Myanmar's Dawei developer to promote light industry

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/10/30/myanmar-thailand-dawei-idINL3E8LU38D20121030

BANGKOK | Tue Oct 30, 2012 4:52pm IST
 

Oct 30 (Reuters) - The Thai developer of the $50 billion Dawei economic zone in Myanmar plans to invest more than 1 billion baht ($32 million) on infrastructure to help attract light industry amid uncertainty over the project.
The plan includes building a 33-megawatt power plant plus road and water systems on the 633 rais (101 hectares) of land designated for light industry, Somchet Thinaphong, managing director of Dawei Development Co, told Reuters on Tuesday.
"We are arranging land area of 633 rais for the light industries. For heavy industry, we are still working on that," Somchet said.

He said the company had already lined up companies keen to invest in the light industry zone. He declined to give names.
Somchet said the small power plant would use natural gas as fuel and Italian-Thai Development, Thailand's largest construction firm and the parent of Dawei Development, was working on how to supply the gas.
Italian-Thai has been struggling to find backing for the 250 sq km (100 sq mile) complex, which was planned to include a deep-sea port, steel mills, refineries, a petrochemical complex and power plants.

Italian-Thai has said it aimed to conclude financial plans for the project by the end of this year.
But it has struggled to find $8.5 billion to finance infrastructure and utilities under the first phase and the governments of Thailand and Japan have stepped in to keep it afloat.
In September sources said Thai banks would provide short-term loans before an expected Japanese loan of up to $3.2 billion could be secured.

A lack of basic infrastructure such as roads and ports have made it difficult for the Dawei project to get off the ground, CIMB Securities said in a research note.
In May the Thai government approved a budget of $1.1 billion for infrastructure inside Thailand that would link up with the zone, including a four-lane highway to the border and homes for Thais who would work in the zone.

Ministers and senior officials from Thailand and Myanmar are due to meet in Bangkok on Nov. 7 to discuss the project, with the new Thai road, energy and the planned deep-sea port on the agenda. ($1 = 30.75 Baht) (Reporting by Pisit Changplayngam; Writing by Khettiya Jittapong; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)