Construction policy and regulation

Heritage zones in Myanmar’s Mrauk-U, Rakhine State, are under threat due to renovations that have altered the designs of ancient pagodas, the Mrauk-U Heritage Trust claims. The Department of Archaeology and the National Museum in Sittwe are both operating construction sites. Keep reading ...

A Cambodian government committee has ordered tycoon Kith Meng’s Royal Group to stop construction of a passenger port it was building on Sihanoukville’s Otres Beach, which it said was in clear violation of coastal development guidelines and had progressed without a permit. The National Committee for ...

The capital of Laos is a low-rise, low-key city, especially when compared with the hulking high-rises and bustling streets of better-known Southeast Asian cities such as Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. But this once-sleepy city is fast shedding its sedate reputation due to a building boom ...

Tourism and other line ministries will raise the issue of unlawful construction along Sihanoukville’s coastline at a meeting scheduled for 18 January, given the presence of illegal buildings along the coastal city’s beaches. The meeting, which will be held at the Tourism Ministry, will have participants ...

Vietnam’s housing market is expected to enjoy another good year after record sales in 2015 aided by improved economic conditions and infrastructure and lower interest rates.   According to the industry’s estimates, apartment sales in Hanoi hit around 28,300 units in 2015, a 70 percent rise from ...

Grade-A office space in Bangkok’s central business district (CBD) will fetch a higher occupancy rate next year, say property consultants. In addition, monthly rents will increase to more than 1,000 baht a square metre due to solid demand and limited new supply. Surachet Kongcheep, associate director of research at ...

More than 40 hotels in one of the country’s prime tourist attractions cannot accept a single guest – because the authorities refuse to grant them licences. The “limbo hotels”, some of which are still under construction, are located in the protection zone declared by the Ministry of ...

The governor of Ratanakkiri’s Banlung town was sued on 18 November by a local resident and army veteran for allegedly seizing construction materials and violating private property rights without a court warrant. Kory Prel, 46, who served in the army and provincial police for more than 30 ...

Prime Minister Hun Sen on 8 November took to Facebook to warn companies against “colluding with bad officials” to illegally construct buildings on public parks and sidewalks, ordering those that have already done so to dismantle them immediately. Keep reading ...

Supplying water to the estimated 100,000 residents of a new housing development in Yangon could put supplies to the rest of the city at risk, the Myanmar government has warned. Next year, the first 6000 of the 19,600 apartments now being built in the Ayeyarwun and Yadanar ...