Statement by HE U Tint Swe,

Deputy Minister for

the Ministry of Construction of the Union of Myanmar
At The Ministerial Conference on Public Private PaI1icipation for
Infrnstructure Development in Asia and the Pacific
2-5 October 2007, Seoul, Republic of Korea

D Mr. Chairman, Honourable Ministers, Excellencies,Distinguished Representatives,

Ladies and Gentlemen.

.It is indeed an honor for me to have this opportunity of speaking at the Ministerial
Conference on Public Private Participation for Infrastructure Development in Asia and
the Pacific.

I First of all, on behalf of the Government of the Union of Myanmar, I would like to
present the transport related activities in Myanmar toward achieving a harmonized,
coordinated and integrated regional transport system through broad based strategy such
as:, infrastructure development; promotion of competitive transport services, improving
transport safety and environment and finally promotion of grater private sector
participation.

I Concerning with the National Transport Policies of Myanmar, priority is given to the
developmentof all regions including border areas to promote contact and friendship,
and for reconsolidation of national races, and also to facilitate and promote economic
activities, particularly trade and tourism between Myanmar and other countries. Private
sector participation is also encouraged for further development of transportation
linkages under interq,ational cooperation frameworks. i.e-Asian, ASEAN, GMS,
ACMECS, BIMSTEC etc.

.Although thetransportsector in Myanmar consists of four modes (rail, road, river, and
air) road transport is the dominant mode of transportation.Roads also play an
important role in rural areas where they support agriculture and tourism and enable
the rural population to gain accessto markets and essentialservices.Roads are the
key element of the basic infrastructure which makes up the enabling environmentto
support our regional and international trade and commerce.

.Most of the roads in former days run north to south, with east-west links restricted by
the high mountain ranges and wide rivers running north to south in Myanmar. Since
 the late eighties many new roads and new bridges were constructedor put under
constructionpassing over mountain ranges and crossing the major rivers as laid down
in the National Road Network for balancednational developmentfor all ethnic groups
and regions.

.Regarding international road linkages there are 4 ASIAN Highways passing through
Myanmar, in the Asian Highway Network whichhas 32 member countries, starting
ffom Tokyo, Japan to the border of Turkey and Bulgaria, linking to the European
Road Network (E-road). The said (4) ASIAN Highways AHI, AH2, AH3 and AH14
in Myanmar link to the neighboring countries China, India and Thailand and provide
access to Yangon Port, They are an important bridge between South and South-East
Asia. Myanmar is working to maintain and upgrade the main load network including
Asian Highways out of our national budget and private sector participation.

The sectional lengths of about I 780km, out of 3003km length (say about 60%) of
ASIAN Highways Network in Myanmar has been upgraded to two lane, with a
modest Class III Design Standard of ASIAN Highway Classification with our won
resources and private sector participation. But some of the roads in the National Road
Network are still earth roads or gravel roads because of budget constraints especially
the foreign exchange component for purchase of fuel, bitumen and steel and therefore
still needed upgrading and new construction.

I Concerning with the development of rail transport sector, more than 1000miles of new
roads (1976 route miles in 1988 to 3042 miles in 2005) had been constructed during
the last twenty years. There are (3) missing international rail links in Myanmar near
the borders with India, China and Thailand a s parts of Trans Asian Railways
(TARs) Network and spur lines of Singapore Kunming Rail Link (SKRL) respectively.
Feasibility study for the missing spur rail link of about (llO)km near to the border of
Thailand was conducted by grant aid of the Korean Government. Pre-Feasibility Study
for the missing link of about (127)km near to the border of India and the missing
link of about (232),km near to the border of China has been conducted by India and
China respectively.

I Regarding to the development in Aviation sector, (7) new airports had been
constructed and (21 )existing airports had been upgraded to accommodatelarger aircraft.
Bilateral Air Transport Agreements with all GMS countries and Multilateral Air
Service Agreements among CLMV countries had been discussed for further
development.

I In ports sector, all of the existing ports in Myanmar including Yangon Port are river
ports and not deep enough for large conventional vessels and container vessels.
Myanmar side had requested ADB to conduct feasibility Study for the development of
 a deep water sea port to service traffic from Thailand, as well as to and from otherparts
of the Greater Mekong Sub-region. Four Potential locations have been identified
Kyaukpyu on the western coast and Kalegauk, Dawei and Bokpyin along the coast of
Myanmar on Andaman sea.

