• Burmese
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
25 °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

Will Private-Public Partnerships Fly?

Simon Lewis by Simon Lewis
June 4, 2014
in Uncategorized
Reading Time: 4 mins read
0 0
A A
Will Private-Public Partnerships Fly?

An Air KBZ plane refuels at Yangon International Airport. (Photo: JPaing / The Irrawaddy)

40.3k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

YANGON — Myanmar’s government is planning to offer up contracts to expand and operate some 39 regional airports in the country later this year, but some doubt whether the private sector will bring the help needed to update the country’s crumbling smaller airstrips.

When a major aviation conference was held in Yangon in March, officials from the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) told interested businesspeople that they have a plan—the details of which were sparse—that will return Myanmar to its once-proud place as a regional aviation hub.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is currently working on a “survey,” which will feed into a government transport master plan, but a JICA spokesperson declined to go into detail about the plan. Japan last year initiated a US$12 million project to upgrade safety at the country’s six biggest airports with new communications and navigation equipment.

RelatedPosts

Ma Win Maw Oo, soaked in blood, is carried by two medics on Sept. 19, 1988 in downtown Yangon after troops gunned down peaceful demonstrators. / S. Lehman / Visions

Why the Past Can’t Be Put to Rest

September 19, 2020
8.2k
Renowned Myanmar language teacher John Okell is still inspiring students, five decades on.

Love of the Lingo

August 5, 2020
10.2k
Maung Thaw Ka (standing, left) accompanies Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (with microphone) during her first-ever speech to the Myanmar public, delivered outside Yangon General Hospital on Aug. 24, 1988, two days before her historic address to a huge crowd outside the city’s Shwedagon Pagoda.

A Tribute to Maung Thaw Ka

June 11, 2020
7.6k

But in terms of tangible policy, it is clear only that Myanmar will continue offering up parts of the sector in competitive tenders. According to the DCA, as the clouds disperse at the end of the current rainy season, the latest tender will go out asking for companies to invest in improving airports and operate them as public-private partnerships.

The airports include those serving growing tourist destinations, like Heho near Inle Lake, Nyaung-U at Bagan, and Thandwe near Ngapali beach, but also planned economic hubs like Kyaukphyu and Dawei.

The aim is to modernize and improve the safety record of the large network of airports as it deals with rising passenger numbers. That should facilitate business and tourist travel across Myanmar’s vast distances, which would in theory help spread economic growth around.

Henrich Dahm, a Yangon-based analyst who specializes in the tourism sector, told The Irrawaddy that developing some of the regional airports was needed for the tourism industry to handle the increasing numbers of visitors wanting to see more than just the major cities.

It was only in 2012 that Myanmar surpassed 1 million tourists per year, but President U Thein Sein has predicted that the country could get 5 million foreign visitors next year.

“The development of regional airports is important to ease the overstretched tourism infrastructure and address the lack of airport capacity in Yangon,” Mr. Dahm said.

“More tourists need to [be able to] fly directly to Bagan, Inle, Mandalay, Myeik, etc., to promote new destinations in the country.”

The tender follows the awarding of deals to operate the Yangon International Airport and Mandalay’s airport, given to a subsidiary of Myanmar-owned company Asia World and Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation, respectively.

The model of private operators taking over airports has had success elsewhere, and has been useful for governments short on capital who wish to expand their aviation infrastructure.

However, the private sector is not always willing to stump up all the cash for such projects, as the government has discovered with the tender to build a new airport serving Yangon. A new tender had to be issued for the Hanthawaddy airport project after South Korea’s Incheon and the DCA could not agree on how it would be funded. The government eventually agreed to guarantee development loans for half of the project cost—estimated at between $1.4 and $1.5 billion.

In other sectors, the government has had considerable success bringing in private money to pay for upgrades in infrastructure.

Peter Brimble, the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) principal country specialist based in Yangon, said the tender for telecommunications licenses last year was widely seen as competitive and fair and secured promises of large upfront capital investment.

The ADB has just begun a program in the energy sector to help the government develop a robust tendering process to make sure future deals get the best outcome for Myanmar. “It’s not just to go through the process of tendering, it’s also to think about the national needs—whether that means using a public-private partnership or the government’s own money or a partnership [with donors],” said Mr. Brimble.

The government’s preferred choice, though, as demonstrated by the stumbling Hanthawaddy project, has been to ask private firms to take the entire hit, in exchange for rewards later as long-term operators.

