Yangon has approximately 300,000 squatters, many are from Ayeyawady Region that arrived after Cyclone Nargis hit in 2008, and others are migrant workers from various rural areas that came to the former capital in search of job opportunities. After Hlainghthaya, Dagon Myo Thit (Seikkan), located in the eastern part of Yangon, ranks second with over 50,000 squatters; the settlement was originally planned as industrial zone. Living condition in these squatter settlements suffer from overcrowding, inadequate accommodation, limited access to clean water and sanitation, lack of proper waste disposal system and deteriorating environment.

UN-Habitat received funding from the Government of Japan to assist the Government of Myanmar addressing the problem of squatters through a pilot project to provide housing and basic facilities to most vulnerable families.

In this context, a low cost housing project serving 240 families with 12 units of 5 storey buildings was planned to construct with minimum land use; land was made available by government. After a process of social mobilization and arduous beneficiary selection a contract signing ceremony took place on 1st May 2016 in Dagon Seikkan between the Integrated Apartment Users committee (IAUC) on behalf of all beneficiaries and the contractor “Civil Tech Co. Ltd.” At the signing ceremony was also present the design and supervision consultant “S&A Co. Ltd.” as contract manager representing IAUC on technical aspect of the construction activities. Contractor has already mobilized its human resources and equipment to the construction site and construction work has already started. The project is expected to be completed by the end of October 2016

Construction will initially cover 6 out of 12 buildings since part of land allocated by government is occupied by squatter families. The second phase (remaining buildings) will take place after squatter families and government agree to clear the site.

Since, the scale of the project is large and capacity of the community is limited to manage the construction a contractor was necessary to hire. UN-Habitat facilitated the process of contractor hiring through open call for bidding. The technical supervision and quality control will be done by the design consultant and UN-Habitat.