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Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, as it is an entirely planned city outside of any state or region. The city, then known only as
Pyinmana District Pyinmana District ( my, ပျဉ်းမနားခရိုင်) was a district of Mandalay Division, Myanmar.Later it was renamed as Naypyidaw District.Since 2011, it was separated from Mandalay Region and organized under Naypyidaw Union T ...
, officially replaced Yangon as the administrative capital of Myanmar on 6 November 2005; its official name was revealed to the public on Armed Forces Day, 27 March 2006. As the seat of the government of Myanmar, Naypyidaw is the site of the
Union Parliament The Union Parliament ( my, ပြည်ထောင်စုလွှတ်တော်) was the bicameral legislature of the Union of Burma from 1948 to 1962, when it was disbanded by the Union Revolutionary Council. It consisted of an upper h ...
, the Supreme Court, the Presidential Palace, the official residences of the
Cabinet of Myanmar , border = central , image = State seal of Myanmar.svg , image_size = , alt = State seal of Myanmar , image2 = , image_size2 = , alt2 = , caption = State seal of Myanmar , date_established = , date_dissolved = , state = Myanmar ...
and the headquarters of government ministries and
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
. Naypyidaw is notable for its unusual combination of large size and very low population density. The city hosted the 24th and 25th
ASEAN Summit The ASEAN Summit is a biannual meeting held by the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in relation to economic, political, security, and socio-cultural development of Southeast Asian countries. In addition, it serves ...
, the 3rd BIMSTEC Summit, the
Ninth East Asia Summit The Ninth East Asia Summit was held in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar (Burma) on November 12–13, 2014. The East Asia Summit is an annual meeting of national leaders from the East Asian region and adjoining countries. Attending delegations The heads of s ...
, the
2013 Southeast Asian Games The 2013 Southeast Asian Games ( my, ၂၀၁၃ ခုနှစ် အရှေ့တောင် အာရှ အားကစား ပြိုင်ပွဲ), officially known as the 27th Southeast Asian Games, or the 27th SEA Games, and com ...
and the 2014 AFC U-19 Championship.


Etymology

''Naypyidaw'' is Burmese for "abode of the king", and is generally translated as "royal capital","An Introduction to the Toponymy of Burma (October 2007) – Annex A"
p. 8, The Permanent Committee on Geographic Names (PCGN), United Kingdom
"seat of the king", or "abode of kings". Traditionally, it was used as a suffix to the names of royal capitals, such as Mandalay, which was called Yattanarbon Naypyidaw ().


History

Naypyidaw was founded on a greenfield site near
Pyinmana Pyinmana (, ; population: 100,000 (2006 estimate)) is a logging town and sugarcane refinery center in the Naypyidaw Union Territory of Myanmar. The administrative capital of Myanmar was officially moved to a militarized greenfield site (which the ...
, about north of the old capital, Yangon. Construction started in 2002 and was completed by 2012.Marshall Cavendish Corporation (2007). ''World and Its Peoples: Eastern and Southern Asia.'' Marshall Cavendish. p. 650. At least 25 construction companies were hired by the military government to build the city. It is estimated that the planned city development reaches US$4 billion. On 6 November 2006, more than 12,000 troops marched in the new capital in its first public event: a massive military parade to mark
Armed Forces Day Many nations around the world observe some kind of Armed Forces Day to honor their military forces. This day is not to be confused with Veterans Day or Memorial Day. Africa Egypt In Egypt, Armed Forces Day is celebrated on 6 October, ...
, the anniversary of Burma's 1945 revolution against the Japanese occupation. Filming was restricted to the concrete parade ground, which contains enormous sculptures of Kings
Anawrahta Anawrahta Minsaw ( my, အနော်ရထာ မင်းစော, ; 11 May 1014 – 11 April 1077) was the founder of the Pagan Empire. Considered the father of the Burmese nation, Anawrahta turned a small principality in the dry zone ...
, Bayinnaung and Alaungpaya. The city was officially named Naypyidaw during these ceremonies, and the official, albeit mostly administrative, capital of the country was relocated from Yangon to Naypyidaw.


