Italian-Thai Seeks Japanese Loans for Myanmar Dawei Deepsea Port
By Suttinee Yuvejwattana and Daniel Ten Kate
(Adds chairman’s comments in third paragraph.)
Dec. 26 (Bloomberg) — Italian-Thai Development Pcl expects to sign loan agreements next year valued at $12.5 billion to develop a deepsea port, industrial complex and power plants in Myanmar, Chairman Premchai Karnasuta said.
Japan Bank for International Cooperation will likely provide most of the funding for the port, road and railway links in Dawei, less than 300 kilometers (186 miles) west of Bangkok, Premchai told reporters. Officials at the Tokyo-based JBIC office were not immediately available to comment, said a spokeswoman who declined to give her name.
“We expect to get partners and funding for the project next year,” Premchai said in Bangkok today. “It will help reduce logistics costs and relieve congestion in the Malacca Straits.”
Thailand’s government has backed the project in Dawei to provide an alternative route for exporters, including Japanese companies that use the country as a manufacturing base, to ship goods to Europe and the Middle East. Italian-Thai, the nation’s biggest construction company which won a contract from Myanmar to develop the port last year, has emphasized the port’s potential to connect land routes throughout the region. continue http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-26/italian-thai-seeks-japanese-loans-for-myanmar-deepsea-port.html?
