Thailand
Myanmar: Thai soft loan for two-lane project to seek parliamentary approval
The eighth Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) meeting was held in Thailand on June 29-30 and has decided to seek parliamentary approval in order to ask Thailand for a soft loan to fund the two-lane project.
If approved, a task force will be formed to assess and review the development and issues caused by Italian-Thai Development (ITD) over a period of three months. In addition, officials from the Japanese government will take part in future JCC meetings, said U Myint San, vice chair of Dawei Special Economic Zone’s management committee.
Commerce minister U Than Myint and Arkhom termpittayapaisith, Thailand’s transport minister, are the co-chairmen of the JCC.
It is the first time the JCC meets under the NLD-led government.
Under the previous administration, seven JCC meetings were held.
Since May 2015, Thailand has offered a 4.5 billion baht soft loan for the establishment of a new road and for upgrading an existing one to an ASEAN-standard highway.
The two-lane road construction of 150 kilometres from Htee Khee to the Dawei SEZ has been carried out by the ITD but the firm has to compensate the local community for the environmental and social disruption.
“The offer is a 4.5 billion baht soft loan with a 10 percent interest rate and a rest period for 10 years – altogether you have 30 years. But this is up to the Myanmar government.
“We have proposed this request for some time and it has been reconsidered by the NLD-led government,” the ex-Thai ambassador told The Myanmar Times on February 22.
U Than Myint said to The Myanmar Times yesterday that the Dawei SEZ’s management committee has decided to get the soft loan. Hence, the committee needs to propose to the government’s economic committee, and then to the cabinet, and finally to ask parliament for approval.
“The paper process of getting a final approval from parliament will take more than three months. The decision of getting a loan or not depends only on the parliamentary outcome.
“Thailand has already decided who will be in the task force but Myanmar has to decide who to appoint within the next two weeks,” he said.
The new task force is to examine why ITD failed to implement the project on time and will decide ITD’s future involvement in the project and the extent of the government’s support, U Than Myint said.
There are a lot of issues at stake with the developer in the initial phase. The ITD received a contract to complete nine projects within eight years since 2010 for the initial phase of 27 square kilometres within the SEZ.
The ITD had stopped implementing the SEZ in 2013 due to financial constraints and community complaints regarding a lack of adequate compensation.
U Myint San said that if the government receives the loan from Thailand, it will then be a Thai company which will construct and upgrade the two-lane project.
He added that the Myanmar government has decided the two-lane road to be a public road so the Myanmar government will take charge of operations and maintenance of the lane.
U Than Myint said that the reason of the new government for pushing the project forward is that the project will contribute to the economic development of the country, Thailand and the region as a whole.
Source: http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/business/26666-thai-soft-loan-for-two-lane-project-to-seek-parliamentary-approval.html