Myanmar: The Neighbouring Countries Economic Development Cooperation Agency (Neda) expects major investors, including petrochemical industries, will start investing in the first phase of Myanmar's Dawei deep-sea port special economic zone (SEZ) soon.
Dawei airport provides one runway for visitors and investors to Dawei city in southeastern Myanmar.JIRAPORN KUHAKAN
Investment should spur larger infrastructure development for the whole phase.
Neda president Newin Sinsiri said momentum for the first phase of Dawei would help support further development of infrastructure, eventually increasing employment in Myanmar.
"Development of the 132-kilometre road linking Thailand's Phu Nam Ron village in Kanchanaburi and the Dawei deep-sea port in Myanmar will promote investment in the first phase," he said.
Neda has backed the project by giving 4.5 billion baht in funding for the road construction.
The Dawei SEZ is expected to be ready for four major target industries: garments and textiles, footwear, electronics and petrochemicals.
"We expect foreign investors from Japan, China, South Korea and India to be interested in Dawei," said Mr Newin.
Thai investors are in talks with their partners as they have 90 days to decide on investment plans and submit them for approval to the Myanmar government after signing an agreement on Aug 5.
SET-listed Italian-Thai Development Plc (ITD) was the initial Thai investor, signing an agreement with the Myanmar government to start developing the first phase of the Dawei megaproject immediately. ITD expects to sell 16,000 rai of developed land in the first phase spread out over the next few years.
Neda believes the Dawei SEZ deep-sea port will be suitable for heavy industries, while the planned Thai SEZ scheduled for Kanchanaburi is expected to target smaller industries such as car parts, electronics and agricultural processing industries.
Neda is Thailand's international development aid agency, established as a public organisation under the supervision of the Finance Ministry.
The agency planned another project in the Greater Mekong Subregion by sponsoring the smoothing of a project to improve electricity transmission lines from Okkalapa in northern Myanmar to downtown Yangon. The sponsorship is worth 1.78 billion baht.
Neda is also conducting a feasibility study for a border crossing at Cambodia's Stung Bot, adjacent to Thailand's Aranyaprathet district. The project includes a plan to build a road linking to Cambodia's National Highway 5 to support border trade.
Another Neda project involves improving infrastructure in Vientiane, Laos. The agency has agreed to provide 313 million baht in funding to help construct electric transmission lines to augment the power grid in the city.
"Neda has allocated a total budget of 8.7 billion baht to support projects in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam as we believe funding projects in neighbouring countries can benefit Thailand as well," said Mr Newin.