Inside Burma’s ghost town capital city, which is 4 times the size of London with a fraction of the population
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The capital city of Myanmar, Naypyidaw, is 7,054 square kilometres in size, roughly four and a half times the size of London (1,569 square kilometres).
But the city is a ghost town. Its population is only 924,608, compared to London's 2016 estimate of 8.63 million.
The capital of Myanmar was moved from Yangon to Naypyitaw (which means Seat of the King) by the then-military regime in November 2005.
According to The Guardian, it is rumoured to have cost $4 billion (£3.2 billion) to construct the city, with 20-lane highways and wide streets designed for a future of expansion.
It has reliable electricity, golf courses, hotels, shopping malls, and restaurants and cafes with fast and free wifi, uncommon throughout the rest of the country.
However, despite billions in government investment, the city has struggled to attract Burmese locals or substantial numbers of tourists.
Guardian reporters who visited the city in March 2015 said: "The vast highways are completely empty and there is a stillness to the air. Nothing moves."
Photographer Taylor Weidman captured the deserted streets of Naypyidaw in the images below.
This is Naypyidaw, the capital of Myanmar. Despite being over four times the size of London, its population is nine times smaller.
Rush hour is nonexistent in Naypyidaw. Here, a solo motorcyclist drives down a 20-lane highway...
...and an old bus has sole control of the wide road.
The roads are all perfectly paved and landscaped, but there's nobody to enjoy them.
Here, a Burmese woman walks down an empty highway with no concern for cars.
She has the entire junction to herself.
Here, the prominent landmark of Uppatasanti Pagoda is completely empty, even though it's August — prime tourist season in many other cities.
The busiest it appears to get is shown below, where friends take photos in front of artificial waterfalls at the Naypyidaw Water Fountain Garden.
The shopping malls, built with an expanding city in mind, are also deserted.
The mall is so empty that workers are looking for things to do.
There aren't many guests at the large hotels built in a designated 'hotel area,' including The Mingalar Thiri Hotel.
"On a bright Sunday afternoon, the streets are silent, restaurants and hotel lobbies empty," The Guardian reported. "It looks like an eerie picture of post-apocalypse suburban America; like a David Lynch film on location in North Korea."
Guards watch the gates of the headquarters of the Union Solidarity and Development party. It's unclear who they're protecting the building from.
Still, the Burmese flag flies proudly outside the city's National Museum — which, of course, is completely free of people.
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Read the original article on Business Insider UK. © 2016. Follow Business Insider UK on Twitter.
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