Thailand and Myanmar Join for a Deep Sea Port

Thailand and Myanmar have begun to work together in a joint project to construct a new deep sea port in Myanmar.

The $50 billion Dawei dep sea port project will be on Myanmar’s southern Andaman coast and will open up new border crossings during summit talks focused on boosting economic ties.

During a news conference Myanmar President Thein Sein and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said they had agreed to connect the Dawei Economic Zone with industrial areas along Thailand’s seaboard, including the Laem Chabang deep sea port.

Led by Italian-Thai Development Pcl in southern Myanmar, the deep-sea port will cost $2.5 billion and is due to be completed in 2018. The 250 sq km Dawei complex will include steel mills, refineries, a petrochemical complex, and power plants.

Planned to bring in goods to be transported along a corridor running past Bangkok to the eastern seaboard, the project is geared to help strengthen Myanmar’s economy by attracting foreign investment that was not possible before the government’s reform.

At the same time Dawei residents have begun to have concerns over the project, mainly because not enough details about the project have been revealed. Many locals want to know about the structures and the long-term impact it will have on the area.

President Thein Sein and Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra signed three memorandums of understanding during the president’s first trip to Thailand since he took office in 2010.