Thilawa Special Economic Zone
About Thilawa Special Economic Zone
The Thilawa Special Economic Zone – located on the outskirts of Yangon – is the first Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to be built in Myanmar, and will be fully (commercially) operational within 2015. Inside Thilawa SEZ, (where) both (the) hard and soft infrastructure – from roads and utilities to supporting services such as maintenance – will be developed up to the international standard. It is located at 14 miles (23 km) South-East of Yangon, which is the biggest commercial city of Myanmar. The construction of all the hard infrastructures inside the zone has commenced since November 2013. The required soft infrastructures are being build up to be in line with the international standards.
It will be the first international standard SEZ of Myanmar and is developed by a Myanmar-Japan joint venture company with the name of Myanmar Japan Thilawa Development Limited, where the Myanmar government, Japanese government, Myanmar private consortium and Japanese private consortium have stakes. The Myanmar government has 10% stakes through the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee (TSEZMC), the Japanese government also has 10% stakes through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Myanmar private consortium has 41% stakes through the Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public Limited, and Japanese private consortium has 29% stakes through MMS Thilawa Development Co., Ltd.
Role and Functions of the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee
The role of the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee is to ensure (a) that favorable, predictable and friendly investment climate is created (b) that investors in the Thilawa SEZ are responsible investors and (c) that the Thilawa SEZ would not pose any environmental threat to the surrounding areas and communities.
Hence, the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee plays the multiple roles as a facilitator, a coordinator, a regulator and a monitor. It also cooperates very closely with the Developer, the Myanmar Japan Thilawa Development Co., Ltd. (MJTD). The duties and responsibilities of the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee (Myanmar version) can be downloaded Here.
The investors or locators having any kind of difficulty during their business operation, are welcome to consult with the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee at the Industrail Park Center in the Thilawa SEZ. The online enquary system is also available through which any difficulty or complaint can be reported.
The One Stop Service Center under the Thilawa SEZ Management Committee is also ready to provide investors or locators with necessary licenses, permits and other services required. The investors or locators requiring any services are welcome to the Front Office of the One Stop Service Center. The onlie applications are also available for some services so that investors do not even need to come to the One Stop Service Center.
Investment Policy in Zone B
In Zone A, investors planning to locate in the Zone A of Thilawa SEZ (i.e. first phase) are scrutinized based on (9) priority factors that mainly include (a) number of employees (b) investment amount (c) level of exports (d) whether or not the technology is new to Myanmar (e) whether or not the investor is a reputable and transparent entity (f) investment per hectare (g) number of employee per hectare (h) level of water consumption and (i) level of electricity consumption. The quantitative assessment system ensures that each investor gets adequate level of weighted average points (that are calculated based on given priority factors) to be granted investment license.
As a result, many investors were granted license within a short time. These investors widely range from export-oriented investors to domestic market oriented investors, manufacturers, assemblers, packaging, service providers, and traders that are considered, through quantitative and qualitative assessments, that they would contribute towards development of respective economic sectors by providing technology and product that are new to Myanmar, that could substitute imports, and services that could facilitate investments, and are complimentary to existing and future investors.
The investment policy of the Thilawa Management Committee for the first phase of Zone B is to give more priority to labor-intensive industries and/or export-oriented industries. Out of these priority industries, the labor-intensive and export-oriented industries that require more inputs from industries outside the Thilawa SEZ (in other words, industries that will form stronger links with the firms outside the SEZ) will be given more weights. Quantitative and qualitative assessments will be adjusted accordingly so as to be in line with this investment policy and to increase the number of labor-intensive and export-oriented industries in the first phase of Zone B.
Thilawa SEZ Management Committee ensures to create a favorable, predictable and friendly investment climate by acting not only as the regulator of the Thilawa SEZ but also as an efficient facilitator and coordinator.
For detail information please visit https://www.myanmarthilawa.gov.mm/
