Foreign investment invited to promote ports

YANGON—In a bid to boost the trade sector by upgrading ports, which is one of Myanmar’s trading priorities, the authorities extended an invitation to foreign technicians and investors during the Myanmar Infrastructure Summit last week.

“The country in its current situation lacks the technical know-how and foreign investment to support ongoing development projects like deep sea ports, ports and terminals,” Kyaw Oo, the deputy chief engineer for Myanmar Port Authority (MPA), said at the summit.

He explained that 85 percent of the country’s trade is in the maritime sectors. Yangon Port is the main source of trade. Altogether, there are 24 terminals in Yangon and Thilawa Ports, but they are jammed with loading and unloading so that 70 percent of the entire port operation is filled. To run a fully functional port operation, more terminals should be added to Yangon Port, he said.

Of 24 terminals, Yangon Port has 18 international terminals and Thilawa has six. Currently the country has a total of nine international and local ports and terminals – Yangon, Sittwe, Kyaukpyu, Thandwe, Pathein, Mawlamyain, Dawei, Myeik and Kawthoung.

“Yangon Port needs to be upgraded, especially Sule Terminal, when compared with Thilawa,” said a retired official for the MPA.

However, the experts said that not only Yangon Port but also other ports and terminals, including Thilawa and Dawei, need to be upgraded.

Much-needed ports and terminals have been built for Dawei Deep Sea Port since 2012. Ninety eight percent of the port implementation is complete.

source: Eleven Myanmar

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