New Burma land route mooted
The government plans to develop a land transport route linking Thailand’s Kanchanaburi province with the port of Dawei in Burma as a gateway to markets to the west of the country.
Authorities say better land transport is needed because the Pak Bara deep-sea port in the southern province of Satun province cannot be developed on a scale to compete with other other deep-sea ports in the region is.
As well, communities in Pak Bara oppose the expansion because they are worried about the environmental impact, so it would remain a domestic port, said Putthipong Punnakan, vice-minister to the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Transport Ministry will study the construction of a highway of 180 to 190 kilometres to link Kanchanaburi with Dawei, also known as Tavoy.
Mr Putthipong said a link with Dawei would have great benefits for Thailand because China also wants to use the town as a possible site for a major trading port with western and eastern markets.
The Dawei-Kanchanaburi road link would also be connected to a new 1,360-km highway network linking India, Burma and Thailand. the route would run from Moreh in India to Mae Sot in Thailand via Bagan in Burma.
Situated in the southwest of Burma, the deep-sea port at Dawei is being built and should be completed in 2013. It will be capable of handling 300,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent) containers a year for ships sailing between Europe and Africa, and the Middle East and South Asia, plying the India Ocean and Andaman Seas.
Dawei Port is a major component in the overall strategy to create an East-West Economic Corridor (linking Danang in Vietnam to Mawlamyine in Burma), the Southern Economic Corridor (Ho Chi Minh City to Dawei), and the North-South Economic Corridor (Kunming-Bangkok).
Transporting goods via the North-South Economic Corridor (NSEC) would shorten the journey from southern China to the Andaman Sea from 16-18 days to just six days, bypassing the congested Straits of Malacca.
BKK Post
