The civic body of Burma's second largest city, Mandalay has started building temporary shops for shop owners who lost their establishment in a devastating fire on February 25. The fire broke out at the Yadanabon Market in central Mandalay.

 

The temporary shops are being constructed between 77th and 27th and 33rd streets. An estimated 3,000 shops are to be constructed. All the shop have been named with letters of the English alphabet such as A, B, C, D, E block and each block will have between 140 and 300 shops, a Mandalay resident said.

 

"We have to apply to the municipal office to get a shop in the block and have to pay five million kyats (est. US $ 4,546). The shop owners who paid the amount were invited to a meeting today at noon at the Mandalay City Hall," a shop owner told KNG this morning.

 

She said initially the municipality had not announced that shop owners had to pay five million kyats but they made the announcement that March 18 would be the last date for submitting applications for getting a shop.

 

"The civic body still has not officially informed shop owners who could not pay the money by the last date and we don't know whether they will get a shop," she added.

 

Meanwhile, on March 26, the municipality will hold a lucky dip for priority shop space for shop owners who have paid.

According to the government newspaper the New Light of Myanmar in the Yadanabon blaze 1,293 shops on the ground floor, 135 on the first floor, 17 on the second floor, 54 in MICT Park on the third floor and 54 computer training rooms were damaged in the fire.