"It’s summer and Yangon is scorching hot. The hotel air-conditioning shuts down as it does several times a day due to electricity shortages. Shops and apartment buildings fire up growling diesel generators whose fumes mix poisonously with the exhaust of the second-hand Japanese cars streaming past. I’m waiting for a ferry at Pansodan pier in the south of the city. Behind me is Yangon’s “Bund”, a row of colonial-era commercial and administrative buildings. In front is the Yangon river, whose waters flow gently, if a little murkily. On the other bank I can see the township of Dala. The view is flat and rural, a stark contrast to Yangon’s bustling cityscape. Reaching Dala, I take a motorbike westwards, crossing the Twante canal via a steel bridge with an unpaved surface that makes the wheels skid. Farmers are transplanting rice in plots either side of the road. It’s countryside the whole way. ’ve come to see the area where a new city is being planned. Dubbed Myanmar’s Shenzhen, “New Yangon City” will cover 80km2 west of the Yangon river. Although only separated from the old city by the river, the area is relatively cut off. The only direct route is via the ferry to Dala..."