myanmar raises doubts on italian thai
TRANSCRIPT
-
8/12/2019 Myanmar Raises Doubts on Italian Thai
1/1
Myanmar Raises Doubts on Italian-Thais $8.6 Billion Port Plans
By Flavia Krause-Jackson and Daniel Ten Kate - May 3, 2012 10:02 AM GMT+0630
Myanmar President Thein Seins top political adviser questioned Italian-Thai Development Pcl
(ITD)s ability to oversee a planned $8.6 billion industrial zone in the country, raising doubts aboutthe Dawei projects viability.
Executives at Thailands biggest construction company havent much experience in developingsuch a very big special economic zone, presidential adviser Ko Ko Hlaing said yesterday in aninterview in Yangon, Myanmars biggest city. We need other big investors.
Thein Sein pitched both Dawei, 300 kilometers (186 miles) west of Bangkok, and Thilawa, a port 25kilometers south of Yangon, to Japanese investors during meetings inTokyolast month, he said. Thetrip ended with an agreement forJapanto study Thilawas potential that made no mention of Dawei.
Italian-Thai has struggled to win financing to build the Indian Ocean industrial hub that it wasawarded a concession to develop in November 2010, before Thein Sein took power as Myanmarshifted from five decades of direct military rule. Earlier this year, Myanmars government toldreporters it canceled plans for a 4,000-megawatt coal-fired power plant on the site without informingthe company in advance.
Italian-Thai helped build the infrastructure for Map Ta Phut, Thailands biggest industrial estate, andcan handle the project in Myanmar, according to Somchet Thinaphong, managing director of theDawei Development Co., a unit of the company. Every project of this scale needs multiple investorsto be successful, he said by phone today.
Global Project
This is a global project, its an international project, Somchet said. One company cannot handle.
Italian-Thai shares have climbed 2.2 percent this year, compared with a 21 percent gain forThailands benchmark SET index. The company has reported a loss three of the past four years,according todatacompiled by Bloomberg.
Five days before Myanmar held elections in 2010, Italian- Thai signed an $8.6 billion contract withthe government to build a deep-sea port and industrial estate, according to Vice President AnanAmarapala. The company expected to secure at least $12.5 billion in loan agreements this year to
develop the project, Chairman Premchai Karnasuta told reporters on Dec. 26.
TheAsian Development Bankwould find it hard to lend money for Dawei given concerns abouthow this project should move forward, Craig Steffensen, the banks Thailand country director whoalso oversees Myanmar, said in April.
To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at [email protected];Flavia Krause-Jackson inUnited [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg [email protected]
http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITD:TBhttp://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITD:TBhttp://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITD:TBhttp://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITD:TBhttp://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITD:TBhttp://topics.bloomberg.com/tokyo/http://topics.bloomberg.com/tokyo/http://topics.bloomberg.com/tokyo/http://topics.bloomberg.com/japan/http://topics.bloomberg.com/japan/http://topics.bloomberg.com/japan/http://topics.bloomberg.com/thein-sein/http://topics.bloomberg.com/thein-sein/http://topics.bloomberg.com/thailand/http://topics.bloomberg.com/thailand/http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITD:TBhttp://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITD:TBhttp://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITD:TBhttp://topics.bloomberg.com/asian-development-bank/http://topics.bloomberg.com/asian-development-bank/http://topics.bloomberg.com/asian-development-bank/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://topics.bloomberg.com/united-nations/http://topics.bloomberg.com/united-nations/http://topics.bloomberg.com/united-nations/mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]://topics.bloomberg.com/united-nations/mailto:[email protected]://topics.bloomberg.com/asian-development-bank/http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITD:TBhttp://topics.bloomberg.com/thailand/http://topics.bloomberg.com/thein-sein/http://topics.bloomberg.com/japan/http://topics.bloomberg.com/tokyo/http://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITD:TBhttp://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITD:TBhttp://www.bloomberg.com/quote/ITD:TB