Rationale behind moving the capital

There are several assumptions why the capital was moved: Naypyidaw is more centrally located than the old capital, Yangon. It is also a
transportation hub A transport hub is a place where passengers and cargo are exchanged between vehicles and/or between transport modes. Public transport hubs include railway stations, rapid transit stations, bus stops, tram stops, airports and ferry slips. F ...
located adjacent to the Shan, Kayah, and Kayin states. It was felt by governmental and military leaders that a stronger military and governmental presence nearby might provide stability to those chronically turbulent regions.McGeown, Kate (8 November 2005)
Burma's confusing capital move
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
.
The official explanation for moving the capital was that Yangon had become too congested and crowded with little room for future expansion of government offices.


Geography and climate

Naypyidaw is located between the Bago Yoma and Shan Yoma mountain ranges. The city covers an area of and has a population of 924,608, according to official figures. Chaungmagyi Dam is located a few kilometres to the north of Naypyidaw, while
Ngalaik Dam Ngalaik Dam is a dam and reservoir on Ngalaik Creek in the Pyinmana Township of the Mandalay Region of central Burma, near the capital of Naypyidaw Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Mya ...
is a few kilometres to the south. The Yezin Dam is farther away in the north-east.


Cityscape

Naypyidaw is organized into a number of zones.


Residential zones

The residential areas are carefully organised, and apartments are allotted according to rank and marital status. The city has 1,200 four-story apartment blocks. The roofs of apartment buildings are color-coded by the jobs of their residents; Ministry of Health employees live in buildings with blue roofs and Ministry of Agriculture employees live in those with green roofs. High-ranking government officials live in mansions,
/ref> of which there are about 50. However, in 2019, quite a few of the ministerial mansions were reported to be unused and left in a neglected state in overgrown compounds.


Ministry zone

The city's Ministry zone contains the headquarters of Myanmar's government ministries. All the ministry buildings are identical in appearance. A Assembly of the Union, parliamentary complex consisting of 31 buildings and a 100-room presidential palace are also located there.Living in a ghost town
'' Bangkok Post''. 18 October 2009.
The zone also contains the city hall building, which has many characteristics of Stalinist architecture, but with a Burmese-style roof.


Military zone

High-ranking military officers and other key officials live away from regular government employees in a complex said to consist of tunnels and bunkers; this area is restricted to the public. The city also hosts a military base, which is inaccessible to citizens or other personnel without written permission.


Diplomatic zone

The government has set aside of land each for foreign embassies and headquarters of
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
missions. The Chinese embassy formally opened its interim liaison office in 2017. The liaison office is the first foreign office to be permitted to open in Naypyidaw. Bangladesh and Malaysia have also signed agreements to open embassies in Naypyidaw. The government confirms that proposals have been put forward by 11 other countries to move their embassies to Naypyidaw, namely Russia, China, the United States, India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey and Kuwait. In February 2018, State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi chaired a meeting at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Naypyidaw where she urged foreign governments to move their embassies to the capital.


Hotel zone

The Hotel zone has a handful of villa-style hotels on the hilly outskirts of the city. There are twelve hotels located in or near Naypyidaw. Eight of these are located within the Naypyidaw Hotel Zone, and two are located in Laeway ( Lewe) on the Yangon-Mandalay Road. Forty villas were constructed near the Myanmar Convention Centre in preparation for the
25th ASEAN summit The ASEAN Summit is a biannual meeting held by the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in relation to economic, political, security, and socio-cultural development of Southeast Asian countries. In addition, it serves ...
conducted in Naypyidaw in November 2014. Construction of the villas was begun in 2010 by the government. However, funds were limited, so the project was later put out to tender for completion by private sector investors. A total of 348 hotels and 442 inns were constructed to house the athletes and spectators of the
2013 Southeast Asian Games The 2013 Southeast Asian Games ( my, ၂၀၁၃ ခုနှစ် အရှေ့တောင် အာရှ အားကစား ပြိုင်ပွဲ), officially known as the 27th Southeast Asian Games, or the 27th SEA Games, and com ...
, which was hosted in Naypyidaw.


