Time to work hard for Dawei Special Economic Zone

Myanmar and Thailand have signed a memorandum of understanding to permit the Italian-Thai Development public company (ITD) to begin work on the Dawei deep sea port infrastructure project in 2018.

The original project started in 2008 and was set to build and develop a port, a highway to and from Myanmar and Thailand, industrial zones, office buildings, residential buildings and other infrastructure. However, the project never took off due to its large scale.

The Taninthayi region is abundant in natural resources, fishery businesses, rubber plantations, oil palm and mineral production. However, it does not have the electricity to produce high-end finished products yet. The SEZ is aimed at boosting the economy and creating jobs.

The Myanmar Government did its best to fulfil requirements, giving priority to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA), which are a bit complicated and difficult.

Today, the EIA and SIA are nearly complete.

Local people and environmentalists have voiced fears about the environmental and social impacts of the SEZ project, urging the authorities concerned to give transparent information on the advantages and disadvantages of the project to prevent further damages. It was obvious the natural environment was being damaged in the past, and no EIA or SIA were conducted before.

Now, the democratic government has ensured that the projects are more transparent, with the vision to reduce as much harm to the environment and to the society as possible.

Today, all the projects related to the SEZ have submitted their EIA and SIA to the Union Government.

It will take three to five years to complete the construction of roads, basic infrastructure and to supply electricity to the area. Once these are completed, more investments can be expected due to Myanmar’s Generalized System of Preferences opportunities as it is a least developed country (LDC).

Myanmar will build infrastructure on some 6,000 acres of land during the 2018 to 2030 period, and once they are completed, foreign investments are expected to pour in.

The Dawei SEZ project that could result in thousands of jobs along the Myanmar-Thailand border is back on track after years of fits and starts.

To bring success to the national-level project, political stability, national integrity, and active and in-depth participation are expected from all stakeholders involved in the project.

Ref; The Global New Light of Myanmar