Myanmar to build deep-sea port to facilitate transit trade
2/1/2005 11:05
Myanmar is to build a deep-sea port in Kyaukphyu, western coastal Rakhine
state, to facilitate transit trade through the country, the Flower News journal
reported in its latest issue.
The Kyaukphyu seaport will serve as a transit
trade center for goods destined to port cities of Chittagong, Yangon and
Calcutta.
Kyaukphyu also stands at a point on land route connecting
southwestern China's Kunming city with Myanmar's Sittwe.
The building of the
seaport in conjunction with an overall road link of the two countries, outlined
as Kunming-Mandalay- Kyaukphyu- Sittwe, is under feasibility study, the Ministry
of Construction was quoted as saying.
Kyaukphyu, which has a water depth of
20 meters and is capable of accommodating 4,000 TEU container vessel, will also
connect another road link known as Taungkok-Maei-Kyaukphyu.
Once the
1,943-kilometer Kunming-Kyuakphu road is connected, Myanmar will be benefited
from transit trade in terms of revenue from goods exported to China with
availability of job opportunities in the region.
The Kunming-Sittwe
development road plan was discussed at workshops held in Mandalay and Kunming
respectively in April 2002, also involving experts of Germany and
India.
According to other official sources, as part of the country's
infrastructural construction, the Kyaukphyu deep-sea port will also be equipped
with offshore and deep-sea fishing industry in addition to sea lobster
farming.
Kyaukphyu is an area where there exists oil and gas resource
potential.
Meanwhile, under an economic cooperation strategy (ECS) of
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand, Myanmar and Thailand are also building a
deep-sea port at Dawei, southern Tanintharyi division.
The seaport project
and a Dawei- Kachanburi road link are being carried out in one package together
with a 1,360-kilometer trilateral highway project between India, Myanmar and
Thailand.
Observers in Yangon said, on completion of the project within two
years, it will greatly push Myanmar's transit trade.
Xinhua News
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