Shopping

Naypyidaw Myoma Market is the commercial centre of Naypyidaw. Other shopping areas include Thapye Chaung Market and Junction Centre Naypyidaw. Junction Centre is the city's first privately operated shopping centre. There are also local markets and a restaurant area.


Recreation

Ngalaik Lake Gardens is a small water park situated along the
Ngalaik Dam Ngalaik Dam is a dam and reservoir on Ngalaik Creek in the Pyinmana Township of the Mandalay Region of central Burma, near the capital of Naypyidaw Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Mya ...
, near Kyweshin Village on Ngalaik Lake (about from Naypyidaw). Opened in 2008, facilities at the Ngalaik Lake Gardens include water slides, natural resorts, lodging and a beach. The gardens are open to the public during Thingyan holidays. Also opened in 2008, the
National Herbal Park The National Herbal Park ( my, အမျိုးသား ဆေးဖက်ဝင် အပင်များ ပန်းခြံ) is a park located near the Naypyidaw-Taungnyo Road in Naypyidaw, Myanmar. Over 20,000 herbal and medicinal plan ...
has exhibits of plants having medicinal applications from all of the major regions of Myanmar. There are thousands of plants at the park, representing hundreds of different species. Behind the city hall, there is a park with a playground and water fountain complex, which hosts a musical light show every night. The
Naypyidaw Zoological Gardens The Naypyidaw Zoological Gardens () located in Naypyidaw is the largest zoo in South East Asia. Located on the Yangon-Mandalay highway about 250 miles (400 km) north of Yangon, the 612-acre (247-hectare) zoo opened its doors on Myanmar's Arme ...
opened in 2008 with 420 species and now with 1500 animals. The main attraction of the zoo is the climate-controlled penguin house. The animals were shipped to it from the old one in Yangon. The
Naypyidaw Safari Park The Naypyidaw Safari Park ( my, နေပြည်တော် ဆာဖာရီ ဥယျာဉ်) is a wildlife park, located in Naypyidaw, Myanmar (Burma). The park consists of a Asian safari, a Australian safari and a African safari. The ...
officially opened on 12 February 2011.
Naypyidaw also has two golf courses, Naypyidaw City Golf Course and Yaypyar Golf Course, and a gem museum.


Landmark

Similar in size and shape to the
Shwedagon Pagoda The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); mnw, ကျာ်ဒဂုၚ်; officially named ''Shwedagon Zedi Daw'' ( my, ရွှေတိဂုံစေတီတော်, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa ...
in Yangon,
Uppatasanti Pagoda , native_name = , image = Naypyidaw -- Uppatasanti Pagoda.JPG , image_size = , alt = , caption = , map_type = Burma , map_size = , map_alt ...
was completed in 2009. This new pagoda is named the Uppatasanti or "Peace Pagoda". The stake-driving ceremony for the pagoda was held on 12 November 2006.Uppatasanti Pagoda, replica of Shwedagon Pagoda in Nay Pyi Daw
The invitation card for the ceremony opened with a phrase "Rajahtani Naypyidaw (the royal capital where the king resides)". The pagoda is just shorter than the Shwedagon Pagoda. Uppatasanti translates roughly to "Protection against Calamity". It is the name of a sūtra prepared by a monk in the early 16th century. It is to be recited in time of crisis, especially in the face of foreign invasion. Weekly Eleven News Journal, Vol. 1, No. 44 (16 August 2006), p. 9.


