Burma's capital opens its new zoo

By Jonathan Head
BBC South East Asia correspondent

There are 420 animals in the zoo, including tigers and elephants

Burma's new capital city Nay Pyi Taw has some new inhabitants.

The city's first zoo has just been opened, after animals from the zoo in the old capital, Rangoon, were moved up to Nay Pyi Taw in February.

The zoo will offer some rare entertainment for the thousands of government officials who were forced to move to Nay Pyi Taw two years ago.

The 420 animals who have made the journey to the new zoo include white tigers, elephants and penguins.

Unwelcome move

Despite huge amounts of construction, it is still proving difficult for the government to attract people and businesses to move to the new capital.

Building an entirely new city amid hot, dusty hills 10 hours' drive north of Rangoon has been an exercise of sheer will by Burma's military rulers.

It has drained the government's meagre resources, and getting people to move there has been a struggle.

So they have been ordered to go, tens of thousands of civil servants were literally bussed up overnight two years ago, although many of their families have refused to follow them.

Most foreign embassies have also stayed in Rangoon.

Despite its grandiose name - Nay Pyi Taw means Abode of Kings - the new capital remains a desolate place.

Its bleak new government quarters and housing projects lack the bustling street life you would see in any other comparably-sized city in Burma.

Its eight-lane highways are deserted after dark.

But now at least they have a zoo, and the government is promising Nay Pyi Taw's inhabitants a lot more - a huge recreation centre is now being finished beside a large reservoir outside the city.

No one knows the true cost of all this construction, but it is believed to be consuming a huge chunk of a government budget, which already devotes some of the lowest levels of spending to health or education anywhere in the world.