• Burmese
Thursday, May 15, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
27 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home Business

Thilawa SEZ Commences Second Phase of Project

Moe Myint by Moe Myint
February 24, 2017
in Business
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
Vice President Henry Van Thio cuts a ribbon at a commencement ceremony for Thilawa SEZ Zone B on Friday morning. / Naing Lin Soe / The Irrawaddy

Vice President Henry Van Thio cuts a ribbon at a commencement ceremony for Thilawa SEZ Zone B on Friday morning. / Naing Lin Soe / The Irrawaddy

4.9k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

RANGOON — Rangoon’s Thilawa Special Economic Zone (SEZ) management committee members said they expect to complete the 250-acre second phase of the project in mid-2018, during a commencement ceremony at the SEZ’s new Zone B on Friday morning.

Thilawa SEZ is located between Kyauktan and Thanlyin townships, 14 miles from downtown Rangoon. The project is a joint venture between Burma and Japan; construction work on it began in late 2013 under ex-president U Thein Sein’s administration.

Both governments hold a 10 percent share and nine domestic firms integrated into Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings (MTSH) control 41 percent, and a Japanese private-sector consortium owns 39 percent.

RelatedPosts

Thailand Risks Surrendering Its Economy to Chinese Interests

Thailand Risks Surrendering Its Economy to Chinese Interests

May 2, 2025
2.9k
Junta Boss Issues Labor Day Plea as Workers Desert Myanmar 

Junta Boss Issues Labor Day Plea as Workers Desert Myanmar 

May 1, 2025
1.4k
Trump Escalates Trade War With Sweeping Global Tariffs

Trump Escalates Trade War With Sweeping Global Tariffs

April 3, 2025
292

Union Minister U Than Myint of the Ministry of Commerce said, “Our country is trying to develop Thilawa, Kyaukphyu and Dawei SEZ projects. Among them, Thilawa SEZ project is one of the most successful zones.”

The committee designated two phases for the implementation of the Thilawa SEZ and gave an incentive to foreign investors of seven years free from tax for those who would export products abroad. A tax break of five years was given to those who would export products domestically.

In 2014, 78 firms from 15 countries came to Burma to set up factories in Thilawa. Currently 24 factories, including domestically run ones, are operating there and some foreign companies regularly export products abroad. Total investment in the Thilawa SEZ has already reached more than US$1 billion, said chairman U Set Aung of Thilawa SEZ’s management committee.

Factories producing garments, construction sector-related materials, electronic products, steel materials and cement, motor vehicle parts, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment are located in the SEZ’s Zone A. The investors are from Japan, Singapore, China, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Sweden and the US.

U Set Aung said that within 18 months, the construction of factories had been 96 percent completed, and that the government had provided 85 percent of the jobs for Thilawa residents in Zone A, but he did not elaborate a total number of laborers. He estimated that Zone B implementation could take at least 18 months as well.

“Many international investors already contacted us about making investments here. But the investors could build factories after Zone B’s construction is complete,” said U Set Aung, who said he believes that Zone B could offer more than 400,000 jobs to locals.

For the second phase of Zone B, the authorities relocated three villages, including Shwe Pyauk, Aye Mya Thida and Shwe Pyi Thayar, said U Than Lwin, who attended Zone B’s opening ceremony on Friday.

The government and investors compensated villagers with a total of 27 million kyats for housing and land and 25 million kyats for farmland. But the rates varied, due to the SEZ committee’s rules and regulations for compensation schemes. Some residents opted for new homes rather than cash.

As the farmers gave up their land to investors, some were left without farmland on which to cultivate vegetables and headed to neighboring townships in search of new jobs.

Daw Tu, who is a longtime squatter in Shwe Pyauk village, told The Irrawaddy that investors built a new house for her family in the SEZ zone. Her elder daughter currently works at a wool factory and earns 150,000 kyats ($110) per month.

“I am really happy with the arrangement, although our family is still in an inconvenient situation,” Daw Tu said.

The Irrawaddy met with villagers at the ceremony and learned that many are currently unemployed.

