Myanmar, Korea to Build Industrial Facility North of Yangon  the Joint-Venture Signing Ceremony Is Held in Naypyitaw on Thursday

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Burma Myanmar, Korea to Build Industrial Facility North of Yangon  The joint-venture signing ceremony is held in Naypyitaw on Thursday. / Ministry of Information

By THE IRRAWADDY 9 August 2019

YANGON—Myanmar’s Urban and Housing Development Department (UHDD) on Thursday signed a joint venture agreement with Korea Land and Housing Corporation to establish a joint industrial complex in Hlegu, north of the commercial capital Yangon.

Comprising industrial and commercial areas as well as a research-and-development facility and a training school, the Korea Myanmar Industrial Complex (KMIC) will be implemented by the two government agencies on nearly 600 acres in Nyaung Hna Pin village. The site includes the venue where the military regime held the National Convention at which it drafted the 2008 Constitution.

At the signing ceremony in Naypyitaw, Union Minister for Construction U Han Zaw said the KMIC project will create from 50,000 to 100,000 jobs and support the development of the industrial, export and human resource sectors in Yangon Region and Myanmar.

According to the Yangon Project Bank, the project will be built on 558 acres and focus on production of goods for export. With an estimated cost of US$110 million (166.2 billion kyats), it is expected to include small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as heavy industry and a vocational school. Around 200 Korean companies are expected to invest in the production facilities, which will generate a projected $10 million in taxes annually. A map showing the location of the proposed Korea- Myanmar Industrial Complex / KMIC website

In 2017, the Korea Land & Housing Corporation (LH) and Myanmar’s Ministry of Construction signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) for the project, which was approved by the Myanmar Investment Commission in February 2019.

The ﬁrst feasibility study for the project was completed in 2015 and the Myanmar government approved LH’s letter of intent the following year. The idea for the complex came about after the Joint Committee on Economic Cooperation of Myanmar and South Korea agreed to boost trade between the two countries in June 2013.

Myanmar’s Parliament last year gave the green light to seek $61.8 million in loans from the EXIM Bank of Korea for three infrastructure projects in support of KMIC: the upgrading of a highway; a power plant; and a new water supply channel. The infrastructure projects will start this year and are expected to be ﬁnished in 2021.

Yangon Project Bank said the entire infrastructure project is expected to be complete by 2023.

The Yangon regional government has been drumming up investment for international- standard industrial zones in 11 townships with the aim of boosting development and job opportunities for local people, as well as reducing overcrowding and traﬃc congestion in the metropolitan area.

At the Yangon Investment Forum 2019 in May, the Yangon regional government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a consortium of Hong Kong and Taiwan companies to develop a $500-million international-standard industrial zone on more than 1,000 acres in Htantabin Township in the west of Yangon.