Investment and Development news of Myanmar

[Aung Zaya]

Singapore firm plans Thilawa galvanising plant

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By Steve Gilmore | Friday, 04 November 2016
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Amid booming demand for high-quality construction materials, Meranti Singapore is planning to build a steel galvanising plant and paintline in Thilawa special economic zone. The firm intends to spend US$85 million on the facility, and is in discussion with the SEZ operator and potential local partners, its chief executive told The Myanmar Times.

“We’re in advanced discussions with [operator] Myanmar Japan Thilawa Development and plan to sign the reservation agreement at the beginning of next year,” CEO Sebastian Langendorf said. The firm is also looking for a local and international partner for what will be a joint venture project.

“There will be one local partner and for an international strategic partner we’re talking to steel and trading companies that will help us get the raw materials,” he said.

Meranti was established specifically to set up a factory in Thilawa. The planned factory will galvanise and paint imported steel, with sales focused mainly on the domestic Myanmar building and construction market.

Galvanisation involves coating steel, in the case of Meranti Singapore with zinc and zinc aluminium, to prevent rusting and corrosion.

“There’s a strong market already and we see it growing at double digits year-on-year,” said Mr Langendorf. Around 80pc of the finished steel will be sold domestically, leaving room for potential export to regional markets, the Middle East or even East Africa, he added.

“We see exports as a way tofill capacity,” he said. “We know the [export] markets are there, but we need to assess export conditions on an ongoing basis.”

It will take years for the plant to be fully operational, with the galvanising line expected to start production toward the end of 2019. But this will give the high-quality market Meranti is focused on time to grow.

“From the market survey we’ve done with customers mostly in the Yangon area we see the market moving towards higher quality,” he said. “Foreign investment that requires factories or other buildings will typically demand high-quality steel, so prices in that segment are already pretty solid.”

Potential customers could include pre-engineering building suppliers that cater to foreign and local firms setting up factories or warehouses. Although many foreign firms have production facilities abroad, companies including Coca-cola and carmaker Suzuki produce domestically.

The Singaporean firm’s plant is also an example of the kind of benefits special economic zones are designed to bring – allowing more complex and higher value-added production to happen domestically.

“In terms of productivity it’s a giant leap,” said Mr Langendorf. “The heat treatment and chemical processes that produce [galvanised steel] are extremely complicated, even within the steel value chain.

Meranti is in discussion with Yangon Technological University and Thanlyin Technical University for internship and employment opportunities, he said.

 

[Aung Zaya]

Ford, Nissan, Lisan to set up assembly lines

Read more at: http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/mizuho-bank-and-max-myanmar-holding-enter-mou-59860/

Ford, Nissan, Lisan to set up assembly lines Global automobile majors Ford, Nissan and Lisan are setting up their assembly units in Myanmar and are gearing up for sales in 2017, according to Dr Soe Tun, chairman of Myanmar Automobile Manufacturers and Distributors Association. Japan’s Nissan, which established an assembly in Hlaing Tharyar township, will be ready to sell cars in Myanmar by February 2017 while Ford is looking at rolling out its vehicles by June 2017. Lisan from China is also starting its assembly line and will be ready for sales next year, he said.

Read more at: http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/mizuho-bank-and-max-myanmar-holding-enter-mou-59860/

 

[BDforever]

Ford, Nissan, Lisan to set up assembly lines

Read more at: http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/mizuho-bank-and-max-myanmar-holding-enter-mou-59860/

Ford, Nissan, Lisan to set up assembly lines Global automobile majors Ford, Nissan and Lisan are setting up their assembly units in Myanmar and are gearing up for sales in 2017, according to Dr Soe Tun, chairman of Myanmar Automobile Manufacturers and Distributors Association. Japan’s Nissan, which established an assembly in Hlaing Tharyar township, will be ready to sell cars in Myanmar by February 2017 while Ford is looking at rolling out its vehicles by June 2017. Lisan from China is also starting its assembly line and will be ready for sales next year, he said.

Read more at: http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/mizuho-bank-and-max-myanmar-holding-enter-mou-59860/

wow ! ! congratz

 

[Aung Zaya]

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Japan Expands Its Portion at Thilawa Zone

Japan is set to expand the size of the area it is developing within the Thilawa Special Economic Zone south of Rangoon.

The portion of land to be developed in the zone by the Myanmar Japan Thilawa Development Co. will increase by 20 percent to 500 hectares (1,235 acres), the joc.com website reported.

The Myanmar Japan Thilawa Development Co. is a joint venture between the governments of Myanmar and Japan. It is 49 percent owned by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, (JICA), and the Mitsubishi Corporation.

“The timing to commence the project construction will be determined after taking into consideration the progress of land acquisition and resettlement implemented by the government of Myanmar,” JICA said in a statement announcing the deal.

In late 2016, a total of 33 Japanese companies are based in a 400-hectare section of the zone, including Suzuki Motor, Nippon Kouatsu Electric, Yakult, Fujifilm, and Yusen Logistics, according to the website.

It added that Thilawa’s new port is scheduled to open at the end of this year and is forecast to handle up to 187,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units per year by 2019.
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Burma-Singapore to Increase Investor Ties

Burma and Singapore are set to begin discussions on a bilateral investment treaty and update an agreement on avoidance of double taxation, The Straits Times reported during a visit by State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to the island state this week.

