Experts stress enhancement of heritage protection in Myanmar

Experts in Myanmar have stressed the need of legislative protection on demolishing the heritage buildings and construction of modernized buildings near the ancient architecture, official sources said Tuesday.

The emphasis was made at a workshop on comparative legislation on heritage protection being hosted by the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC).

The two-day workshop, which began on Monday, is part of a project on capacity building of YCDC urban planning unit which is a collaboration of European Union, YCDC and local non-governmental organizations of the Yangon Heritage Trust (YHT) and Myanmar Egress.

Experts pointed out that there is a lot of ancient buildings in Yangon surviving war, natural disaster and numerous changes of ownership, while many of them have been repurposed over the years.

According to the YHT, as many as 1,800 old buildings or 35 percent in downtown Yangon were demolished between 1990 and 2011 to pave way for new development projects.