Plans for infrastructure projects in South East Asia

Plans are being made for a series of major infrastructure projects in Myanmar and neighbouring Thailand in a bid to boost the transport network. To capitalise on the market potential, a consortium is being set up between Italian-Thai Development (ITD) and Chinese firms, including state-owned China Railway Engineering (CREC) and King Trillion. This partnership will invest in new infrastructure projects in Myanmar’s Dawei Special Economic Zone (DSEZ). The consortium plans to invest over US$396 million in constructing three ports and $382 million to build a 132km, four-lane road linking Dawei and Kanchanaburi in Thailand. However, the project was supposed to involve only Myanmar, Thailand and Japan. As such, the approval of the consortium by the DSEZ committee remains uncertain.