MYANMAR

Several significant projects are under development along the China-Myanmar Economic Corridor. In 2012-13, the government of Myanmar initiated preliminary feasibility studies and site surveys for the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project and a consortium led by CITIC , a PCR state-owned investment group, won the tender to develop the deep seaport and SEZ. In 2018, the management committee of the SEZ and CITIC group signed a framework agreement to implement the project with two terminals under construction. The area is already an entry point for two 770 km pipelines that began transporting oil and natural gas through Myanmar to China’s Yunnan province in 2013.

A plan to build a railway connecting Ruili, China, with Kyaukphyu, Myanmar, dates to 2011. The project was suspended in 2014 because of public opposition. In October 2018, China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group (CREEG) and Myanmar Railways agreed to conduct a new feasibility study, funded by CREEG, for a 431 km line from Muse to Mandalay. The proposed line had 36 stations passing through 11 townships, with an estimated cost of $7 billion.126