Locals feel the impact of booming Dawei

Saw Hdaik Oo left home here when he was 15, travelling to Thailand in search of a job. He was fortunate enough to find one at a seafood processing factory in Ranong, then even luckier to be promoted to oversee the refrigeration at a plant in Mahachai. Turning 30, he has returned to his homeland, still working for his Thai boss, who is expanding the business to Dawei.

His responsibilities are to source seafood from the nearby city of Myeik and to oversee operations at the soon-to-be built factory in Dawei.

He was glad to return home along with his wife, who worked at the same factory in Thailand. Asked if he had ever considered repatriating before his boss decided to branch out, he said: “Never. There are few job opportunities here.”

In Thailand he earned a flat Bt12,000 plus Bt3,000 per month. Thanks to the Thai minimum wage, he should live a very comfortable life in Dawei. 

Abundant seafood and productive fields mean that the cost of food here is lower than in Thailand. Half a kilo of dried shrimps in Dawei market cost 10,000 kyats (about Bt300) – it would cost at least twice as much in Thailand. The market boasts a rich selection of dried fish, some very large in size. As I examined one with astonishment, a buyer explained (in Thai) that the fish was tasty and I should buy it.

Located 374 kilometres south of Yangon, Dawei has until recently been cut off from the commercial capital. Now, with the aid of Japanese investment that’s flooding into this coastal Tanintharyi Region, Italian-Thai Development is providing a link where only disconnected logging tracks once existed.

A two-lane highway running 138 kilometres is under construction as part of the Dawei Special Economic Zone, establishing a permanent road link with Thailand.

Right now, the unpaved road between Thailand’s Kanchanaburi and Dawei is dry and dusty. Locals don helmets with improvised face masks to ride motorcycles, covering their mouths to protect against dust clouds kicked up by approaching vehicles. Cars are a rarity, their drivers put off by the conditions, while passenger vans creep along at  40kph on some sections, taking four hours to complete the 138km route. Yet the road is a convenient transport option for local users, mostly Karen.

It also offers business opportunities. According to B, our freelance driver for the trip to Dawei, the roadside shops owned by his mother and younger sister do well. For these Dawei locals, setting up stops where travellers can buy food, snacks and cold drinks was a good move, he says. A 150ml can of Coca-Cola at his sister’s shop costs 500 kyats, or about Bt20. B said the high price was due to the high cost of transportation from the Thai border. As we passed, locals were enjoying tea and conversation at the shop.

The Dawei project is also improving facilities in the region.

Somjetn Tinnapong, managing director of Myanmar Industrial Estate, told Thai journalists in Dawei that he travelled from Bangkok by plane, catching a 6.30am flight to Yangon then a 50-minute flight to Dawei. From there, it takes him about an hour by road to the site.

Through years of making this journey he has witnessed development gradually reaching the city. The small airport installed toilets for passengers only last year. Back then a lack of electrical lights meant it couldn’t accommodate night flights. All that has changed.

It’s obvious why Roland Berger, the consultancy firm advising Myanmar’s government on Dawei development, was a strong advocate of the special economic zone. In August, when the initial-phase development project was handed to the consortium led by Italian-Thai Development, the consultancy announced the zone would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and contribute up to 5 per cent of Myanmar’s gross domestic product by 2045.

The initial phase involves the construction of a small port, power plants, the two-lane road to Thailand, an LNG terminal, a township, a telecom landline and an industrial estate. 

While the initial phase will target labour-intensive industries such as textiles and food processing, the long-term master plan should attract other industries to Dawei SEZ – including automotive, steel, electronics and electric goods, rubber, metals, chemicals, refinery, fertilisers, plastics and pharmaceuticals.

The jobs and prosperity created will be a boon to the people of Dawei and other cities of Tanintharyi. Despite its size, the migrant-drained region is home to only 1.41 million people, according to the 2014 national census.

Emigrants like Saw Hdaik Oo can now start looking for jobs closer to home. 

Businesses in Thailand need to watch out. The migrant exodus will happen sooner rather than later.