Myanmar unveils 75-year plan on development of SEZ

Myanmar has worked out a 75-year plan to develop its Dawei Special Economic Zone (SEZ) seeking strategic partnership with Japan in addition to Thailand and inviting international tenders and developers for the project.

The plan, in five phases, will be implemented on land covering 44,850 acres, according to U Aye Myint, chairman of the Central Working Committee for Implementation of the Dawei SEZ, reports Xinhua.

No environmentally and socially harmful projects will be allowed in the SEZ, the first of its kind in the country, added U Aye Myint, the newly-appointed minister of labor, employment and social security.

Featuring small and midsize enterprises (SME) specialized in garment, leather products, food, rubber, industry-based agricultural products and furniture, the first phase of the project, scheduled for completion in five years, will be implemented on a land of 2,500 acres.

The second phase, also spans five years, is to be implemented on an extended land of 2,000 acres catering to steel, fertilizer, oil refinery and vehicle manufacturing factories.

The third phase, which will last 10 years, will include building plastic, chemicals and crude oil refinery factories, while in the fourth and fifth phases, commercial firms and marketing companies will be introduced in.

The Dawei SEZ also includes infrastructure projects such as building deep-sea port and a Myanmar-Thai highway, power plants, dam and residential housing.