Yangon – Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation will replace China’s Sino Great Wall Co., which has withdrawn from the project to upgrade Yangon Central Railway Station, managing director U Ba Myint of Myanma Railways told The Irrawaddy.
The Yangon Central Railways Station Area Comprehensive Development Project was unveiled in 2015. In February 2016, 15 companies were shortlisted and two years later the Central Transport Development Consortium (CDTC) was selected as the preferred bidder for the US$2.8-billion (4.3 trillion-kyat) project.
The consortium comprises Myanmar’s Min Dharma Co., China’s Sino Great Wall and Singapore-based property developer Oxley Holdings Limited.
The development will be a mixed-development project with a central transport hub that integrates rail and mass transit, surrounded by housing and businesses on 25.7 hectares with a floor area of 1.09 million square meters, said Oxley.
Sino Great Wall is a Beijing-based company and listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. Min Dharma is a subsidiary of Mottama Holdings owned by Chinese-Myanmar businessman Yang Ho.
Sino Great Wall has gone bankrupt in the US-China trade war and has subsequently withdrawn from the project, said U Ba Myint.
“The government has approved that the Japanese company will come in its place. We are working to sign the deal before the end of this year,” he said.
The design of the project would not change, said U Ba Myint. The project is estimated to create around 100,000 jobs, said the CTDC last year.
The entire infrastructure will be handed over to the Myanmar government after 50 years of operation, according to Myanma Railways general manager U Tun Aung Thin.
The consortium is only allowed to use 14.5 out of 25.4 hectares owned by Myanma Railways at the station, and will develop other parts and pay rent to Myanma Railways, he said.
The rent has been estimated at around US$7.2 million per hectare for a year and the consortium is due to build around US$30 million worth of apartments for Myanma Railways staff, he said.
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