THE projected US$290 million Adani Yangon International Terminal in Burma's Ahlone township by the Yangon River is expected to open in a year's time able to handle 100,000 TEU a year, reports the Myanmar Times.

The company, a unit of the Ahmedabad-based Indian conglomerate, is registered in Myanmar and incorporated in Singapore, and has received approval from the Myanmar Investment Commission to develop, operate and maintain the Ahlone International Port Terminal (2) (AIPT) under a 50-year build, operate and transfer agreement.



AIPT (2) will be developed across 50 acres of land owned by Myanmar Economic Corporation, which is currently operating AIPT (1). The company will enjoy income tax incentives for the first three years of operations, said Daw Mya Sandar, director of Directorate of Investment and Company Administration (DICA).



Construction of the green field project is expected to begin in September. Phase 1 of development will involve enough capacity to handle between 100,000 and 150,000 TEU when completed in 12 months.



Phase 2, which will take an additional six months to construct, is expected to take the port's total capacity to a maximum of 800,000 TEU.



The Yangon River has a draft of nine metres, allowing for vessels of 167 metre in length and 15,000 tonnes. This includes containerships of between 1,100 TEU and 1,500 TEU.



When completed, Adani Myanmar's new terminal will be able to handle containerships of this size, said Adani Myanmar CEO Sunil Seth.



'Our focus will be on bringing modern technologies that will raise productivity and shorten the turnaround time,' he said.



AIPT (2) will be part of Yangon Port cluster on Strand Road in downtown Yangon, which includes Asia World Port Terminal and Myanmar Industrial Port. A separate deep-river multi-purpose container port, Myanmar International Terminals Thilawa, is located south of Yangon, adjacent to the Thilawa Special Economic Zone. These ports handle about 90pc of the country's exports and imports.



'Total container throughput in Myanmar is currently 1.2 million TEU but we are looking at GDP growth of around 6.5 per cent, which will take the market to two million TEU within the next four to five years. Hence, we feel there is room for more players in this industry,' said Mr Seth.



The Adani Group is a $10 billion, privately owned Indian company focused on power generation, logistics and ports. The company has built 10 ports in India.


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