Burma's strong and weak points compared to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos?

[NanLaew]

10 hours ago, watcharacters said:

 

 

The Great Frontier?

 

 

Maybe in 2014 when the post you responded to was written. On the oil and gas exploration side, the gild is off the lily but that's a global thing dictated by the US's success in fracking. Interesting to read subsequent posts that banking and non-energy related businesses also appear to be hedging their bets though. The infrastructure is woefully inadequate despite the Chinese funding the 'motorway' from Yangon to Napyidaw but there's millions of Chinese-made solar panels in just about every bamboo hut so they can watch Chinese-made satellite TV while watching the cars go by.

 

The comment was made that Myanmar has the benefit of being a multi-ethnic nation. With the recent excesses with regard to the Rohingya and the quietly ongoing unrest with the minority armies in the Kachin and other northern states, beyond moving the capital further north, there haven't been any great strides in making The Union of Myanmar anything like a union. There's still a disconnect despite having elections and having an intramural, seated parliament headed by a self-admitted de facto leader with popular appeal and little else.

 

Sorry for the double post earlier. The ancient ipStar system we have on site can't keep up.

[jimster]

On 4/22/2018 at 9:01 PM, NanLaew said:

Despite a boom in offshore oil and gas exploration around 2015 and a coincident but smaller surge of the same work onshore, very few E&P companies retain an office and full-time expat staff in Yangon. A lot of explorationists involved with Myanmar tend to run their 'Burma desk' out of another, regional office such as KL or Singapore. Not sure if it's a cost issue, a visa and WP issue or a board and lodging issue but the collapse in global oil prices probably didn't help. I have been involved with onshore exploration here since the new year and the whole permitting process is the biggest time waster as noted earlier. The excessively long time to get the top-level government permission is only matched by the excruciatingly long time it takes for such permissions to trickle down to regional, provincial and municipal levels. Both projects started about 6 months late and thus remain uncompleted despite the initial approvals being obtained almost a year earlier. I have heard from those involved with similar ventures over the past 2-3 years that this is par for the course.

 

Compared with my +12 years in the same game in Vietnam where they also have an overreaching bureaucracy with approvals coming from the PM's office, the trickle down is a lot faster... unless you time things very badly and lose traction due to Tet. Vietnam has a tad more dynamism.

 

I hope to add Laos to my portfolio before I hang up my boots but the last thrash for oil in Savanakhet drilled a duster about 7 years ago and there's been little uptake since. Bit of a bugger being land-locked too.

In Laos many companies especially multinationals are gradually starting to rid themselves of expensive farang staff in favor of locals and citizens of neighboring countries. Can't really blame them.

 

If you're in O&G Myanmar is really where you want to go, not Laos.

[jimster]

On 4/23/2018 at 10:35 AM, NanLaew said:

Maybe in 2014 when the post you responded to was written. On the oil and gas exploration side, the gild is off the lily but that's a global thing dictated by the US's success in fracking. Interesting to read subsequent posts that banking and non-energy related businesses also appear to be hedging their bets though. The infrastructure is woefully inadequate despite the Chinese funding the 'motorway' from Yangon to Napyidaw but there's millions of Chinese-made solar panels in just about every bamboo hut so they can watch Chinese-made satellite TV while watching the cars go by.

 

The comment was made that Myanmar has the benefit of being a multi-ethnic nation. With the recent excesses with regard to the Rohingya and the quietly ongoing unrest with the minority armies in the Kachin and other northern states, beyond moving the capital further north, there haven't been any great strides in making The Union of Myanmar anything like a union. There's still a disconnect despite having elections and having an intramural, seated parliament headed by a self-admitted de facto leader with popular appeal and little else.

 

Sorry for the double post earlier. The ancient ipStar system we have on site can't keep up.

I thought it was a local company linked to the drug smuggling trade from Shan State that financed the Yangon to Naypyidaw expressway, not a Chinese one. Ethnic Chinese yes, the company has an office in Hong Kong.

[simon43]

Bumping this 2014 thread again to reflect on how things have changed in Myanmar.

 

On recent visits to both Yangon and Mandalay, I saw a large growth in Western-style restaurants.  But I saw few Western tourists!

 

Mobile internet access is very fast in-country - I usually get about 45 MB/sec with my MPT SIM.  But access to international internet destinations is still 'bottlenecked' and unreliable, due to the inadequate international internet gateway between Myanmar and the outside world.

 

Food still sucks here - I prepare all my own fresh food nowadays, except for a weekend visit to a Shan noodles restaurant.

 

Nightlife? - Well I'm sure Yangon and Mandalay have a growing entertainment sector (of all types).  I've been living in Naypyitaw, where nightlife for foreigners is basically unreachable ????

 

Visas? No changes as to the visa type options.  You still need to have a business visa or local marriage in order to get a one-year visa.

 

Business? As an employee for the past couple of years, I haven't had to consider registering a local business.  The $50,000 minimum investment was beyond my reach.  Now a recent update to the Company Law allows not-for-profit companies to be registered with no minimum investment and 'owned' by a single local or foreigner, (with the availability of a one-year business visa sponsored by the company). That type of not-for-profit venture will not appeal to most, but appeals to me because I run a not-for-profit educational charity in Myanmar.  I've resigned from my cushy teaching position at the international school and am registering a not-for-profit ???? In order to get fast internet access (I need this for my online work), I plan to live in either Myawaddy or Kawthaung - both towns are at the Myanmar/Thai border and so I can bypass the Myanmar internet gateway problems by connecting directly to the Thai 3g/4g networks.

 

Women? - So many different ethnic groups means so many different physical appearances.  Slim and fat and very fat abound ????  But they all (almost all!) retain their very traditional, cultural values and beliefs. Myanmar is not really a country for sexpats ????

 

What do other's think about Myanmar 2018?  I was considering to return back to Thailand.  But I have a nagging concern about the long-term future of living in Thailand as a retired expat. Rules get tightened up, rules can change etc.  In Myanmar, Permanent Residence (and a renewable 5 year visa) can easily be obtained after living in the country for 3 years).

 

How does Myanmar 2018 compare with Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam?