In Yangon, some have been using car parks in big market complexes like Than Zay in Latha township and Nyaung Pinlay Plaza at Lanmadaw township to house empty car containers. That is taking up parking spaces originally reserved for residents, shop owners and patrons who are now no longer able to park their vehicles in the buildings.

“The containers are left in the building for long periods of time which is giving rise to many difficulties for patrons who visit the markets and residents and shop owners who live in the building. In addition, the dark corners around these containers have been conducive for crime. This is cause for concern,” said MP U Zaw Win Naing from La Tha Township.

More broadly, Yangon is now facing a chronic shortage of parking space which has resulted in some serious fights between drivers in the past. MPs have repeated asked the regional government to come up with solutions to this problem.

For its part, the YCDC has considered building multi-storey car parks and implemented regulations which include requiring car buyers to have car park recommendation letters from the council and banning car importers from issuing Yangon license plates.

However, the car park shortage has remained a big problem in Yangon and drivers still park illegally, which has only contributed to traffic congestion in the city.

‘’We have always urged the authorities to enforce strict car park rules but so far nothing has been very effective. We would like to know now if they plan to fix the issue of the containers occupying space for cars to park,” said MP U Zaw Win Naing.

In fact, the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) had last year investigated the containers and discovered that shop owners at the complexes were using the containers to store inventory.

The YCDC has since requested that the owners responsible remove the containers from the complex premises.

“Earlier this year, we met with shop owners to inform them that leaving their containers in the parking bays and around the complex vicinities over the long term is equivalent to breaking the law. We told them to remove the containers and assigned employees to monitor the situation,” U Maung Maung Soe.

Source: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/yangon-under-pressure-solve-car-park-shortage.html