Myawady SEZ attracting foreign investors

According to officials, these companies are considering setting up factories to produce a wide range of products from soft drinks, garments and electronic devices to auto parts.

Since its launch in April 2013, the development of the industrial zone is now 65 per cent complete. It was originally planned to be completed in April next year. 

Thant Zaw Win, a project engineer of Mother Construction Co, is confident that construction will be completed earlier than scheduled. 

The industrial zone, covering 200 acres, plans to offer 45 two-four acre plots for industrial development in the initial stage. The second phase calls for the allocation of land for the development of residential, commercial and public properties. 

The engineer noted that the price could be over US$50,000 per acre.

Locating factories in the zone means investors can take advantage of low wages in Myanmar and produce goods to satisfy buyers in both Myanmar and Thailand. Goods could also be shipped through Thai ports and airports worldwide. Through the new 45-km road, trucks from Myawady can also reach Yangon in one day via Mawlamyine. Thai contractor See Sang Karn Yotah Co Ltd recently completed the maintenance work for Myawady-Mae Sot Friendship Bridge, to support transport of goods. 

Another road is being considered over the Thaungyin River (Moei River), if a special economic zone is established in Mae Sot, Thailand.

Among border gates linking the country and Thailand, which include Tachileik, Kawthaung, Myeik, Hteekhee 

and Mawtaung, Maywady has shown the highest bilateral trade. 

According to the department of commerce and consumer affairs, Myanmar exports mostly rice and fish products to Thailand through the Maywady border gate opposite Mae Sot in the northern province of Tak in Thailand. Meanwhile, goods from Thailand comprise mainly motorcycles, cement, fertilisers, food and consumer goods.

According to Thailand’s Customs Department, trade volume at the border gate has been on the rise for both sides. Myanmar’s exports have risen from Bt1.16 billion in Thailand’s fiscal year 2012 (which ran from October 2011 to September 2012) to Bt2.5 billion in the following fiscal year. During October 2013 to May 2014, the value rose to Bt2.38 billion. 

Meanwhile, Thai exports fetched Bt41.5 billion in 2013 and Bt34 billion in 2012. In the first eight months of the 2014 fiscal year, the value hit Bt36.2 billion. 

The SEZ covering 466 acres is designed to boost trade, investment and tourism in both countries. 

To cash in on this, Thailand has carried out a feasibility study for the development of a twin economic zone in Mae Sot.

“The twin zones will significantly boost trade between Myanmar and Thailand, reflecting through growing interest by Thai and foreign investors in exploring trade and investment opportunities in the areas,” said a report by the Export-Import Bank of Thailand.

Tak Chamber of Commerce expected bilateral trade to hit Bt50 billion in 2015 thanks to the AEC. The challenges that remain are poor infrastructure on both sides, ethnic strife in Myanmar as well as the operations of border gates.