TOKYO: Toyo Construction and JFE Engineering have received an order from the Myanmar government to build port facilities in a special economic zone near Yangon. The order, valued at about 14 billion yen ($117 million), was awarded to the Japanese companies via competitive bidding. The project will be funded by Japan’s official development assistance program.
The facilities will be situated in the Thilawa special economic zone, with planned handling capacity of 187,000 20-foot equivalent units a year. The companies will build piers, container yards and other facilities, with plans to complete construction in the fall of 2018. JFE Engineering, a unit of JFE Holdings, will produce steel materials at a joint-venture plant in Myanmar, and Toyo Construction will prepare the land and deepen water depth.
The economic zone has a major industrial park created via a public-private initiative of Japan and Myanmar. The Southeast Asian country has high hopes that this park will help lure foreign companies, and many Japanese companies are considering operating there. But the lack of port and power generation facilities has been an obstacle.
The new port facilities will have deeper water depth than the existing Port of Yangon — making it easier to accommodate large ships. They are seen spurring momentum for Japan’s infrastructure exports to Myanmar.
In addressing the lack of power supply, Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems has received an order for two gas turbines with a combined output of 50,000 kilowatts. The first one is scheduled to begin operations in March.
