YANGO — Myanmar has invited local and foreign investors to build the country's first two dry ports to facilitate shipment of cargo inland, state media reported Sunday.
The state-run Myanmar Railways announced plans to develop the projects in the largest city of Yangon, and in the central region of Mandalay, the New Light of Myanmar said.
The sites would encompass containers and road and rail networks access to industrial zones and three special economic zone projects throughout the country.
The plan also covers rehabilitation of rail running container trains from inland container depots to sea ports directly and the repair of 13 bridges on the Yangon-Mandalay railroad.
Myanmar is rushing to ensure free flow of goods and to provide new opportunities for international trade before the implementation of the 10-nation Aseam Economic Community in 2015.
The country is far less-developed than most of its southeast Asian neighbours, due partly to several years of international economic sanctions under military rule.
The transitional government of President Thein Sein, a former general elected in late 2010, has been promoting economic and political reforms since the country's emergence from pariah status.