Yangon city authorities expect to commence the proposed comprehensive development project for Yangon Central Railway Station next May, an official announcement said on 27 June. The 130 year old structure and one of the most prominent man-made landmarks in Yangon will be designed and constructed in line with international standards. The integrated modernization plan for the city’s main railway station is designated to be implemented with an estimated budget of $ 2.2 billion, developing the station itself and other facilities on a plot of land of over 25 hectares
Myanmar Railways (MR), the railway authority of Myanmar, will finalize the selection of tender winner for the project in May, according to Tun Aung Thin, the General Manager of Myanma Railways (Lower Myanmar). The project, aiming to transform the outmoded central railway station into one of the most sparkling properties in Yangon, attracted a total of eighteen local and foreign companies who sent Expression of Interest (EOI) for the plan when the MR made a second-time invitation in July last year, after cancelling an initial tender called in 2014 with a reported reason for the lack of acceptable submissions.
According to the second-time EOI advertisement published in state-owned newspapers last year, the tender winning company is expected to be obliged to undertake all businesses as to the project including designing, financing, construction, operation and maintenance. The project will be executed under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) system.
First built in 1877 by the British, the Yangon Central Railway Station was reconstructed in post-colonial Myanmar after being destroyed by the retreating British from the advancement of Japanese forces in 1943. The current station was designed by Myanmar architect U Tin and built with traditional Myanmar architecture. It is one of the significant structures included in the Yangon City Heritage List designated by the Yangon City Development Committee.
