More investors to be invited to join Dawei SEZ as Italian-Thai cannot finance alone

The implementation of Dawei SEZ and its related projects has been delayed as ITD faces financial constraints. 

The project is so large that no company can finance it alone and it should thus be developed through the efforts of many companies, according to Sett Aung, chairperson of the legal and procedural coordination subcommittee for the Dawei SEZ Project.

“Italian-Thai Co doesn’t have the capacity to finance Dawei SEZ alone. In fact, no other company would have the financial capacity to do so, either. Therefore, we will invite investment from other international firms in addition to Italian-Thai,” said Sett Aung, who is also the vice governor of Myanmar Central Bank.

Plans are currently underway to appoint an international consulting firm to conduct due diligence, a kind of audit to verify the costs incurred by ITD on the project. During the process, ITD will need to suspend its work. Later, international investors and developers will be invited to continue implementation of the Dawei SEZ Project.

The Dawei SEZ Project is located in the Taninthayi Region of Lower Myanmar. It includes plans to develop a 250-square-kilometre industrial estate, with sea and land infrastructure links to Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

 

More Asian firms get the nod

Firms from Thailand, Hong Kong, India and Singapore will make a joint effort with their Myanmar counterparts to produce advanced wood products and foodstuffs in accordance with the Foreign Investment Law, reports say.

The production processes will be implemented in Dagon Seikkan and Hlaingthayar industrial zones in Yangon Region, and in Katha Township of Sagaing Region.

This follows a Myanmar Investment Commission meeting held on November 26 in Nay Pyi Taw, which approved operations by those industries subject to comments and approvals by the respective regional government bodies, ministries and organisations.

Each firm from Singapore, Hong Kong, and Thailand will enter joint ventures with respective Myanmar counterparts to produce sugar, ethanol, and fast foods.

Alpha ECC (Myanmar) Private Limited, a consortium of Vietnam, Myanmar, and India firms, will operate offshore oil and gas platforms and related services.

Service centres for migrant workers 

A one-stop service centre for Myanmar migrant workers whose visas have expired will be set up in December, according to the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security.

The centres will open at the Myanmar embassy in Thailand, as well as in border towns such as Mai Sai (Tarchileik), Maesot (Myawaddy), Khttkhee, Mautaung, and Ranaung (Kawthaung). 

“We are going to open one service centres in border areas like Tarchileik and Myawaddy,” said an unnamed official of the Ministry.

The ministry will issue a red passport instead of a temporary passport for Myanmar migrant workers with expired visas. 

The workers need to come to the centres at the respective border areas with their ID cards and other necessary papers.

There are more than 30,000 Myanmar migrant workers whose visas have expired, according to the Migrant Worker Right Network.

For the Myanmar workers to continue working in Thailand, an agreement has been made with Myanmar and Thailand. The agreement on opening one-stop service centres for the migrant workers was discussed at a Myanmar-Thai workers coordination meeting held in October.

 

Freedom hope for over 80 prisoners 

More than 80 Myanmar prisoners, most of whom are serving their jail terms for violating military law and having links with ethnic armed groups, will be assessed on whether or not they are political prisoners, says a member of the Remaining Political Prisoners Scrutiny Committee (RPPSC).

The assessment will be made during a meeting of the committee tomorrow in Yangon. 

Committee member Ye Aung said that 20 of the more than 80 prisoners had been imprisoned under Section 18 of the Peaceful Assembly and Procession Law and Section 505 of the Penal Code. 

“Most are imprisoned under the sections related to the ethnic armed groups and the Military Act,” said Ye Aung, adding that some military officials have been imprisoned for posting emotional writings on the Internet. Others received jail terms for having links with armed groups in foreign countries after they had left the army and were arrested upon their return to Myanmar, he said. 

President Thein Sein has publicly announced, to both domestic and international audiences, that all political prisoners will be released by the end of this year.