Thailand will sign a US$1.7 billion deal to develop the first phase of the long-delayed Dawei Industrial Zone in southeastern Myanmar next week, Thailand's secretary-general of the state planning agency said on Wednesday according to a report by Reuters on 29 July.
The project is arguably Southeast Asia's most ambitious industrial zone - a 250-sq-km (100-sq-mile) deep-sea port, petrochemical, and heavy industry hub along the slim Thai-Myanmar peninsula.
The signing will take place in Naypyidaw next Wednesday between Japan, Thailand and Myanmar, Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, secretary-general of the National Economic and Social Development Board, told reporters.
The project's first phase is set to include a 27-square-km industrial estate and will begin with construction of a 138-km (86 mile) road from Dawei to Kanchanaburi province, 119 km northwest of Bangkok.