The discussions between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had sent a positive signal to investors and could boost economic growth in Burma, PM Lee Hsien Loong said.

Burma’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced that air connectivity between Singapore and Burma will be enhanced. Singaporean carriers have been seeking to introduce multi-city flights to Burma.

A 30-day visa exemption between both countries was inaugurated this month and the number of travelers from Singapore is expected to increase significantly as a result.

In 2015, 43,000 Singaporeans traveled to Burma. As of August this year, more than 32,000 had visited this country, an increase of 18 percent over the same period in 2015.

Singapore is Burma’s second-largest investor after China.
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wow ! ! congratz

 

[Aung Zaya]

Japanese investments expected to shift to Myanmar: DICA
Submitted by Eleven on Tue, 01/10/2017 - 15:43

Thilawa Special Economic Zone project. (Photo-Kyi Naing)


Japanese government and many Japanese companies are becoming interested in making investments in Myanmar as Japanese companies are looking into shifting their investments from Thailand, according to the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration’s press release.

The DICA has drafted a 20-year Foreign Direct Investment Promotion Plan, which includes 'China plus one' and 'Thailand plus one' options. Due to the economic changes in China, investors are thinking about shifting their investments to other countries in the area.

The situation for 'Thailand plus one' is exactly the same - some investors want to transfer their investments to third countries as Thailand faces natural disasters and higher labour costs. "Our strategy is to ensure the inflow of foreign investments into our country," said Aung Naing Oo, the director-general of the DICA.

Japan is the top investor in Thailand. According to Thailand Plus One, Japanese investments are expected flow into Myanmar. Some Japanese investors from Thailand will move to Myanmar while the new investments from Japan will make investments here, he added.

Till November of the 2016-2017 fiscal year, Japan ranked 11 on the top foreign investors list, with total investment of US$ 682.1 million.
http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/business/7354

 

[Aung Zaya]

MAPCO courts investment for agri-industry park

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By Su Phyo Win | Tuesday, 10 January 2017
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Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation (MAPCO) is building the first of several planned agricultural industrial parks in Ayeyarwady Region aimed at attracting foreign and local investment into agriculture and agri-business.

Farm workers carry baskets of paddy near Nay Pyi Taw. Photo: EPA

U Ye Min Aung, MAPCO’s managing director said the Myaungmya township-based project is small-scale but innovative. Basic infrastructure including roads, a jetty and an electricity supply are already in place, he added.

Construction of the park is expected to be fully finished by November 2018, he said, and is one of several planned.

“MAPCO has a plan to build small and medium-scale agri-industrial parks in areas where agriculture is very much specialised,” he said. “The intention is to support and revitalise agribusiness activities and to promote domestic production of value-added products.”

MAPCO plans to investment US$12 million in Myaungmya township park, and international investors are already interest in putting their own money to work.

“Investors from Japan, Thailand, China and Taiwan have investors proposed investing in the industrial park so far,” he said. Prospective investors are showing interest in setting up milling operations for things such as rice, animal feed, oil and other agri-food industries, he added.

Data from the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration showed that as of December there had been no approved foreign investment in the agriculture sector for the 2016-17 financial year.

U Than Aung Kyaw, DICA deputy general, told The Myanmar Times the main reason for the lack of foreign investment is strict rules over foreign ownership of land. There are also few areas of agricultural investment where full foreign ownership is permitted.

But the Myanmar Investment Commission has been slowly reducing the list of enterprises where a local partner is required. In March 2016, it allowed full foreign ownership for the production and distribution of hybrid seeds, production and propagation of high-yield and local seed.

U Than Aung Kyaw said that the MIC, of which DICA acts as the secretary, was likely to continue to relax restrictions on foreign investment in agriculture.

 

[Aung Zaya]

Myanmar Dealbook: MAPCO invests in $12m in agri parks; Rakhine state to set up SEZs

The Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation will start working on establishing agri-industrial parks while Rakhine state will soon have two economic zones MAPCO puts $12m in agri industrial park The Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation (MAPCO) which will soon will listed on the Yangon Stock Exchange, has invested $12 million for the setting up of agricultural industrial parks in the country’s Delta Region, the Myanmar Times reported. One park is located in in Myaungmya township, equipped with basic infrastructures, jetty, electricity supply and roads. “The intention is to support and revitalise agribusiness activities and to promote domestic production of value-added products,” said Ye Min Aung, managing director of MAPCO. For small and medium-scale agri-industrial parks, they have received some proposals from foreign investors from Japan, Thailand, China and Taiwan.

Rakhine State to set up SEZs Rakhine state will see the development of two economic zones. The Kyauk Phyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Public Company that has committed and won the tender to operate the Ponnar Kyun economic zone in Rakhine State will soon start working on the project. Ponnar economic zone, located on the East of the Yangon-Sittwe road, has an area of over 1,800 acre. Kyauk Phyu SEZ Public Company comprises local businesses. In Rakhine, a special economic zone named Kyauk Phyu SEZ is also in the process of being set up. A local entity is yet to be selected among 25 companies that applied to the Kyauk Phyu SEZ management committee. Post selection, the local company will jointly work with CITIC, Beijing headquartered investment company, on the project.

