A DEVELOPMENT at Myawaddy, a border town in southeastern Kayin State opposite the Thai town of Mae Sot, is gaining pace in its drive to become a formal trade zone, said developers involved in the project.

Five construction companies have been developing the area since September 2006, aiming squarely at attracting importers and exporters in the Thai-Myanmar border area.

“About 50 percent of the two-storey shop houses developed so far are already sold,” said U Cho Gyi Myint, assistant manager of Eden Group of Companies Ltd, one of the five developers charged with building the trade zone’s infrastructure.

He said there is the potential to extend the zone in the future too.
Shop houses are favoured by buyers because they offer business possibilities and a place to live.

Meanwhile, Shwe Wah Myay Construction has sold four shop house units among 16 developed units said Daw San San Myint, manager with Shwe Wah Myay adding that the company will develop a total of 40 shop house units.
She said various companies, but mostly exporters and importers, came and enquired about shop houses.

The shop houses are 13 to 25 feet wide and 50 feet deep. Selling prices range from K25-45 million.

Daw San San Myint said buyers have to put half the purchase cost down on the day of signing the contract and settle the remainder within 45 days.

U Cho Gyi Myint said the Eden Group is still considering a payments system. He said developers had to arrange for water and power supply and would install necessary equipment, such as transformers, to connect to the national grid.

Asia World, MaxMyanmar and Ever Green are the other three companies developing the trade zone.

The zone is being developed 10km outside Myawaddy on raw land adjacent to the Myawaddy-Mawlamyine road, which will become part of the Asia Main Road Part 1.

Myawaddy has flourished as a border trade post like Muse in northern Shan State but it has not yet attained the official status of a formal trade zone.

The Myawaddy Economic Zone, which is part of the memorandum of understanding signed between Myanmar and Thailand in December 2005, includes the development of a formal trade zone.

The establishment of special economic zones in Mawlamyine and Hpa-an are also part of the MOU.