Administration

The Naypyidaw Union Territory is administered at both the State/Region level, and as a
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
at the local level under two different governing bodies. Naypyidaw is one of three cities in the country to have municipal governance, the others being Yangon and Mandalay. Naypyidaw Council (NPTC) is the regional administrative body of the territory, and is under the direct supervision of the
President of Myanmar The president of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar () is the head of state and constitutional head of government of Myanmar. The president leads the Cabinet of Myanmar, the executive branch of the Burmese government. The current preside ...
. The council is appointed by the President, and must have no less than 5 and no more than 10 members and include both civilians and
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
personnel. The Chairperson becomes the
ex-officio An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...
Mayor, and the Head of the General Administration Department (GAD) of the territory becomes the Secretary of the council. Matters under the
jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels. J ...
of the Council include: general planning, coordination of
internal security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. Responsibility for internal secu ...
, nature conservation, emergency management, oversight of civil service organizations within the territory, and any other duties assigned to it by the constitution or law.
Naypyidaw Development Committee The Naypyidaw Development Committee ( my, နေပြည်တော်စည်ပင်သာယာရေးကော်မတီ; abbreviated NPTDC) is the administrative body of Naypyidaw, the administrative capital of Myanmar (Burma). NPTDC ...
(NPTDC) is the
local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...
body of the territory. The committee is appointed by the President, and must have at least 5 members, but no more than 9. The Chairperson of the Committee becomes the Mayor of Naypyidaw, the vice-chairman becomes the Vice-Mayor, and the Head of Office becomes the Joint Secretary of the committee. Because both laws make the chair of the Council and Committee the mayor, the same person holds both offices. Matters under the jurisdiction of the Committee include:
urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...
, land-use planning, planning permission,
traffic management Traffic management is a key branch within logistics. It concerns the planning control and purchasing of transport services needed to physically move vehicles (for example aircraft, road vehicles, rolling stock and watercraft) and freight. Traffi ...
, various
public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, sc ...
( sewage treatment, water supply,
sanitation Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation syste ...
, roads, bridges, drainage, etc.), and other local competencies. Unlike the NPTC which must request funding for its budget from the Union government, the committee is permitted to levy taxes to fund its work. The current mayor is Dr. Maung Maung Naing, appointed as the Chair of Naypyidaw Council on 2 February 2021. Dr. Myo Aung of the
National League for Democracy The National League for Democracy ( my, အမျိုးသား ဒီမိုကရေစီ အဖွဲ့ချုပ်, ; abbr. NLD; Burmese abbr. ဒီချုပ်) is a liberal democratic political party in Myanmar (Burma). It ...
party served as Mayor from his appointment on 1 April 2016, until his arrest on 1 February 2021, during the
2021 Myanmar coup d'état A coup d'état in Myanmar began on the morning of 1 February 2021, when democratically elected members of the country's ruling party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), were deposed by the Tatmadaw—Myanmar's military—which then ves ...
.


Administrative divisions

Naypyidaw Union Territory consists of 2 districts subdivided into 8
townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...
.
Pyinmana Pyinmana (, ; population: 100,000 (2006 estimate)) is a logging town and sugarcane refinery center in the Naypyidaw Union Territory of Myanmar. The administrative capital of Myanmar was officially moved to a militarized greenfield site (which the ...
, Lewe, and Tatkone townships were all formerly part of
Yamethin District Yamethin District ( my, ရမည်းသင်း) is a district of the Mandalay Region in central Myanmar. Townships The district contains the following townships: *Pyawbwe Township Pyawbwe Township is a township of Yamethin District in the ...
in Mandalay Region. Ottarathiri, Dekkhinathiri, Popphathiri, Zabuthiri, and Zeyathiri are all new townships under construction. Like the townships in the rest of the country, they are governered by a development affairs organization (DAO) which includes a Township Administrator appointed by the General Administration Department, and an elected Township Development Affairs Committee (TDAC). * Ottara District ** Ottarathiri Township (, from Pali ') ** Pobbathiri Township (, from Pali ') ** Tatkone **
Zeyarthiri Township Zeyathiri Township ( my, ဇေယျာသီရိမြို့နယ်) is one of Naypyidaw Union Territory's eight townships, located south of Mandalay Region in Myanmar. History Zeyathiri Township formerly part of Mandalay Division. The to ...
(, from Pali ') * Dekkhina District ** Dekkhinathiri Township (, from Pali ') ** Lewe Township ** Pyinmana Township **
Zabuthiri Township Zabuthiri Township ( my, ဇမ္ဗူသီရိမြို့နယ်) is one of Naypyidaw Union Territory's eight townships, located south of Mandalay Region in Burma. History Zabuthiri Township was formed from part of Mandalay Division's ...
(, from Pali ') There is sometimes some controversy about land use and changes in land ownership related to the urban spread of Naypyidaw. In late 2014, for example, there were suggestions in parliament that land grabs were occurring near the Dekkhinathiri Township and that existing laws needed to be amended to provide better protection for farmers. There has also been criticism from some members of parliament about the size of the Naypyidaw Union Territory and the fact that money is being spent on urban infrastructure (such as lighting around lakes) although the facilities do not attract much use.


