Expecting an influx of tourists and foreign businesses, Myanmar's
government is seeking private-sector partners to jointly develop Mandalay
International Airport into a logistics center.
Successful bidders for the
public-private project will work with domestic authorities to upgrade and
operate the airport, which serves Myanmar's second-largest city and is one of
three international airports in the country—the other two being in Yangon, the
commercial center and largest city, and Naypyitaw, the ready-made capital.
The work would include improving
and expanding the terminal building and other facilities, as well as managing
passenger and cargo operations, ground-handling and catering services, and
maintenance, Myanmar's department of civil aviation said in a statement last
week. It didn't estimate the cost or offer a schedule for the project, which
would involve private-sector financing.
Interested foreign or domestic
companies have until Oct. 15 to submit applications to prequalify for the tender.
The aviation regulator expects to officially invite bids from the approved
companies in November.
As it turns the page on decades
of military rule, Myanmar's new, nominally civilian government is trying to
prepare the impoverished Southeast Asian state for growing numbers of travelers
as its global profile rises. Since taking power last year it has embarked on an
overhaul to expand freedoms and modernize the economy, with measures that have
included floating the currency, easing constraints on the media and freeing
political prisoners. Western nations have responded by easing sanctions.
But Myanmar's infrastructure
remains one of Asia's least-developed. According to the Asian Development Bank,
its road density is 40 kilometers per 1,000 square kilometers—trailing
neighboring Vietnam (480 kilometers), Thailand (350 kilometers) and even Laos
(60 kilometers). And only 20% of Myanmar's roads are paved to all-weather
standards.
The government has yet to
announce any major infrastructure development program, but analysts say foreign
capital will likely be needed to kick-start any such development, given its
immature capital markets.
Air traffic into Myanmar has been
growing since even before the country took on its current reformist streak.
International air passenger traffic totaled about 1.24 million in 2010, up from
about 733,100 in 2005, according to official data. In the first seven months of
2011, Myanmar logged about 847,000 international air travelers.
This trend has already prompted
Myanmar's aviation regulator in July to invite investors to help construct a
second airport for Yangon—the new Hanthawaddy International
Mandalay International Airport,
which opened in 2000, can handle about three million passengers a year, the
current Yangon airport about 2.7 million and Naypyitaw International Airport,
which opened in December, about five million.
Under Myanmar law, foreign
participants in the Mandalay airport project would need to secure local
partners, though it remains unclear whether they would be able to take majority
control. Myanmar's parliament this month passed legislation limiting foreign
ownership in some sensitive sectors to 50%, but President Thein Sein hasn't signed
it into force and speculation has been mounting that it will be amended.
As of Sept. 13, a total 30
companies had applied to participate in the Hanthawaddy project tender,
according to Myanmar's civil-aviation department. All but two are foreign, from
more than a dozen countries including China, Singapore, Germany, India, Japan,
South Korea, Malaysia and the U.S.
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