Read more at: http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/62544-62544/

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[~Phoenix~]

Promises broken, land grabbed in Myanmar’s ‘oil bowl’


Ethnic Karen still uprooted from homes 18 years after ex-junta began oil palm scheme that saw workers move to rainforests

home > world, todays headlines, asia - pacific 14.01.2017

By Kyaw Ye Lynn

KAWTHAUNG, Myanmar

The “oil bowl of Myanmar” -- a promised land of southern rainforests toward which hundreds of thousands of workers flocked in 1999 when the former junta initiated an industrial oil palm scheme.

But more than halfway into the 30-year plan to transform the Thaninthary region, workers are lamenting broken promises of better jobs and homes for their families, while the ethnic Karen community remains uprooted from lands cleared for plantations.

Maung Nyo Win, now 33, was among those drawn by the state-owned newspapers, television and radio channels used by the junta to recruit workers from other parts of the country.

With his parents and two brothers, Maung Nyo Win moved in 2001 from his native town of Hinthada in the delta of the Ayeyawaddy region to Thaninthary --one of the country’s most important biodiversity areas with 2.5 million hectares of intact lowland rainforest.

He found employment outside Kawthaung -- Myanmar's southernmost town -- at a palm oil plantation owned by Yuzana Company Limited, established in 1994 by Htay Myint, a tycoon with close ties to senior junta leaders.

“We, as casual workers, want a regular job. That’s why our family decided to move here,” he told Anadolu Agency while sitting in one among a row of houses built by the company six years ago -- but not equipped with basic amenities such as electricity and running water.

“We really hoped to have a better life here, as the company promised us.”

Maung Nyo Win and his family, like hundreds of other worker households, were sent to the jungle where they were asked to cut down towering trees after being held for three days at a crowded barracks near the Yuzana Palm Oil Company’s headquarters on the outskirts of Kawthaung.

“I had never seen such big trees before,” Maung Nyo Win said, recounting how there were no barracks or buildings for his family to take shelter in at that time.

“So we had to build the temporary camps ourselves,” he said.

Maung Nyo Win got married in 2005, and is now the father of a 10-year-old son and a 7-year-old daughter.

“Though there is a school provided by the company, it is a bit far from our place. [It’s] exactly 38 miles away from our place,” he said.

His children instead attend a school in a nearby village -- an education which costs the family one-third of their income.

Maung Nyo Win says he has been saving money to return to his native town before his children are grown up.

“I want them to be educated, and don’t want them being exploited working here.”

Workers in the “oil bowl” say they are underpaid while some claim the companies employing them hold their wages for up to nine months to prevent them from leaving their jobs.

Scores of workers have tried to cross the border in search of better jobs in Thailand after realizing that companies in Thaninthary have broken their promises, according to Ko Sanshae, an activist with the Peace and Open Society Foundation led by former student leaders.

“It’s like state-sponsored human trafficking,” the 43-year-old Karen ethnic told Anadolu Agency.

“State TV aired several times a day how a worker could find a better life working in the projects,” he said, referring to the advertisements promising regular jobs with better pay as well as basic infrastructure such as barracks, clinics and schools for children.

“Thousands of workers arrived to the town every day to work in the palm oil plantations,” Ko Sanshae underlined. “Then several migrant workers ended up becoming victims of human trafficking.”

In addition to the labor and human rights violations reported in the palm oil industry, activists accuse the projects of damaging the region’s ecosystem and the ethnic communities that call it home.

According to San Ngwe, an activist based in the coastal town of Myeik, one of the main reasons behind the transformation projects -- besides economic aspirations -- was the military’s intention to “eradicate” ethnic rebels in the region, which is predominantly inhabited by the Karen minority and was once controlled by the Karen National Union (KNU) rebel group.

“Under the military’s ‘Fours Cut’ policy against the rebels, villagers in the jungle were forcibly moved into new villages along the main roads,” he told Anadolu Agency, referring to the military tactics of cutting off access to food, funds, information and recruitment.

“Then the military allocated the land to palm oil companies,” said San Ngwe, himself a Karen ethnic. “After the forests were cleared, the military quickly took over the region.”

Around 730,000 hectares (1.8 million acres) of rain forest have been allocated to more than 40 local companies owned by military-linked businesspeople and three international companies between 1999 and 2016 for a series of palm oil plantations, according to a report by community-based organizations in the region.

However, only 216,506 hectares -- or about 29 percent of the land area granted -- were planted by the end of 2016, said the “Green Desert” report released this week.

Environmental activists accused the companies involved of having already cleared nearly all the forest allocated for plantations, but failing to plant oil palms in its place.

“The companies used the projects as a license for illegal logging,” asserted San Ngwe, who is also a spokesperson representing the six local organizations that published the report.

An international conservation non-governmental organization, Fauna and Flora International (FFI), has called on Myanmar’s government for a halt in palm oil development until the projects’ impacts are better understood and stronger policies implemented to protect the country’s last remaining lowland rainforest.

“Most plantations are clearing high-conservation-value forests, and many companies are even clearing land outside their concession boundary,” said FFI Myanmar program director Frank Momberg in a statement in July.

“That is why we are calling on the government to declare a complete moratorium on palm oil development that means no new forest clearing and no new license... until we can be sure that these plantations are sustainable.”

The current government led by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi -- the country’s first elected civilian in over a decade -- is reportedly reviewing the former junta’s allocation of land for palm oil plantations in the area.

