No deal yet on $20 bn Chinese rail project: official
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A US$20-billion (Bt624.8 billion) high-speed railway project linking Kunming in southern China to Myanmar's Kyaukphyu on the Indian Ocean is still at the proposal stage, claim Myanmar government sources.
Rights groups and local residents have voiced growing concerns over the project’s lack of transparency and failure to release an environmental assessment report.
“We are still at the negotiation stage for the railway project. Nothing is definite. China has submitted the proposal but [the project] can only be continued with approval from this side,” said an official from the Ministry of Rail Transportation, who requested anonymity.
“We will only accept this if it offers opportunities for the country, and if everyone – the public, the government and parliament – agree to it.”
China will fully fund the $20 billion railway project, providing easy access to Indian Ocean trade routes through an 800km rail line.
China already operates the Shwe oil and natural gas pipelines that start near Kyaukphyu in Rakhine State and run through Mandalay, Lashio and Muse before entering China’s Yunnan Province.
China plans to build and operate the railway and eventually hand it back to Myanmar after 50 years.
