Dawei Deep Sea Port project 'will not be controlled by Thailand'

Aye Myint, Labour, Employment and Social Security Minister, spoke to press on Saturday amid growing public concern that the company running the project was recently registered in Thailand.

“The project will not be controlled by Thailand as others say. Special Purpose Vehicle-1 was registered in Thailand in order to be able to get international loans and to sell shares as a public company in Thailand’s capital market,” said Aye Myint, the former industries minister. “As with Special Purpose Vehicle-1, which is regarded as the Dawei economic zone development company, Special Purpose Vehicle-2 will be formed by Myanmar and Thailand. It will be registered in Myanmar to sell shares locally,” he added.

After Dawei Deep Sea Port and Special Economic Zone Project was initiated by the Italian-Thai Development Co in 2008. Following Italian-Thai’s difficulty in financing the project, the Myanmar and Thai governments formed a joint venture named Special Purpose Vehicle-1 to overcome the bottleneck.

“Italian-Thai has not withdrawn from the Dawei project but it will no longer have complete control as before, even if the company reinvests,” said Set Aung, deputy minister for national planning and economic development, and chairperson of the regulatory sub-committee for Dawei. 

Meanwhile, Myanmar and Thai authorities are discussing the framework for splitting the project’s shareholdings. Negotiations are also underway to secure Japan as a partner.