Myanmar plans deep-sea ports for development of maritime trade

The Myanmar port authorities will cooperate with an Italian-Thai company in building a deep-sea port, Dawei, in the country's southern Tanintharyi region and an agreement is expected to be signed at the end of this month, according to the local weekly Myanmar Posts Tuesday.

The Dawei deep-sea port project, which costs 13 billion U.S. dollars, includes motor and rail roads, electricity transmission plant and steel plant.

The Dawei deep-sea port project, which covers 64,000 hectares, is to be implemented by the government as a special economic zone.

The project stands as a strategic one which lies within the east-west corridor of Asia.

On completion, the deep-sea port will play role in removing trade barrier in some regions in Asia including Myanmar and Thailand, experts said.

Entrepreneurs from some countries have also shown interest in the project such as those from South Korea, China and India.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is conducting survey on upgrading two domestic airports to international standard to match the use of two planned deep-sea ports including the Dawei's. The other, Kyaukphyu, lies in western Rakhine state.

With the implementation of the Dawei and Kyaukphyu deep-sea port projects in respective coastal state and region, experts stressed the need for building international airports for accommodation of larger aircraft touching down from the region and facilitation of maritime trade with neighboring countries.

The existing two airports are just enough for running domestic transportation, the experts warned, emphasizing the need for the two airports to extend building of their infrastructure.

The prospective Dawei deep-sea port project stands one of the priorities among future programs of the seven-member Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) which now comprises Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bhutan and Nepal.


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