# Rangoon Development Trust

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The **Rangoon Development Trust** (**RDT**) was as an organization founded in 1920[1] by way of the [Rangoon Development Trust Act](/source/Rangoon_Development_Trust_Act). The Trust oversaw [town planning](/source/Town_planning) in the Municipality of [Rangoon](/source/Rangoon), [Burma](/source/Burma) (now Yangon).

## History

The founding of the RDT was one of many early twentieth-century initiatives aimed at improving increasingly difficult living conditions in Rangoon; the municipality was underdeveloped, many thoroughfares were marshy and laden with wooden planks in order to make them navigable. Although the city centre did feature numerous masonry and to a less extent concrete buildings, its residents were housed primarily in flimsy timber structures.[2] The RDT oversaw the creation of new housing for Rangoon's poorer residents, an increasingly limited supply of housing in a town which saw 50 years of British, Chinese and Indian immigration in turn resulted in a property price spiral, pricing many out of the property market. The RDT sought to alleviate these conditions by encouraging migration outwards of [Rangoon City Centre](/source/Downtown_Rangoon) towards newer suburbs through the building of better roads as well as [reclaiming land](/source/Land_reclamation) East and West of the centre of Rangoon.

## Responsibilities

- Maintenance and extension of utilities such as lighting and water-supply.
- Determining suitability and viability of unused land for the purpose of new building projects.
- Allotting land for roads, parks, gardens schools, markets and any other public space intended for public use.
- Preservation of structures of historical interest or natural beauty.

The RDT was responsible for the opening of [Scott Market](/source/Bogyoke_Market) (now Bogyoke Aung San Market) on the site of a former train depot.

## References

1. Standley, Etherton, Terry, David (1990). [*Human Settlements Sector Review, Union of Myanmar*](https://books.google.com/books?id=gQR43wTJ_ggC&q=Rangoon+Development+Trust+Act+1920&pg=PA26). United Nations. p. 26. ISBN 92-1131128-4.

1. Charney, Michael (2009). [*A History of Modern Bruma*](https://books.google.com/books?id=rKkynGL9vB4C&q=978-0-521-61758-1). Cambridge University Press. pp. 22–23. ISBN 978-0-521-61758-1.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Rangoon Development Trust](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangoon_Development_Trust) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rangoon_Development_Trust?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.