especially in the face of foreign invasion.
Despite the city having good water and electricity services, many civil servants have expressed opposition to the government's move to Naypyidaw. This is due to the almost non-existence of shopping malls and restaurants in the city, and many employees have decided not to move with their families, at least initially.