POREG VIEW: Dawei Development Project reflects a new sense of confidence of Myanmar’s military regime, which has released from house arrest Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s symbol of democracy. Never before a project of such magnitude was conceived in Myanmar or it neighbourhood. It makes a mockery of economic sanctions on the country.
For Myanmar’s strongman Senior Gen. Than Shwe, Dawei is the first step in opening the largely state-controlled economy. The Thais are with him. So are the Chinese.
Spread over about 97 square miles on the coastline presently dotted with cashew plantations and fishing harbours, the project at northern Maungmagan will come up close to the gas pipeline to Thailand built more than a decade ago by Chevron of America and Total of France. When completed, it will have hotels and resorts besides a massive 6,000-megawatt, coal-fired power plant, a steel mill, an oil refinery, a petrochemical complex, a shipbuilding yard, a fertilizer factory and a deep sea port.
A company floated by an Italian engineer and a Thai medical doctor five decades ago has obtained a 75-year concession to build and operate the heavy-industrial part of the project, as well as a 40-year concession for light industry, like garment factories. After that, according to the deal, the concession can be extended, or control can revert to the Myanmar government.
Infrastructure component of the project alone will cost $8 billion. The first phase of construction to be over in five years will see a road to Thailand, a water reservoir, and the coal-fired power plant, among other projects. The entire project will take a decade to materialise.
With a deep sea port planned, the project has acquired geo-strategic importance as well. The port will accommodate ships and oil-carrying super tankers with loads of up to 300,000 tons. It will create a shortcut between Europe and Indo-china. Companies in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia could save fuel and time by bypassing the long journey through the Strait of Malacca, a detour of several thousand kilometres. The port will be deep enough to,
Flip-side of the Dawei Development Project has not received attention it deserves. No environment impact assessment has been made as yet, and according to reports, the local residents have been simply told to move out. The project area will devour as many as 19 villages each with about 5000 residents.
