Thailand to sign US$1.7 billion Dawei deal in Naypyidaw next week

Thailand will sign a US$1.7 billion deal to develop the first phase of the long-delayed Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in southeastern Myanmar next week, Thailand’s secretary-general of the state planning agency said in a Reuters report on Wednesday.
Regarded as Southeast Asia’s most ambitious industrial zone project, the Dawei SEZ will comprise a 250-sq-km (100-sq-mile) deep-sea port, petrochemical and heavy industry hub in Myanmar’s south-eastern section. It is located south of Yangon, on the northern bank of the Dawei River and along the Andaman coast. The Dawei SEZ is within close proximity to Thailand, 350km west of Bangkok. The Dawei region serves as southern economic corridor of the Greater Mekong Subregion.
The signing of the US$1.7 billion Dawei deal will take place in Naypyidaw next Wednesday (August 5) between Japan, Thailand and Myanmar, according to Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, secretary-general of Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Board.

“The Dawei project will link production in the southern economic corridor and will help Thailand enter into the supply chain of globally important industries. This will upgrade Thailand to become a developed nation,” the secretary-general said.

First phase of the Dawei project is set to include a 27-square-km industrial estate and will begin with construction of a 138-km (86 mile) road from Dawei in Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region to Thailand’s Kanchanaburi province, 119 km northwest of Bangkok.

Dawei SEZ, trans-border corridor | Myanmar Business News | image: iges.or.jp The article noted that Italian Thai Development Pcl and Rojana Industrial Park will have the rights to develop the first phase of the project.
The memorandum of intent to develop the Dawei Special Economic Zone in Myanmar was signed by senior government officials of Myanmar, Japan and Thailand during the 7th Japan-Mekong Summit held in Tokyo earlier this month.
Dawei SEZ will be a potential logistical asset for firms relying on the transport of goods around the crowded Malacca Strait, the world’s busiest shipping lane.

Dawei SEZ project can bypass Malacca strait and offer East-West trade short cut // ramree.com Source: Thailand to sign first phase of Dawei development next week, Reuters