“There’s a tendency to try to raise funds however you can,” Mr. Brimble said.

The DCA appears confident that there is enough private-sector interest, and the department’s director general U Tin Naing Tun told The Irrawaddy in April that “many” companies had come forward to register their interest.

However, he said that much of that interest was from local firms, and it is unclear whether the investment necessary to revamp the domestic aviation market will be forthcoming.

A 2012 report by Business Monitor International, looking ahead to the development of Myanmar aviation, threw cold water on the idea that the sector offered attractive investment opportunities.

“We do not see a lot of financially viable opportunities in the construction and management of airports in Myanmar over the next decade,” the report said.

Noting that Myanmar already has a large number of airports in operation—69 in total—the report warned that “even though Myanmar is keen on private investment…the rewards from this sector are very uncertain for the next decade and would depend on several long-term factors such as a general rise in incomes within Myanmar and the development of a vibrant tourism sector.”

Economist and country specialist Sean Turnell said the airports at tourist destinations had potential, particularly considering the growth of low-cost carriers in the region, which could take advantage of “secondary” airports that are cheaper for airlines to fly into.

“Many others will not be attractive, though—too out of the way, no viable tourist traffic and no reservoir of middle-class travelers or business activity to sustain them,” Mr. Turnell said.

“The sort of returns these airports could generate would not be sufficient for the relatively high capital outlays creating a modern airport would require.

“Of course, on top of the possibility of low and variable returns, you have that fundamental problem in Myanmar of the absence of secure property rights. Investing in an airport will be a long-term proposition, with all the insecurities such decision-making may involve,” Mr. Turnell added.

Kyaw Hsu Mon contributed reporting. This article first appeared in the June 2014 print issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

Your Thoughts …
Tags: Magazine
Simon Lewis

Simon Lewis

Similar Picks:

Aung San: A Legacy Unfulfilled
Stories That Shaped Us

Aung San: A Legacy Unfulfilled

by Kyaw Zwa Moe
February 11, 2015
14.4k

Born in 1915, Aung San’s aspirations for a unified and democratic Myanmar went unfulfilled in his lifetime and have yet...

Read moreDetails
Kokang: The Backstory
Burma

Kokang: The Backstory

by Bertil Lintner
March 9, 2015
18k

The site of fierce recent fighting, Shan State’s Kokang region has a complex history of feuding warlords and thriving drug...

Read moreDetails
Trickle Town
Stories That Shaped Us

Trickle Town

by Aung Zaw
August 13, 2014
7.7k

As Yangon’s Golden Valley enjoys an unexpected cash bonanza, questions around some surprise beneficiaries of the current reform period are...

Read moreDetails
The Kola of Cambodia
Features

The Kola of Cambodia

by The Irrawaddy
January 9, 2015
8.2k

A Buddhist pagoda and an elderly woman are among the last traces of a group of mysterious Myanmar migrants.

Read moreDetails
Neruda’s Burmese Days
Culture

Neruda’s Burmese Days

by Seamus Martov
June 15, 2015
12.5k

The late Chilean poet Pablo Neruda found love and lasting inspiration in the colonial capital.

Read moreDetails
Quality Talk?
Burma

Quality Talk?

by Tamas Wells
February 27, 2015
3.6k

Developers and donors are big on “community consultation” ahead of large projects, but are the touted listening exercises really sincere?

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
Malaysian PM Sues Online News Portal Malaysiakini

Malaysian PM Sues Online News Portal Malaysiakini

4 Hawaii Farms Settle Thai Workers Suit for $2.4 Million

4 Hawaii Farms Settle Thai Workers Suit for $2.4 Million

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

Myanmar Regime Leader Rejects World Bank Economic Forecast as Inaccurate

Myanmar Regime Leader Rejects World Bank Economic Forecast as Inaccurate

4 days ago
1.4k
From Foreign Policy Drift to Diplomatic Freefall in Myanmar

From Foreign Policy Drift to Diplomatic Freefall in Myanmar

7 days ago
2.1k

Most Read

  • Myanmar Junta Starves Last Rakhine Strongholds as AA Closes In

    Myanmar Junta Starves Last Rakhine Strongholds as AA Closes In

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar’s Strongest Armed Ethnic Alliance is Faltering

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar’s Civilian Govt Rebuffs Junta’s Appeal for ‘Cooperation’

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Thirteen Myanmar junta aircraft shot down since coup

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • TNLA Defies Myanmar Junta Push to Cede Shan Towns in China Talks  

    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.