I Excellencies, Distinguished Representatives, Ladies and Gentlemen.

I The overview of the above mentioned situation highlights the fact that Myanmar
places great emphasis on basic infrastructure development in the transport sector
within the country. On the other hand, realizing that economic development is closely
linked to the availability of efficient transport and logistics, Myanmar is participating
in regional measures to develop transport infrastructures.

I In spite of the huge sums of yearly budget allotments spent on the road sector it is
still not adequate to undertake new construction and the necessary maintenance works
on these roads. In order to augment the required funds and lighten the burden on the
public sector, the Government has adopted the road privatization scheme.

.Excellencies, Distinguished Representatives,Ladies and Gentlemen.

I Privatization had been already introduces for road infrastructure development in

Myanmar since 1997 with the implementation of privatized toll systems on roads of
the national highways network. As a start, a build, operate and transfer (BOT) schene
was successfully implemented on the Mandalay-Lachio-Muse road, with a leasing
period for 30 years. Highways privatization and tolling of roads/bridges not only
raises funds from the private sector, but also has additional attractiveness such as
improved efficiency in highway usage and maintenance and quality of highway
services. It is effective financing and imposes less burden on the Government.

With regard to private sector participation in transportation,although the Ministry of

Constructionhas no Public-Private Partnershipin the road sector is has privatized five
major highways of about 1380 krn for construction, improvementand maintenanceto
seven local entrepreneurson B.O.T. basis (build, operate and transfer as well as
maintain, operate and transfer). And another 6 roads of about 780krn will be
contracted on the same basis.

The process of privatizing 82 major and minor roads of about 4590km to local
entrepreneurs on M.O.T. basis is now underway.

I A Concrete Prestressed Sleeper Factory, by a Chinese company on B.O.T. basis is the

only private sector participation with the Ministry of Rail Transportation.
 The Ministry of Transport has joint ventures with local and overseas airlines such as
Myanmar Airway lntenational (MAl), Air Bagan, Air Mandalay and Yangon Airways
in the air transport sector.

There are 12 wharves in the port area of Yangon invested and operated by the (5)
local and Foreign entrepreneurs in the Ministry of Transport. A feasibility study
should be commissioned to access the deep sea port options on the Andaman coast
and on the western coast of Myanmar and their potentia1and viability.

The study shall examine not only the port infrastructure,facilities and availability of
hinterland but also the potential Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for investmentby
Public Private Partnership.Myanmar is also drafting the Special Economic Zones
Law that will allow PublicPrivate Partnership.Myanmar is also drafting the Special
Economic Zones Law that will allow Public-Private Partnershipin infrastructure
development.

I Excellencies, Distinguished Representatives, Ladies and Gentlemen.

.One of the four economic objectives in Myanmar is development of the economy

inviting participation in terms of technical know-how and investments from sources
inside the country and abroad.

I In accordance with this objective, the Government of Myanmar introduced Foreign

Investment Law, Procedures and Types of Economic Activities allowed for Foreign
Investment in February 1998. I have already handed over a copy of the law to the
secretariat of PPP.

The intention of the law is to promote, facilitate and guide private sector participation
for all round developmentof the national economy.

.Furthermore, proposals for economic activities submitted by the private entrepreneurs

will be considered'individually by the Union of Myanmar Foreign Investment
Commission.

.May I also inform you that looking to the near future I am confident thaty
Myanmar's participation in international, regional and sub-regional organizations such
as the Asian Highway Network, ASEAN (Association of South East Asia Nations),
GMS (Greater Mekong Sub-region) and ACMECS (Ayeyawady, Chaophya, Mekong
Economic Cooperation Strategy) will make for better foreign direct investments
opportunities as the participant countries seek out and compete for better technology
and better alternative infrastructures.
I In conclusion, I was informed very recently that there are more than 100 Korean
Companies engaged in the industrial production sector in Myanmar with more than
1500 Korean national happily staying in Myanmar creating more than 30,000 jobs for
the local people.

I Thank you for your kind attention. Thank you.