Transport


Roads

The four-lane, Yangon-Naypyidaw highway links Naypyidaw with Yangon directly and is part of the long Yangon-Naypyidaw-Mandalay Expressway. There is a 20-lane boulevard; like most roads in the city, it is largely empty. Naypyidaw has four-lane roads and multilevel, flower-covered roundabouts ( traffic circles).


Air

Naypyidaw International Airport Naypyidaw International Airport officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw , ( my, နေပြည်တော် အပြည်ပြည်ဆိုင်ရာ လေဆိပ်; previously known as Ela Airport), is located 16 kilometres (10 mi) southea ...
, also known as Ayelar Airport, opened in December 2011 and is south-east of the city, between the towns of Ela and Lewe. It is served by all domestic airlines—
Air Bagan Air Bagan Limited ( my, အဲပုဂံ) was an airline headquartered in Bahan Township, Yangon, Myanmar. It operated domestic scheduled services within Myanmar, as well as to Thailand. Its main bases were Yangon International Airport and Mand ...
, Air Mandalay,
Myanmar National Airlines Myanmar National Airlines ( my, မြန်မာအမျိုးသားလေကြောင်း ), formerly Union of Burma Airways, Burma Airways, and Myanma Airways, is a state-owned airline and the flag carrier of Myanmar, based in ...
, FMI Air and Yangon Airways—with regular flights to Yangon and other cities across the country. According to the Transport Ministry, the airport has a long runway, a control tower high and handle up to 65,000 flights annually. Bangkok Airways,
China Eastern Airlines China Eastern Airlines Corporation Limited (), also known as China Eastern, is an airline headquartered in the China Eastern Airlines Building, on the grounds of Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport in Changning District, Shanghai. It i ...
, Qingdao Airlines, and
Donghai Airlines Donghai Airlines is an airline headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, with its base at Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport. History The company was started in November 2002 as Jetwin Cargo Airline, with 2005 being the originally anticipated lau ...
serve the airport with international flights to and from
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...
, Kunming, Nanning, Xi' an, and Shenzhen.


Buses and taxis

Public transport services are limited between neighborhoods. Government ministries run shuttle buses in the morning and evening to their respective buildings.Varadarajan, Siddharth (21 January 2007)
In phantom capital, a city slowly takes shape
''
The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
''.
The city has a central bus station and one taxi company, which is operated by the military. Motorbikes are banned from some roads in Naypyidaw city limits, including sections of Taw Win Yadana Road, as a result of hundreds of traffic accident-related deaths in 2009.


Railways

Naypyidaw railway station was opened at milepost No. (233/0), between Ywataw station and Kyihtaunggan station on the Yangon-Mandalay railroad with a station area of and a covered area of . Construction began on 8 December 2006 and Naypyidaw railway station was opened on 5 July 2009, even though the overpass, locomotive shed, concrete road leading up to the station, parking lot, passenger lounge and platform were not completed. Before the opening of Naypyidaw railway station, Naypyidaw was served by Pyinmana and Lewe stations, though only Pyinmana station is on the main rail line (which extends from Yangon- Bago-Naypyidaw- Thazi-Mandalay). Lewe station is on the way from Pyinmana to Kyaukpadaung. It takes nine hours by train to get from Yangon to Pyinmana; trains leave at 12:00 and arrive at 21:30 local time. In August 2011, Russian news media announced that a Russian-based firm would be constructing a metro line, which would be the country's first underground rail system, underneath Naypyidaw. However, the Rail Transportation Ministry then announced that the plan had been cancelled due to lack of demand and budgetary limits.


