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Khettiya Jittapong, Reuters, 1:33 a.m. EDT, May 17, 2012...
DAWEI, Myanmar
(Reuters) - A simple, red sign on a white beach marks the start of a
billion-dollar highway that will, one day, lead to a vast industrial
project to be built close to impoverished Myanmar's border with Thailand.
But with years to go before it is up and running, the $50
billion port and industrial complex in the southern city of Dawei is
already struggling to look relevant as Myanmar emerges from untouchable
state to Asia's latest Eldorado.
Conceived during the day's of military rule when Myanmar faced crippling
sanctions, the project was at the time a very welcome offer of major
foreign investment.
Officials insist that nothing
has changed despite the rapidly growing list of investors looking
hopefully at a rapidly changing Myanmar.
"It will go ahead," said Tin Maung Swe, an official from Myanmar's Home
Ministry who works as liaison officer on the project which he says has
the backing of reformist President Thein Sein.
"I'm
staying here," he told a group of journalists on a rare trip to the
site. "I can contact the president directly."
The
visit was laid on this month by the project's developer, Italian-Thai
Development Pcl, Thailand's biggest construction company, which first
made a deal with the Myanmar Port Authority in 2008 when few investors would, or could, go near the country.
The
tour coincided with the debt-laden company's struggle to tempt investors
to fund the $8.5 billion it needs for the first phase, details of which
it hopes to finalize by the end of the year.
Italian-Thai - the "Italian" refers to one of its founders 54 years ago -
is pressing ahead and has started to relocate 30,000 people to make way
for the 250 sq km (97 sq mile) complex which will allow in
pollution-belching heavy industry that Thailand doesn't want.
Even the government has raised questions about Dawei. Energy
Minister Than Htay told Reuters in January that the country could
develop home-grown special economic zones more quickly, including one
south of the commercial capital, Yangon, and another on the Bay of
Bengal, where a China-Myanmar pipeline starts.
Slow
progress on the project and Italian-Thai's own financial difficulties
reinforce the skepticism of some analysts.
It
hasn't helped confidence that the construction of a huge 4,000-megawatt
coal-fired power plant destined for the zone was vetoed this year after
an outcry over the environmental impact.
"It's very
challenging for Italian-Thai," said Kasem Prunratanamala, head of
research at CIMB Securities in Bangkok, who visited the site in
February. "The company's balance sheet is not strong because it has a
debt burden, which could raise doubts about the viability of the
project."
RELOCATION, COMPENSATION
But around the site, preparatory work is going ahead.
In one big area of scrubland outside the zone, workers are
clearing the land and knocking in support pillars for two-storey cement
houses that villagers will be relocated to.
More
than 1,800 families, most of them reliant on farming, will move there
from five villages inside a 42 sq km zone set aside for heavy industry.
"We have already paid compensation for about 5 percent of
these areas," said Panno Kraiwanit, the Italian-Thai project manager in
charge of relocation.
In total, about 30,000 people
from 16 villages will move out by the end of next year, with
Italian-Thai footing the bill to compensate them for housing and the
loss of livelihoods from rubber, betel and cashew nut and other crops.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Myanmar mega-project may be on a road to nowhere
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