Residents of Yangon have reported that the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is collaborating with the military to seize public parks, vacant lands, and water reservoirs throughout the Yangon Region, converting them into party-owned properties. In particular, a large public waste disposal area in Tamwe Township’s Myitta Nyunt Ward on Industrial Road has been completely fenced off with barbed wire, with signs declaring it as USDP property and warning against trespassing.
Similar land grabbing activities have been observed in Hlaing Tharyar and Shwepyithar Townships, where the USDP has been seizing public parks, communal grazing lands, and vacant plots, subsequently registering them under the party’s name. According to a source from the Yangon Region General Administration Department, the USDP has been actively pursuing land grant conversions in recent days, with the Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) expediting the issuance of land grants under the party’s name.
Former military officers associated with the USDP have also been involved in seizing public lands. In Shwepyithar Township, former Lieutenant Colonel and ex-USDP representative Tin Maung Oo has been documented seizing public parks and lands, converting their ownership through land grants. Since the military coup, beginning in 2022, Tin Maung Oo and his group have been converting and selling various types of public lands, including garden plots, fire breaks, grazing lands, and vacant lots in the Shwepyithar Township area.
These land grant conversions and sales of public properties have reportedly involved the cooperation of multiple authorities, including the General Administration Department, YCDC, Yangon Region Military Council, Land Records Department, and military strategists. Since the military coup on February 1, 2021, there has been a significant increase in the seizure and sale of public lands and parks throughout Yangon Region townships, carried out through collaboration between the military, USDP members, and former military officers, according to local sources.
