ASIA

Myanmar keen to restart Dawei project

9 years ago

Myanmars government is looking into ways to restart the currently-suspended development of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) which includes a deep-sea port in Myanmar.

A screengrab of the location of Dawei. Image: Google Maps

According to the Myanmar Times, two taskforces have been established to explore restarting Dawei SEZ’s development, with one focusing on problems encountered with the developer for the project’s initial phase and the other looking at upgrading an existing 150-kilometre road linking the zone to the remote area of Htee Khee. The Myanmar government is reportedly pushing for the latter within the next two years.

Speaking at a meeting with local authorities at the site of the Dawei venture, Myanmar’s vice president U Henry Van Thio commented: “To implement the project, ways must be sought to hold talks between Myanmar, Thailand and Japan.”

The Dawei SEZ includes construction of the port, alongside a highway, which will connect Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand to Africa, the Middle East, Europe and India.

Additionally, the port would reduce transportation time by removing the need to travel around Singapore through the Malacca Straits.

If finished, the zone would be one of the biggest mega-projects in southeast Asia, with the area costing $8bn and development of the initial stage alone coming to over $1bn.

A memorandum of understanding was first signed to develop the SEZ in 2008, between Myanmar and Thailand, while the Italian-Thai Development Public Company (ITD) was awarded a 60-year concession to construct a deep-sea port, industrial estate and road and rail links to the town of Kanchanaburi in west Thailand.

However, in 2013, ITD backed out of the deal, citing financial constraints, while community complaints were also made about the lack of sufficient compensation for construction, pollution and disruption created.

Though ITD resigned the deal in 2015, progress on development of the SEZ in Dawei, the capital of Tanintharyi region near the Thai-Myanmar border, has ground to a halt since then, with nothing coming of talks to recommence work.

Two other SEZ ventures exist in Myanmar.

Currently, Thilawa SEZ in southern Yangon is the only one in operation after Kyaukphyu SEZ in Rakhine stalled because of a deadlock in shareholder negotiations between the Myanmarese government and China’s CITIC-led consortium.