Bkk Post-Rangoon nod expected for r

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Subject: Bkk Post-Rangoon nod expected for road project

March 10, 1999
THAI-BURMESE RELATIONS
Rangoon nod expected for road project
Kanchanaburi and Tavoy to be linked

The Burmese government is expected to approve by the end of this month a
road project linking Kanchanaburi's Ban Bongti in Sai Yok district with
Burma's deep-sea port of Tavoy, according to the secretary-general of the
Industrial Council of Kanchanaburi.

Somphop Thirasant said approval had been delayed because the project needed
to be sanctioned by a plenary meeting of the 18-member Myanmar Investment
Committee (MIC) but the recent meetings were not attended by all members of
the MIC.

Mr Somphop said he had been told by Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, first secretary of
the State Peace and Development Council, that Burma would be able to tell
the council the date for the signing of the road construction project by the
end of this month.

Kanchanaburi-Tavoy Development Co, of which Mr Somphop is vice-chairman, has
a 30-year concession to build and operate the 110-km Bongti-Tavoy road worth
US$40 million from the Burmese government.

It is hoped Kanchanaburi would be transformed into a tourism hub of the
upper west after completion of the road, which would lead tourists into
Burma in just a few hours.