An international consortium headed by one of China’s biggest conglomerates has been awarded the project to develop the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone in Rakhine State, reports said last week.
The decision to award the bid to build and operate an industrial park and a deep-sea port at the SEZ was announced on December 31 by an evaluation committee and followed the approval of cabinet and the parliament.
The consortium is headed by CITIC and includes four other Chinese industrial and investment groups and one of Thailand’s biggest conglomerates, Charoen Pokphand, the reports said.
The construction and operation of the two projects will be implemented under Myanmar’s special economic zone law promulgated in 2014.
Work on the 1,000-hectare (2,471- acre) industrial park is due to begin next month and be built in three phases, China’s state-run Xinhua newsagency reported. the park will include textile and garment factories and construction materials and food processing industries, as well as marine supply and maintenance facilities.
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The deep-sea port, which is planned to be built over 20 years in four phases, includes the Made and Yanbye island terminals, each with 10 shipping berths, and a road and bridge connection with the industrial park, Xinhua said. The deep-sea port will have an expected annual capacity of 7.8 million tonnes of bulk cargo and 4.9 million containers.
Xinhua quoted the CITIC consortium as saying the projects would create much-needed employment opportunities in Rakhine by generating about 100,000 jobs a year for local people.
The newsagency said that by 2025, 90 percent of the project managers at the two projects would be Myanmar citizens. It said the two projects would contribute about US$10 billion in annual GDP growth to Myanmar.
“During the whole concession period, the Myanmar government will accumulatively receive $15 billion in tax revenue from the two projects. when the concession period is expired, both projects will be handed over to the Myanmar government,” Xinhua said.