One man, U Than Lwin, said, “I hope to get a job here.”

U Set Aung highlighted in his opening speech how delivering training to the local community to build their capacity and then provide them with jobs in the SEZ was a “high-priority.”
“I don’t really want to be in a situation where we have the SEZs around the corner, but the local community members are without jobs,” said U Set Aung.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: Economy
Moe Myint

Moe Myint

The Irrawaddy

Similar Picks:

General Close to Myanmar Junta Boss Placed Under House Arrest, Interrogated for Corruption
Burma

General Close to Myanmar Junta Boss Placed Under House Arrest, Interrogated for Corruption

by The Irrawaddy
September 14, 2023
28.6k

The arrest of ‘kickback king’ Lt-Gen Moe Myint Tun, once seen as a possible successor to Min Aung Hlaing, comes...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta’s ‘Brainless’ Response to Soaring Gold Prices Leaves Market in Disarray
Analysis

Myanmar Junta’s ‘Brainless’ Response to Soaring Gold Prices Leaves Market in Disarray

by Hein Htoo Zan
June 4, 2024
14.8k

Arrests, corruption, false receipts—the crisis in the gold and currency markets bears all the hallmarks of the junta’s inability to...

Read moreDetails
Power-Drunk Junta Tries Selling Myanmar Beer at Gunpoint
Business

Power-Drunk Junta Tries Selling Myanmar Beer at Gunpoint

by Hein Htoo Zan
September 14, 2023
13.7k

Consumer boycott enters new phase as generals launch armed counter-offensive at shops and pubs in Yangon.

Read moreDetails
Touting Holidays in a Flooded Warzone; Praising Savior China; and More
Junta Watch

Touting Holidays in a Flooded Warzone; Praising Savior China; and More

by The Irrawaddy
October 5, 2024
13.3k

Also this week, the regime launched its pre-election census, and unveiled a flood relief budget dwarfed by military spending as...

Read moreDetails
China’s Export Ban is Causing Shortages of Medicine, Fuel And Food in Myanmar
Business

China’s Export Ban is Causing Shortages of Medicine, Fuel And Food in Myanmar

by The Irrawaddy
October 28, 2024
10k

Beijing’s crackdown on border trade with Myanmar is aggravating the post-coup economic crisis and the construction sector could see a...

Read moreDetails
Rakhine’s Banking System Collapses as Myanmar State Teeters on Precipice
Burma

Rakhine’s Banking System Collapses as Myanmar State Teeters on Precipice

by The Irrawaddy
November 27, 2024
9.1k

Economic crisis deepens as banks exit amid junta restrictions on food supplies and a UN warning of impending famine.

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
U Hla Shwe, the last editor of the Oway Student Magazine in 1960s, pictured in March 2016. / Myo Min Soe / The Irrawaddy

Former Student Activist Calls Out State Media for Use of Demeaning Name

Dateline Irrawaddy: ‘The Government Deliberately Imposed a News Blackout so People Could Not Make Heads or Tails of What Was Happening’

Dateline Irrawaddy: ‘The Government Deliberately Imposed a News Blackout so People Could Not Make Heads or Tails of What Was Happening’

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Breaking the 60-Year Political Cycle in Myanmar

Breaking the 60-Year Political Cycle in Myanmar

3 days ago
1k
How Myanmar Junta Uses Air Force to Fight Its Corner

How Myanmar Junta Uses Air Force to Fight Its Corner

2 days ago
874

Most Read

  • Myanmar Resistance Briefly Captures Junta Battalion HQ in Bago

    Myanmar Resistance Briefly Captures Junta Battalion HQ in Bago

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • JFM: 12 ASEAN Billionaires Fueling Myanmar Junta Terror Campaign

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Soft Soil, Old Buildings and Junta Rule: How Yangon Became a Seismic Timebomb

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • How Myanmar Junta Uses Air Force to Fight Its Corner

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • A Familiar Lie: Myanmar Junta Denies Deadly School Bombing

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.