Analysts and activists, however, warn that such a review would take years to complete as the matter involves land grabbing -- one of the most complicated issues in Myanmar.

“The project hurts the region’s environment as well as its community,” San Ngwe told Anadolu Agency, underlining that around one-third of the land allocated for plantations had been not vacant, but populated by local communities and people affected by decades-long armed conflict.

After the KNU signed a ceasefire deal with the previous government -- led by so-called reformist then President Thein Sein, a former military leader -- in 2012, locals returned home -- only to find their villages and farmlands destroyed and granted to palm oil companies.

“They were forced to flee their homes due to the fighting. And when they returned home after decades of being refugees, they found that there was no place for them to live and no farmland for them to work,” said San Ngwe.

“Can you imagine that?”

 

[Aung Zaya]

Viettel to make $2bn mobile investment in Myanmar
Third try's the charm as military telecom plans Vietnam's biggest investment abroad

Viettel Group will become Vietnam's biggest investor overseas with its just-announced $2 billion bet on mobile services in Myanmar.

HO CHI MINH CITY -- Viettel Group, a multinational telecommunications company run by Vietnam's defense ministry, is to invest $2 billion in a joint venture with local partners in Myanmar after securing a 15-year license -- the fourth and final mobile license to be issued in the country of 56 million.

Viettel had earlier sought to sink $1.5 billion into Myanmar National Tele & Communications, doing business under the Mytel brand. In Vietnam's largest overseas investment to date, subsidiary Viettel Global will take a 49% stake, while Myanmar's state-owned Start High will have a 28% interest and 11-company local consortium Myanmar National Telecom Holding will have 23%.

Mytel will provide 3G and 4G smartphone technology to a market where 60% of the population is expected to have mobile phones within a year. The company hopes to have 5 million customers inside two years and to offer coverage to 95% of the population by 2020, with the main focus on rural areas.

From a virtually standing start five years ago, 60% of people in Myanmar are expected to have mobile phones by the end of this year.


The new joint venture will compete with services provided by Norway's Telenor; Qatar's Ooredoo; and Myanma Posts and Telecommunications, which has partnered with Japan's KDDI and Sumitomo Corp.

Myanmar is the most populous foreign market Viettel has tackled so far. It failed to obtain mobile licenses there in 2013 and 2014. Fellow Vietnamese company FPT Telecom is already licensed to provide internet services in the country.

Mytel is reportedly spending $80 million to provide free internet access in some 5,000 public areas, including schools.

"We will build a nationwide modern telecom network in Myanmar and will try to quickly complete this infrastructure," said Le Dang Dung, a vice general director at Viettel. His company has invested $2.4 billion to date in 10 foreign markets in Asia, Africa and the Americas, and has been growing at a 25% annual clip. Viettel's overseas revenue contributed $1.4 billion to its gross revenue of over 256 trillion dong ($11.3 billion) in 2016.

Marking the 10th anniversary in December of his company's expansion overseas, Viettel General Director Nguyen Manh Hung laid out plans for doing business in 20 foreign markets over the next five years and for becoming one of the world's top 20 telecom companies.

Myanmar manufacturing set for takeoff
Garment industry leads the way as investment piles in

MOTOKAZU MATSUI, Nikkei staff writer

Japanese clothing retailer Honeys' second Myanmar factory in Yangon

YANGON -- With the end to economic sanctions triggering an investment boom and an abundance of low-cost labor, Myanmar's nascent manufacturing industries look set for major growth.

In the space of less than two years, Japanese clothing retailer Honeys has increased the number of production lines at its second factory in Myanmar from five to 34. The workforce at the Yangon plant, which produces shirts and jackets destined for Japan, has also increased to some 2,600 from about 300 since it started operating in the spring of 2015.

Moreover, skill levels within the workforce have risen markedly. "We used to see productivity [at the plant] decline every time a new product was introduced," said Takeshi Iguchi, head of the company's local unit. "Now, we can even handle trench coats, which require the highest level of skill."

Honeys began outsourcing production to China on a large scale in the early 2000s. As labor costs began to rise, however, the company decided to shift part of its production to Myanmar, where wages were less than one quarter of the level in China.

In 2012, Honeys became the first Japanese manufacturer to start production in Myanmar. It now operates two plants in the country, churning out around 18,000 pieces of clothing a day, accounting for 20-30% of the company's sales in its home market. Honeys is now considering the construction of a third Myanmar plant.

Labor costs in the Southeast Asian country are also now beginning to see an upward trend and its first legal minimum wage was introduced in 2015.

For the time being, however, monthly wages in Myanmar's garment industry stand at around 200,000 kyat ($147), lower than in Bangladesh or Vietnam, according to Iguchi.

Foreign clothing manufacturers are now heading there in droves to capitalize on the cheap labor. The Myanmar Garment Manufacturers Association, comprising both domestic and foreign makers, now has some 400 members, up by around 100 since 2015.

The surge in the MGMA's membership was triggered by the lifting of economic sanctions.

In 2003, the U.S., the largest market for clothing exports, imposed a total ban on imports from Myanmar. Many European countries also took punitive measures against the military junta, stripping the country of its Generalized System of Preferences status
For a long time, this meant Japan and South Korea were the only major markets for Myanmar exports.

