Construction of Thilawa port to begin early 2014

The construction of Thilawa port extension project will begin early 2014 with Japanese development aid according to the Myanmar Ports Authority.

The Myanmar Ports Authority received US$ 205 million of Official Development Assistance (ODA) from Japan to extend the Thilawa port.

"We are going to start the construction of Thilawa port extension project in early 2014. By 2015 we will finish building a 400-metre long wharf as the first phase of port construction. After that, we will build land facilities on the lands behind the port," said Managing Director Cho Than Maung from the Myanmar Ports Authority.

At present, Myanmar Port Authority is recruiting consultants and experts, inviting tenders for construction companies, and organising administrative tasks for the land facilities in the port area.

The authorities designated 37 land plots, each 200 metres wide and 750 metre long, in the Thilawa area for the project. Companies will begin constructing docks on 27 of those land plots.

Among remaining 10 plots, Myanmar Ports Authority will build the port on five plots with the Japanese’s ODA loan.

Currently, Myanmar Ports Authority is discussing land compensations with local residents who are living in the Thilawa area.

"We are going to discuss land compensations with the locals for Thilawa project. If the problems could not be settled, we will follow a course of legal actions to solve them," said Cho Than Maung.

According to Land Nationalization Act 39 prescribed in 1953 April, 2000, the government already permitted the MPA to use these farmlands for the construction of Thilawa Port.

source: Eleven Myanmar
http://elevenmyanmar.com/business/3830-construction-of-thilawa-port-to-begin-early-2014