Education and research


Basic education

*No. 1 Basic Education High School *No. 2 Basic Education High School *No. 3 Basic Education High School


Higher education

Yezin Yezin is a university village located beside the Yangon-Mandalay Road. The village of Yezin ( my, ရေဇင်း), 12 miles far from north-east of Pyinmana, Burma, has been the site of national scientific research institutions since the late 19 ...
(a few kilometers north-east of Naypyidaw and Pyinmana) * Yezin University of Veterinary Science * Yezin Agricultural University * Yezin University of Forestry


Research

* Forest Research Institute (FRI), Yezin * Department of Agricultural Research (DAR), Yezin * Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Institute (SABRI)


Healthcare

The city is served by five public hospitals: 1000-bed
Naypyidaw General Hospital Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, as it is an entirely planned city out ...
,
Naypyidaw Women Hospital Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, as it is an entirely planned city out ...
,
Naypyidaw ENT Hospital Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, as it is an entirely planned city out ...
, 100-bed
Naypyidaw Traditional Medicine Hospital Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, as it is an entirely planned city out ...
, and
Naypyidaw Orthopaedic Hospital Naypyidaw, officially spelled Nay Pyi Taw (; ), is the capital and third-largest city of Myanmar. The city is located at the centre of the Naypyidaw Union Territory. It is unusual among Myanmar's cities, as it is an entirely planned city out ...
. There is also a 300-bed Obstetric, Gynaecological and Children's Hospital of Defence Services, which is one of the teaching hospitals of Myanmar Defence Services Medical Academy. The nearby towns of Lewe, Pyinmana, and Tatkone each have one hospital.


Sports

Naypyidaw F.C, a Myanmar National League football club, is based at
Wunna Theikdi Stadium Wunna Theikdi Stadium ( my, ဝဏ္ဏသိဒ္ဒိ အားကစားကွင်း) is a multi-use stadium in Naypyidaw, Myanmar. It can seat 30,000 spectators. The stadium hosted the 2013 Southeast Asian Games and 2014 ASEAN Para Ga ...
in Naypyidaw.


Main sights


Pagodas

*
Uppatasanti Pagoda , native_name = , image = Naypyidaw -- Uppatasanti Pagoda.JPG , image_size = , alt = , caption = , map_type = Burma , map_size = , map_alt ...
*
Maha Thetkya Yanthi Buddha Maha Thetkya Yanthi Buddha ( my, မဟာသကျရံသီ ရုပ်ရှင်တော်မြတ်ကြီး); pi, Mahāsakyaraṃsi) is a Buddhist temple in Ottarathiri Township, Naypyidaw Union Territory, Myanmar that houses ...
* Thatta Thattaha Maha Bawdi Pagoda (replica of
Buddha Gaya Bodh Gaya is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous as it is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained Enlightenment ( pi, ...
)


Museums and memorials

* Memorial to the Fallen Heroes * National Museum * Defence Services Museum * Naypyidaw Gems Museum * Planetarium * The Museum of Sport