A decade on, Europe reinstated Myanmar as a GSP beneficiary country in response to the start of the democratization process. Washington followed suit in October 2016, fully lifting sanctions against the country.

This led to a rush of Chinese and South Korean contract clothing manufacturers expanding into Myanmar. The likes of Hennes & Mauritz and other major global brands started paying visits to the MGMA to find local contractors.

In fiscal 2015, Myanmar exported some $900 million worth of sewn products. That only represents around one-thirtieth of the amount exported by Vietnam and one-sixth the figure for Cambodia. But Myanmar has all the hallmarks of becoming a new garment manufacturing hub.

The new government, led by State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, is intent on promote job-rich, export-oriented manufacturing industries to wean Myanmar off its heavy dependence on oil and gas exports.

The textiles industry is set to be the first to take off, as cost advantages can easily translate into international competitiveness.

But the country's most pressing need is to widen the scope of industries that both import technology and also create jobs, said Aung Naing Oo, director general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, which issues investment permits.

There are some encouraging signs. Asia General Electric Holding, a major local heavy electric machinery maker, has its electric transformer plant running at full tilt to meet surging demand due to the government's infrastructure investment drive. The company tripled the plant's production capacity in 2013.

Asia General Electric Holding's transformer manufacturing plant in Yangon


Khin Maung Myat, the company's managing director, founded the company in 2008 after years of learning about paint and plastics manufacturing and it is now the country's largest maker of transformers.

AGEH expects monthly transformer production to double to 800 units in fiscal 2018. Production capacity was increased also with an eye to export growth.

The company is currently marketing its products in Southeast Asia, with a deal in the pipeline to export 200 transformers to the Philippines. This would mark the first export of heavy electric machinery by a Myanmar company.

The information technology industry also appears to have strong growth potential.

In the summer of 2015, FPT, Vietnam's largest IT company, set up a product development center in Yangon. FPT plans to increase the number of engineers at the center to around 1,000 from the current 200. The center is designed as a development outsourcing service provider.

Just like textiles and countless other industries, IT sought to tap China's pool of low-waged engineers in the 1990s. As labor costs rose, the Philippines and other Asian countries emerged as new centers of outsourcing services. Since the turn of the century, Vietnam has been the region's fastest-growing provider of offshore development outsourcing.

FPT has been expanding operations rapidly by riding on the wave and now employs some 10,000 engineers.

Growing contact with foreign players now stimulates technological innovation in Myanmar. Thein Oo, chairman and CEO of Ace Data Systems sees huge growth opportunities and aims to mimic FPT's success.

When it was founded in 1992, Ace Data Systems mainly worked on the development of packaged software. But the company gradually expanded its software development outsourcing services for overseas customers and is now turning itself into an integrated system developer.

Working with overseas companies such as Germany's Wincor Nixdorf, which sells automatic teller machines in Myanmar, and Japan's Daiwa Institute of Research, Ace Data Systems has been involved in the development of computer systems for Yangon Stock Exchange, which opened in March last year, and major local banks.

Ace Data Systems has doubled its workforce to 600 in three years. Thein Oo now has his sights set on overseas markets like Singapore.
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[Aung Zaya]

Myanmar Motor Corp gets nod to set up $10m bus assembly, eyes exports

Myanmar Motor Corp gets nod to set up $10m bus assembly, eyes exports Subscribe to our newsletter Photo: Juliet Shwe Gaung. A garbage truck of MMC. Photo: Juliet Shwe Gaung. A garbage truck of MMC. Juliet Shwe Gaung January 9, 2017: Yangon-based Myanmar Motor Corporation Public Company Ltd (MMC) – a consortium of 31 local companies – has received the Myanmar Investment Commission approval to start assembly production of buses targeting domestic markets and export too going forward. The company will invest a total of $10 million for the assembly facility and production. The facility is located in Mingalardon township across four acres. “Our capacity is 30 cars (units) per month,” said Htay Aung, president of MMC during an interaction with DEALSTREETASIA. The facility will initially assemble two types of buses – a 49-seater and a 55-seater catering to both city and highway routes. Going forward, the company is looking to export these buses to Singapore, Macao, Hong Kong and Taiwan “We are aiming for the export market. Corporations like SMRT in Singapore usually change 100 to 200 buses every year. We want to fill in that space,” said Aung.The company is targeting to produce 100 buses per year, and gradually take the production up to 200 by year nine of operations. MMC, established in 2012, comprises 31 private companies including Sakura Trade Centre Co Ltd, Sakura Engineering and Construction Development Co Ltd, Sakura Technical Services Co Ltd, and other such as Three Color Cherry Co Ltd, Myanmar New Way Co Ltd and Ngwe Kyar Yan Co Ltd. Htay Aung founded Sakura Auto Co Ltd, which is into imports of new and reconditioned cars. He is known for building the Sakura Hospital in Yangon. MMC is also the exclusive dealer of M
AN, a provider of commercial vehicles headquartered in Germany. The company is looking at accessing financing from Global Treasure Bank Public Co Ltd, a commercial bank which was formally the Myanma Livestock and Fisheries Development Bank. Also Read:

Read more at: http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stori...-the-10-m-bus-building-production-work-62212/

 

[~Phoenix~]

Miles to go
The new government unveils promising but vague economic plans, as the armed forces loom in the background
Aug 6th 2016 | YANGON

IN AN open-plan office in a nondescript building in central Yangon, women sort through piles of brown folders. Three men try, with little success, to fix a photocopier; others organise piles of kyat, Myanmar’s currency, by denomination. Myanma Economic Holdings Limited (MEHL), a conglomerate run by the armed forces, has many workers who do very little. Being owned by men with guns has long meant being shielded from competition.

