Thailand on Sunday urged visiting Myanmar President Thein Sein to back a 8.6 billion dollar deepsea port in southern Myanmar, to be built by a Thai construction firm. "Shipping time between Thailand and India could be cut in half," Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, chief of Thailand's economic development think tank - the National Economic and Social Development Board - told Thein Sein.
The Thai government invited Thein Sein to visit Laem Chabang port, 100 kilometres south-east of Bangkok, on the first day of his three-day visit to the kingdom in an effort to persuade him of the economic benefits of building a similar port in Dawei, previously called Tavoy, on Myanmar's south-eastern seacoast.
Laem Chabang is planned to be linked by road to the Dawei deep seaport and industrial estate, cutting transport time between central Thailand and Chennai port in India, from six to three days by avoiding the Malacca Straits, Arkhom said.
The 8.6-billion-dollar Dawei project is to be built by Thailand's Italian-Thai Development Company which won a 60 year concession to build and operate the port and industrial estate three years ago when Myanmar was still under junta rule. The future of the project is uncertain. Earlier this month the project's Myanmar partner Max Myanmar pulled out of the venture.