Recreation

*
Naypyidaw Safari Park The Naypyidaw Safari Park ( my, နေပြည်တော် ဆာဖာရီ ဥယျာဉ်) is a wildlife park, located in Naypyidaw, Myanmar (Burma). The park consists of a Asian safari, a Australian safari and a African safari. The ...
*
National Herbal Park The National Herbal Park ( my, အမျိုးသား ဆေးဖက်ဝင် အပင်များ ပန်းခြံ) is a park located near the Naypyidaw-Taungnyo Road in Naypyidaw, Myanmar. Over 20,000 herbal and medicinal plan ...
*
Naypyidaw Zoological Gardens The Naypyidaw Zoological Gardens () located in Naypyidaw is the largest zoo in South East Asia. Located on the Yangon-Mandalay highway about 250 miles (400 km) north of Yangon, the 612-acre (247-hectare) zoo opened its doors on Myanmar's Arme ...
*
Naypyidaw Water Fountain Garden The Naypyidaw Water Fountain Garden ( my, နေပြည်တော် ရေပန်း ဥယျာဉ်) is a garden in Naypyidaw, Myanmar. The garden is situated near the Naypyidaw City Hall with a steel structure arch-way. Also include ...
*National Landmark Garden *Naypyidaw Hot Spring Resort *
Wunna Theikdi Stadium Wunna Theikdi Stadium ( my, ဝဏ္ဏသိဒ္ဒိ အားကစားကွင်း) is a multi-use stadium in Naypyidaw, Myanmar. It can seat 30,000 spectators. The stadium hosted the 2013 Southeast Asian Games and 2014 ASEAN Para Ga ...
* Wunna Theikdi Indoor Stadium *
Zayarthiri Stadium Zayarthiri Stadium ( my, ဇေယျာသီရိ အားကစားကွင်း) is a multi-use stadium in Naypyidaw, Myanmar. It has a capacity of 30,000 spectators. Having been completed in 2012, it is used mostly for football and athle ...


Concert halls and theatres

* Myanmar International Convention Centre 1 (MICC-1) * Myanmar International Convention Centre 2 (MICC-2) * Open-Air Theatre


Arts and entertainment

The
Myanmar Motion Picture Academy Awards The Myanmar Motion Picture Academy Awards are presented annually to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Burmese Film Industry of Myanmar. The awards ceremony has been held annually since 1952. Each winner is pr ...
are held annually in Naypyidaw given to the highest achievers in Burmese cinema. There is a movie theater in the Junction Centre Mall as well as in the Ocean Shopping Mall. There are two others in nearby Pyinmana, and one in Tatkone Township.


Media and communications

The headquarter of the Ministry of Information is located in Naypyidaw. Since 2009, Naypyidaw has had mobile phone coverage.


Print

The '' Myanmar Alin'' and the ''
Kyaymon ''Kyemon'' ( my, ကြေးမုံ; also known as Kyaymon) (''The Mirror'') is a state-owned Burmese language daily newspaper based in Yangon, Myanmar. Along with ''Myanmar Alin'', Kyemon is one of two Burmese language national newspapers in t ...
'' in Burmese and the '' New Light of Myanmar'' in English are available in Naypyidaw. Since 18 November 2011, the Ministry of Information has begun publishing a weekly journal called the ''Naypyidaw'' ''Times'', to report on government policies.


Radio

There are a number of AM and FM stations broadcasting in Naypyidaw. The main available channels in Naypyidaw are Myanmar Radio (operated by MRTV), Cherry FM, Mandalay FM, FM Bagan, Padamyar FM, Pyinsawaddy FM, Shwe FM and City FM.


Television

MRTV, MRTV-4 and MWD are the main channels, broadcasting Burmese-language programmes in Naypyidaw. Privately owned enterprise Sky Net provides more than 70 pay-TV channels of local and international origin. MRTV broadcasts 19 free-to-air channels and MWD broadcasts 8 free-to-air channels. Other TV channels such as Channel 7, 5-plus and
Myanmar International Myanmar International Television ( my, မြန်မာအင်တာနေရှင်နယ်ရုပ်သံလိုင်း, abbreviated MITV) is a Burmese state-owned national and international English-language television channel ba ...
, the English-language channel that targets overseas audiences are also available.


Costs and issues

One estimate puts the cost in the range of $3–4 billion
USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
although only part of this estimate is for cash spending because non-cash investments were also reportedly involved in supporting the construction effort. There is now continual travel by vehicles along the highway from Yangon to Naypyidaw, which is four lanes for most of the way. There are relatively few vehicles for much of the time on the road. Most trucks traveling North from Yangon to Naypyidaw and Mandalay are prohibited from using the highway. The
Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank established on 19 December 1966, which is headquartered in the Ortigas Center located in the city of Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, Philippines. The bank also maintains 31 field offic ...
has estimated that allowing more trucks onto the road would save over $100 million per year in reduced traveling time and other savings. There are plans to turn the road into a six-lane highway for greater safety. The proportion of housing that meets expatriate needs is limited because the majority of existing apartments are for government employees.Kyaw Soe Htet,
More time needed before expatriates consider relocating to Nay Pti Daw'
''Myanmar Times'', 8 October 2019.