That began to change in 2011 when Thein Sein, then the country’s president, ended the military conglomerates’ tax exemptions and their import monopolies on many goods. He welcomed foreign competitors to some of their businesses. But the army, which ruled from 1962 until March of this year, when the democratically elected National League for Democracy of Aung San Suu Kyi took office, retains vast business interests. And it controls three powerful ministries, as well as a quarter of the seats in parliament, meaning it can scupper Miss Suu Kyi’s planned economic reforms, should it choose to.

That Myanmar’s economy needs reform is beyond dispute. Though foreign investment is soaring and GDP is expected to grow by at least 8% this year and next, both are from a tiny base. Before the army seized power, Myanmar had been one of the world’s leading rice exporters and one of Asia’s wealthiest countries; today it is among the poorest. Last year GDP per person was just $1,204—less than a fifth the level of neighbouring Thailand—and tax revenue, as a share of GDP, was the lowest in the region. Most of the population is poor and rural: scant access to credit, energy, seeds and fertiliser keeps agricultural productivity low. Bad roads, inefficient ports and sporadic electricity impede industrial growth: the advantage afforded by a cheap, young workforce is frittered away if they sit idle during power cuts. Transporting goods to market costs a fortune.

On July 29th in Naypyidaw, the capital, Miss Suu Kyi presented her long-awaited plan to tackle these problems. Though it pointed in the right direction—towards greater liberalisation and away from the planned economy—it was worryingly light on detail. What were described as “economic policies” were more like aspirations: more efficient public spending and taxation; better technical and vocational education; more transparent budgeting; less red tape and so on. There were vague promises about agriculture and infrastructure. Farmers will somehow get greater access to credit and more secure land tenure. Electricity generation, roads and ports will be prioritised.

The goals are laudable. But are they achievable? And when will the government get started? According to Sean Turnell, an Australian economist advising the new administration, so little economic information was handed over by its predecessor that its first four months have been spent tracking down basic facts about revenue, budgeting, the financial position of state-owned enterprises and so on.

After many years in exile fighting for democracy, Miss Suu Kyi has entered office with much goodwill, at home and abroad. But she is also burdened with high expectations, which are likely to go unfulfilled. Almost everything needs fixing, and she has shown a worrying tendency to centralise and micromanage. She still chairs her political party, while holding three positions in the new government. To build functioning financial institutions, she must learn to delegate, analysts say.

The rift over the loot

There are also worries about how the army will react once the government is ready to act. Outright resistance is unlikely: the democratic transition began in part because the army realised it was hopelessly ill-equipped to oversee a market economy. And at least some of its enterprises make money legitimately, and will make more as the country prospers. MEHL, for example, makes Myanmar Beer, the most popular brand, and Red Ruby, one of the most popular cigarettes.




Myanmar in graphics: An unfinished peace
However, the army and its cronies have also grown rich from gem and jade mines—and vast tracts of land that many contend were illegally seized. The new government says it will neither extend mining licences nor offer new ones until the laws governing the sector are tightened (it appears keener on environmental and safety rules than its predecessors). It has begun to investigate what it estimates are hundreds of thousands of land grabs, totalling millions of acres. This limited remit—the government could have plumped, instead, for a full-blown investigation into land-ownership nationally—is seen by some as a signal to the army that it will be allowed to keep past gains, but should understand that from now on, things will change.

Whether that will be enough for it remains to be seen. For Miss Suu Kyi has pledged a “just balancing” between states and regions, with the aim of “national reconciliation”. This is an old demand of ethnic insurgents against the central government: Myanmar’s civil wars have been motivated not only by politics, but by control of resources. Dividing the spoils more equitably will be essential if the fighting is to end. But Miss Suu Kyi may find that the army is none too happy about a civilian government dictating terms over conflicts in which it has spilt blood for decades.








Kira.

 

[Aung Zaya]

Myanmar: Japanese airliner ANA invests in new venture, to begin ops in 2018

plane-airport-pixabay Chris Cooper Kiyotaka Matsuda : ANA Holdings Inc. has invested in a new airline venture in Myanmar that aims to start international flights in 2018 as the Japanese carrier seeks to capture demand in Asia’s fastest-growing economy. ANA has a 49 percent stake and a local company holds the remainder, Shinya Katanozaka, chief executive officer of Japan’s largest airline, said in an interview in Tokyo on Monday. The companies made a combined initial investment of $150,000 in the venture, he said. The Japanese carrier is expanding abroad as morre people take to the skies in developing economies such as Myanmar, which the International Monetary Fund forecasts will expand 8.1 percent this year, the quickest pace after Iraq. ANA is making a bet on international travel from the Southeast Asian nation after the carrier in 2014 cited intensified competition in Myanmar for its decision to cancel a plan to buy 49 percent of Asian Wings Airways Ltd., a domestic airline. “Myanmar’s economic power is growing,” said Katanozaka. “We want to help contribute to the boom in business and overseas holiday travel from the new middle class.” ANA, which bought a stake in Vietnam Airlines Corp. this year, is also considering adding flights across the globe, Katanozaka said. The Myanmar venture will start with a couple of airplanes and plans to increase the fleet, he said. ANA’s investment will rise as the venture adds aircraft, the CEO said. ANA joins companies including Coca-Cola Co. and Unilever Plc in expanding in the nation, after the U.S. eased sanctions in Myanmar four years ago as the country moved toward democracy following five decades of military rule. The carrier restarted flights to Myanmar’s Yangon airport in 2013

