NAY PYI DAW UPDATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000975 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL BM SUBJECT: NAY PYI DAW UPDATE RANGOON 00000975 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Construction of Burma's new capital city, Nay Pyi Taw, continues. Gradually foreigners are getting to see the under-construction city, but plans to invite all of the Ambassadors are still on hold pending further progress. The current impression is of a vast green empty space sparsely populated with buildings. The layout makes no sense, but then the move made no sense either. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Charge used an invitation to a ceremony marking World Population Day on July 11 to make her first trip to the new capital. The German, Philippine, Lao, and Vietnamese Ambassadors also attended primarily to get a first glimpse of the new city, along with the UNFPA, UNDP, and WFP heads of mission. Most drove up the preceding day, which took eight hours according to the Vietnamese Ambassador. Local employees of embassies have been making the trip for sometime now to get various permits. The plane was full both ways, so plenty of other Burmese are now visiting the new capital. The new Singaporean and Bruneian Ambassadors became the first Ambassadors to present their credentials in Nay Pyi Daw in early June. The outgoing Russian and British Ambassadors were also invited to pay farewell calls there, although the British Ambassador had all of her meetings, but one with the Planning Minister, cancelled at the last minute. ¶3. (SBU) The initial impression is green and empty. Earlier photos were taken during the dry season; now monsoon rains have begun. Since the ceremony only lasted an hour, the German Ambassador and Charge spent a couple of hours touring the new city before returning to Rangoon. The ministries are scattered approximately a mile apart with vast expanses of now green space in between. Since the setting is hilly, the view from the tops of the hills is a vast expanse of scrub vegetation dotted with a few buildings. Each ministry we saw was surrounded by a tall chain-link fence topped with spooled barbed wire giving the impression of a prison. Even though there are vast amounts of empty space the fences hew closely to the modestly-sized buildings. The only differences we noted were various sizes of parking lots included inside the fence. The ministry buildings we saw appear completed with construction work now focused on building roads to all the scattered sites. Our driver pointed out a paving machine "made in the U.S.A." as we drove around the mostly empty expanse. He also pointed out several buildings under construction described as the President's Office, the Mayor's Office, and a new temple "bigger than the Shwedagon," Burma's most sacred site located in Rangoon long before the British made it their capital. ¶4. (SBU) We paid an unannounced call on the Foreign Ministry since we were in the neighborhood. The Foreign Minister and his two Deputy Ministers had not come to the office "yet," at 10:30 in the morning. Although taken by surprise, we had a pleasant chat with the Director General of Political Affairs Nyan Lwin and the America Desk Director Min Lwin. Unlike the other ministries, it is almost completely hidden behind a hill from the main road, but still closely surrounded by prison-like fencing. We saw a small backyard in which the staff had planted a kitchen garden. Contrary to earlier reports of ample electricity, the electricity was off, which has become increasingly common according to other reports. We peeked into a few offices and saw long tables and some mostly empty bookshelves, but almost no office equipment. The staff appeared to be just sitting around near the open windows to catch a breeze. Peering up to the second floor, we saw clothes hanging outside, indicating that the staff are still living in the Ministry building. Nyan Lwin apologized for the conditions and offered his opinion that a visit by all the Ambassadors should wait until after the monsoon. ¶5. (SBU) We saw a large housing compound of approximately RANGOON 00000975 002.2 OF 002 30-40 four story apartment buildings painted in bright shades of pink, blue and green. The housing area is located 10 minutes from the closest ministry and 30-40 minutes from others. A few apartments appeared occupied with curtains in the windows. According to Min Lwin, families are now allowed to move to the new city. However, he added that his family would not be moving since he had teenaged children in school in Rangoon. Earlier complaints concerned the lack of public transport. On this trip we saw old buses similar to those seen in Rangoon now operating. It appeared that many ministries have a bus or two to ferry its employees to work. We saw five or six buses parked at the Commerce Ministry, while the Foreign Ministry had none. ¶6. (SBU) You have to see to comprehend the vast distances with the occasional relatively small building. The airport is located in the midst of rice paddies and has a colorful new terminal building, the size of one found at small provincial airport in Thailand. We detected no radar, and the control tower was the height of a two story building. From the airport to the hotel area takes about 20-30 minutes over rough roads (including a portion of the main Rangoon-Mandalay road) mostly populated by motorbikes and ponycarts. To the right of the hotel area was another endless green space described by our driver as the diplomatic area. From the hotel area to the ministry area took another 15 minutes along a now empty road under construction. From the first ministry (Home Affairs) to our destination Immigration and Population Ministry took another 20 minutes. ¶7. (SBU) We also drove into the town of Pyinmana, which is located quite separately from the civilian area, approximately 20 minutes by car. The defense area, according to our driver offering to drive us there, was another 45 minute round trip north of Pyinmana. Pyinmana appeared bustling, which is understandable, but not used to foreigners. Ponycarts appear to be a primary means of transportation followed by bicycles and motorbikes. While most people smiled and said hello when we walked around, the headmistress of a middle school came running out distressed that we were taking pictures of her wooden school. She said that the authorities would question her about why we were there. But then she pleasantly welcomed us in English, and the schoolchildren followed us around grinning. We did not see any obvious looking security officials anywhere during our freelance tour, except those present at the ceremony presided by SPDC Secretary 1 LTG Thein Sein. ¶8. (SBU) Comment: Civil servants returning on the weekends, continue to report problems with water quality and bugs. They claim they want to resign, but are not allowed to. The scattered nature of the buildings in the midst of nothing reinforces the sense of isolation. Nothing gives the impression of workable city. No wonder the civil servants are unhappy. If you are planning to visit, make sure you bring a good book, because there is nothing much else to do. VILLAROSA