In popular culture

In March 2014, Naypyidaw was one of the locations featured on the British motoring TV show ''
Top Gear Top Gear may refer to: * "Top gear", the highest gear available in a vehicle's manual transmission Television * ''Top Gear'' (1977 TV series), a British motoring magazine programme * ''Top Gear'' (2002 TV series), a relaunched version of the or ...
'' during a two-part special event in Myanmar. In 2018, Naypyidaw was on the TV show '' Dark Tourist''.


See also

*
List of capitals of Myanmar The current capital of Myanmar (Burma) is Nay Pyi Taw. The following is a list of political capitals of notable states in Burmese history from the 9th century to the present. The list is generally organised in dynastic and chronological orders ...
*
Naypyidaw Victoria rape case Naypyidaw Victoria Rape Case refers to the rape of a 2-year-and-11-month-old girl, nicknamed Victoria, believed to have happened in Wisdom Hill Nursery School in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, which sparked national outrage. The police filed a case at court a ...


Gallery

File:Uppatasanti Pagoda.jpg, Uppatasanti Pagoda (western view) File:Naypyidaw -- Uppatasanti Pagoda Plaza at sunset.JPG,
Uppatasanti Pagoda , native_name = , image = Naypyidaw -- Uppatasanti Pagoda.JPG , image_size = , alt = , caption = , map_type = Burma , map_size = , map_alt ...
at sunset File:Government luncheon reception in Naypyidaw.jpg, Government reception File:Naypyidaw -- Uppatasanti Pagoda interior.JPG, Uppatasanti Pagoda interior File:Zayyarthiri Stadium.JPG, Zayyarthiri Stadium File:Naypyidaw -- Zoo.JPG, Nay Pyi Taw Zoo File:Naypyidaw Zoo Planetarium.JPG, Planetarium File:Buddha Gaya Naypyitaw 001.jpg, Thatta Thattaha Maha Bawdi Pagoda File:Maha Thakya Yan Thi Pagoda.jpg, Maha Thakya Yan Thi Pagoda File:Naypyitaw Gems Museum-02.JPG, Naypyidaw Gems Museum File:Seagame.jpg, Naypyidaw hosting the
2013 Southeast Asian Games The 2013 Southeast Asian Games ( my, ၂၀၁၃ ခုနှစ် အရှေ့တောင် အာရှ အားကစား ပြိုင်ပွဲ), officially known as the 27th Southeast Asian Games, or the 27th SEA Games, and com ...
File:Myanmar-Lower-House-Parliament.jpg, Union Parliament (Interior View) File:Myanmar Foreign Minister San Suu Kyi Addresses Reporters during News Conference with Secretary Kerry following their Bilateral Meeting in Naypyitaw (27131739766).jpg, A press conference in Naypyidaw File:The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi inspecting the guard of honour, at the Ceremonial Reception, in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar on September 05, 2017. The President of Myanmar, Mr. U. Htin Kyaw is also seen (2).jpg, A ceremonial reception in Naypyidaw


References

* Dulyapak Preecharushh, ''Naypyidaw: New Capital of Burma'', 2009, White Lotus.


Notes


External links


Nay Pyi Daw – A photo album
The Flying Dutchman blog, 15 June 2007 (one of first two tourists to visit Naypyidaw, includes many photos)
Abode of Kings in a Derelict Kingdom
Disposable Words blog, 15 June 2007 (second of first two tourists to visit Naypyidaw, more photos)
BBC Top Gear Series 21 Episode 6
{{Authority control Populated places in Mandalay Region Capitals in Asia Planned capitals Populated places established in 2005 Township capitals of Myanmar 2005 establishments in Myanmar New towns started in the 2000s