Read more at: http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stori...-from-myanmar-in-2018-with-new-venture-60329/

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Myanmar Dealbook: Industrial estate developer Amata to enter Myanmar; Thailand and Singapore to invest $400m in solar parks

Industrial estate developer Amata preps to enter Myanmar Thailand’s leading industrial estate developer, Amata Corp is eying to expand to Myanmar by 2020. One reason is slowdown of the Thai economy that was partly responsible for Amata’s revenue plummeting by nearly half this month. Amata is expected to generate about five percent of the total revenue for 2020 in Myanmar, said Stephen Siew, chief financial officer of Amata as quoted by Reuters. In Thailand, Amata’s operations are in Amata Nakorn industrial estate in the eastern city of Chonburi and Amata City in the eastern province of Rayong. Amata plans to expand in Vietnam by spending $200 million to develop two industrial estates, Amata City Bien Hoa and Amata City Long Thanh, a high tech industrial park near Ho Chi Minh City. Amata VN is also looking into getting two licenses to develop another two projects.

Thailand and Singapore plans on invest over $400 m Solar investment Myanmar has received proposals from two companies from Thailand and Singapore to invest in solar energy.

“Thailand is interested in establishing a 220 megawatt solar energy in Magwe Region and Singapore company for a 150 megawatt solar investment in Mandalay Region,” said Than Aung Kyaw, deputy director general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration. The investment amount could reach over $400 million. The two companies have already undergone tests and assessments relating to the environment at the region, said industry sources.

Read more at: http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stori...-on-invest-over-400-m-solar-investment-51383/
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Sembcorp inks agreement for gas-fired power plant in Myanmar

by
Michelle Quahmichquah@sph.com.sg@MichelleQuahBT

SEMBCORP Industries (Sembcorp) has announced the signing of a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement with the Ministry of Electricity and Energy of Myanmar (MOEE) for its upcoming 225-megawatt Sembcorp Myingyan gas-fired power plant in Mandalay.
PHOTO: AFP
SEMBCORP Industries (Sembcorp) has announced the signing of a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement with the Ministry of Electricity and Energy of Myanmar (MOEE) for its upcoming 225-megawatt Sembcorp Myingyan gas-fired power plant in Mandalay.

Under the agreement, Sembcorp Myingyan Power Company will build and operate the power plant for 22 years, after which the facility will be transferred to the Myanmar government.

Sembcorp said the BOT agreement represents a key milestone and continued progress for the Sembcorp Myingyan project. It comes after the signing of a long-term power purchase agreement in March 2016, for the sale of the plant's entire power output to Electric Power Generation Enterprise, the successor entity to Myanma Electric Power Enterprise pursuant to re-organisation within MOEE.

The total project cost of the Sembcorp Myingyan Power Project is approximately US$300 million. Once operational, the Sembcorp Myingyan Power Project would become one of Myanmar's largest gas-fired power plants, and would help to play a key role in meeting the country's growing demand for electricity, Sembcorp said.

 

[~Phoenix~]

Sembcorp inks agreement for gas-fired power plant in Myanmar

by
Michelle Quahmichquah@sph.com.sg@MichelleQuahBT

SEMBCORP Industries (Sembcorp) has announced the signing of a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement with the Ministry of Electricity and Energy of Myanmar (MOEE) for its upcoming 225-megawatt Sembcorp Myingyan gas-fired power plant in Mandalay.
PHOTO: AFP
SEMBCORP Industries (Sembcorp) has announced the signing of a build-operate-transfer (BOT) agreement with the Ministry of Electricity and Energy of Myanmar (MOEE) for its upcoming 225-megawatt Sembcorp Myingyan gas-fired power plant in Mandalay.

Under the agreement, Sembcorp Myingyan Power Company will build and operate the power plant for 22 years, after which the facility will be transferred to the Myanmar government.

Sembcorp said the BOT agreement represents a key milestone and continued progress for the Sembcorp Myingyan project. It comes after the signing of a long-term power purchase agreement in March 2016, for the sale of the plant's entire power output to Electric Power Generation Enterprise, the successor entity to Myanma Electric Power Enterprise pursuant to re-organisation within MOEE.

The total project cost of the Sembcorp Myingyan Power Project is approximately US$300 million. Once operational, the Sembcorp Myingyan Power Project would become one of Myanmar's largest gas-fired power plants, and would help to play a key role in meeting the country's growing demand for electricity, Sembcorp said.

