Dawei Deep Sea Port and Special Economic Zone

The Dawei Deep Sea Port and Special Economic Zone was an ambitious proposed project for the development of a major sea port and a major industrial zone including coal-fired power station on a 250-square-kilometre site near the city of Dawei in Burma. It was announced in January 2012 that the project was canceled by the Myanmar government due to the proposed project's negative environmental impact.

It was proposed that as the first stage of the development a major highway will be constructed between Dawei and Bangkok. (Following the 1989 military coup the city's name was changed from Tavoy to Dawei. Company and government reports on the power station proposal only refer to Dawei while international media and citizens groups refer either to Tavoy or Dawei (Tavoy).) The Burmese military regime has awarded the overall contract for the development of the project to the Italian-Thai Development company, a Thai-headquartered civil and infrastructure construction company.

Background
In mid-May 2008 a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the government of Thailand and the the Burmese miltary regime for the development of the "Dawei Deep Seaport and Road link to Bangkok".

Framework Agreement announced with Italian-Thai Development
In November 2010 Italian-Thai Development announced that on November 2 it had "signed the Framework Agreement with the Myanmar Port Authority, Ministry of Transport of the Union of Myanmar to develop the Dawei Deep Sea Port, Industrial Estate and Road Link to Thailand." In a one-page summary translation of the agreement Italian-Thai Development state that:


 * "The Company is granted the Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) concession to develop the following projects in Dawei, the Union of Myanmar:
 * 1) A deep sea port
 * 2) An industrial estate and heavy industries such as a steel mill, fertilizer plant, power plant and other utility services
 * 3) A cross-border road, rail and pipeline link from the Designated Area in Dawei District to Thailand at Pu Nam Ron, Kanchanaburi Province.
 * 4) Township for residential and commercial development and a tourism, resort and recreation complex.


 * "The Company, holding the concession, will invite suitable potential partners to invest in each activity accordingly."

The company states that the agreement is for 60 years "plus an extension period as agreed upon" with phases of the project to be subject to a "on each detailed project development plan."

The company states that "to implement the Project successfully without delay, ITD will firstly construct a cross-border road from Dawei District, the Union of Myanmar, to Thailand at Pu Nam Ron, Kanchanaburi Province, and will invite suitable partners for the development of the deep sea port. The cross-border road link development and deep sea port will be in phases, with the full phase investment cost of approximately USD 2,000 Million."

"This Project will transform into a logistic and trading hub for the region. It will link the logistic routes and international trading between the countries in Southeast Asia and South China Sea, via the Andaman Sea, to the Indian Ocean. This new gateway will be able to service sea transport of goods to and from countries in the Middle East, Europe and Africa; thus saving tremendous transportation cost and time. This Project will undoubtedly increase trade, investment and economic growth of Thailand, the Union of Myanmar and the entire region as a whole."

Large coal plant reconsidered
On January 9, 2012, the No. 2 Electrical Power Ministry Minister Khin Maung Soe said plans for the 4,000+ MW Dawei power station would be cancelled, but that they were still considering a 400-MW coal plant to power preliminary projects to be built in the Dawei special economic zone.

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