[Myanmar] Dawei Project Kept Afloat With Thai Loans

The proposed Dawei deep-sea port project in southern Burma has a new lease on life, thanks to a plan by Thai banks to provide short-term loans until an expected Japanese loan of up to $3.2 billion can be secured, according to a report by Reuters. “Italian-Thai has had difficulty in mobilizing the funding. So now the Thai government has effectively taken over the project,†said Thaung Lwin, the chairman of the Dawei SEZ, referring to the Thai company that originally signed a deal in 2010 to build the $50-billion project. Japan is expected to become the project’s biggest shareholder.