So any nuclear plans in MM?
Bangladesh's first nuclear reactor is a TRIGA research reactor located at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment,Savar under the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and built in 1986.
Also,we are constructing a huge twin nuclear power plan providing 2,400-megawatts of electricity,with Russian assistance with a cost of 12.65 billion USD at Ruppur.The Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant ( RNPP ) is a VVER-1200.In 2016 ground preparation work commenced. Official construction of first unit will kick off in August,2017 while the construction of the second one will commence on 2018. The two units generating 2.4 GWe are planned to be operational in 2023 and 2024. Rosatom will operate the units for the first year before handing over to Bangladeshi operators. Russia will supply the nuclear fuel and take back spent fuel ( you know what they'll do with the spent fuel ).It will by built by the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation,Russia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooppur_Nuclear_Power_Plant



Whats more?
On 29 May 2013 Bangladesh's Prime Minister declared that a second nuclear power plant will be constructed on an inland river island in southern region of the country.


Kira.

 

[Aung Zaya]

So any nuclear plans in MM?
Bangladesh's first nuclear reactor is a TRIGA research reactor located at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment,Savar under the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission and built in 1986.
Also,we are constructing a huge twin nuclear power plan providing 2,400-megawatts of electricity,with Russian assistance with a cost of 12.65 billion USD at Ruppur.The Ruppur Nuclear Power Plant ( RNPP ) is a VVER-1200.In 2016 ground preparation work commenced. Official construction of first unit will kick off in August,2017 while the construction of the second one will commence on 2018. The two units generating 2.4 GWe are planned to be operational in 2023 and 2024. Rosatom will operate the units for the first year before handing over to Bangladeshi operators. Russia will supply the nuclear fuel and take back spent fuel ( you know what they'll do with the spent fuel ).It will by built by the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation,Russia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooppur_Nuclear_Power_Plant



Whats more?
On 29 May 2013 Bangladesh's Prime Minister declared that a second nuclear power plant will be constructed on an inland river island in southern region of the country.


Kira.

currently no nuclear reactor plan for electricity.. and we dont still need such a huge project. we have very clear resolution to get energy from clean and renewable source as much as we can. so u can see many of our energy projects source from wind , water and sun.. but we have a small reactor which was built by Russia to make nuclear research medical isotope production laboratory, silicon doping system, nuclear waste treatment and burial facilities since 8 years ago.
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-Russia-Myanmar-agree-to-cooperate-26031501.html

honestly i'm worried about building nuclear reactor in such a small and over-populated country. ur country will be doomed if something happened in reactor unlike big country and it will be effect even region. plz make sure safety issue of those plants.. thz u..

 

[~Phoenix~]

currently no nuclear reactor plan for electricity.. and we dont still need such a huge project.

Oh yeah,a country like Myanmar is not suitable to have large developement projects due to their nascent 60-70 billion worth economy.

we have very clear resolution to get energy from clean and renewable source as much as we can. so u can see many of our energy projects source from wind , water and sun..

Bangladesh has the 5th largest green jobs in the world for renewable energy.

but we have a small reactor which was built by Russia to make nuclear research medical isotope production laboratory, silicon doping system, nuclear waste treatment and burial facilities since 8 years ago.

Since 8 years? You mean in 2009? Pretty late,but ok for a 60-70 billion worth economy.
We got our first nuclear reactor ( an American TRIGA reactor ) back in 1986,even though plans started as early as pre-independence era - the 1960s.This reactor is designed to be "safe even in the hands of a young student" ( I can mess with reactors now lol ).The TRIGA reactor uses Uranium zicronine hydride (UZrH) fuel, which has a large, prompt negative fuel temperature co-eficient of reactivity, meaning that as the temperature of the core increases, the reactivity rapidly decreases. It is almosy impossible for a nuclear meltdown to occur. Because of this unique feature, it can be safely pulsed at a power of 22,000 megawatts

honestly i'm worried about building nuclear reactor in such a small and over-populated country. ur country will be doomed if something happened in reactor unlike big country and it will be effect even region. plz make sure safety issue of those plants..

So,we bought a reactor and just place it in a random place? No,we don't follow 60-70 billion worth economy strategy.Safety is a huge concern to our government and is not a issue taken lightly.The cost of the reactore rose from 4 billion to 12.65 billion mainly due to maximize safety.

The reactor design has been refined to optimize fuel efficiency. Specifications include a $1,200 per kW electric capital cost, 54 month planned construction time, and expected 60 year lifetime at 90% capacity factor. The VVER-1200 will produce 1,200 MWe of power.

A typical design feature of nuclear reactors is layered safety barriers preventing escape of radioactive material. The AES-2006 ( the version of the VVER-1200 we have ) reactor have four layers:

1. Fuel pellets: Radioactive elements are retained within the crystal structure of the fuel pellets.
2. Fuel rods: The zircaloy tubes provide a further barrier resistant to heat and high pressure.
3. Reactor Shell: A massive steel shell encases the whole fuel assembly hermetically.
4. Reactor Building: A concrete containment building that encases the whole first circuit is strong enough to resist the pressure surge a breach in the first circuit would cause.

The nuclear part of the plant is housed in a single building acting as containment and missile shield. Besides the reactor and steam generators this includes an improved refueling machine, and the computerized reactor control systems. Likewise protected in the same building are the emergency systems, including an emergency core cooling system, emergency backup diesel power supply, and backup feed water supply.It also has a passive heat removal system ( PHRS ).The system is based on a cooling system and water tanks built on top of the containment dome.The passive systems handle all safety functions for 24 hours, and core safety for 72 hours.Other new safety systems include aircraft crash protection and a core catcher to contain the molten reactor core in the event of a severe accident.


Kira.