My wife Carey and I have been in Myanmar, also known as Burma, since July 2011. It has been a period of constant change; and for the better it would appear. Many Burmese have told us that they have seen more change here in the last two years than they have seen in the past 50 years of their life.
Government buildings and properties that were once derelict are now being spruced up and painted. Roads and sidewalks are being improved. There are more cars on the roads than ever before.
Gas is still rationed, however, to nine litres a day for the majority of cars that still use regular gas. The premium fuel used by newer cars is unrestricted but more costly at about $0.96 per litre.
Country-wide, there are now 439 gas stations, an increase of over 200 in the past 15 months, with 540 currently under construction.
There are two classes of people here, the very rich and the very poor, but there is evidence that a middle class is emerging. Young people spend time at Internet cafés playing games, surfing the web and checking their Gmail accounts on lowspeed, unreliable connections. They are hungry to learn more of the outside world.
Computers and Internet connections in homes are rare. Mobile phone use is growing exponentially, but the infrastructure is not keeping pace with the demand.
Foreign investment, particularly from China, Japan and other Asian countries, is pouring in since U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made her historic visit here last fall. Many countries have removed all or most sanctions, including Canada.
As a result, land and property prices have reached levels that simply make no sense when compared with the rest of the world. Office rents have increased from $15 per square metre to $35 in a matter of months. Some downtown Yangon real estate prices are on par with Tokyo, a notoriously expensive city.
Practically no quality residential apartments are available. We stay in a Japaneseowned building called Sakura Residence on Inya Road, a good area of town. Our rent has been $1,500 a month since we came a year ago; it rises to $3,800 a month starting in October.
One of the most popular apartment buildings for expat families has 211 units with a waiting list of 400 families.
The country that was virtually closed to the world for more than 50 years is now full of curiosity-seekers, business people, entertainers and artists of all types. The airport that had a half a dozen flights a day coming in when we arrived is now bustling with 30 or more flights a day.
Business people are coming to Rangoon to discover the market potential of this country and to size up the country as one of the last remaining sources of cheap and reasonably well-educated labour. A recent study found that the average monthly wage in Myanmar was about $95 US for factory workers. This is about one-fifth of the wage in China for comparable work.
The garment industry seems to be a popular target for visiting business people.
The electrical and telecommunications infrastructure of Myanmar is a huge problem. The whole country literally needs to be rewired. Myanmar has a population roughly similar to its neighbour Thailand (62 million versus 67 million) but Myanmar's electrical power generation capacity is only about 10 per cent of Thailand's, and much of that has been sold to China into the future.
In short, Myanmar has a serious shortage of electrical power and it will take bazillions of dollars to fix it.
Electricity is currently rationed to various industrial sites and to rural communities. One group gets it from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then it switches to another area for several hours. Future businesses will simply not be able to function without huge improvements in electrical and telecom infrastructure.
Now that we have spent more than a year in Southeast Asia, it is clear that there is a tremendous shift taking place from West to East. The action is clearly in this part of the world now.
China, India, and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are all developing quickly. Political and business leaders meet regularly and they tend to favour Asian solutions over Western solutions. Creativity and innovation used to come from the West and was copied in the East. We are now witnessing what some refer to as "Innovasia."
President U Thein Sein, head of the Myanmar government, seems to have the confidence of the people. The majority of the people think that he is taking the country in the right direction. He confers periodically with "The Lady" - Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nelson Mandela of Myanmar, the leader of the political opposition who was held for many years under house arrest until being released in 2010.
Thein Sein and Suu Kyi have agreed to put their differences behind them and concentrate on matters they do agree on. The old hardliners are gradually fading into the distance and the elected representatives are having some good debates and discussions in the upper and lower houses of their government.
The most recent news is that the red pen of the censors is gone as of Aug. 20. It took a week for the news to get out because all the newspapers still had to submit their entire publication a week in advance for review.
The Myanmar Times, currently a weekly in English and in Myanmar (Burmese), will now likely consider publishing twice weekly.
Myanmar is clearly emerging from a long period of darkness into a brighter future, a future full of opportunities for its citizens. Although some question the sustainability of the changes, all indications are positive.
Known as the Golden Land, Myanmar was once the jewel of southeast Asia. Fifty years ago, it had a per capita income twice that of Thailand, but after decades of military rule, the economy stagnated and lost ground compared to its neighbours, and the people suffered.
Our hope is that Myanmar will return to its former glory. The people deserve it.
Byron Barnard is is the former deputy chief information officer and an assistant deputy minister with the B.C. government. He and his wife Carey are doing charity work in
