SEOUL: South Korea cooperation in six ongoing highway projects, which includes the $1.9 billion, 460 kilometer Mandalay-Myitkyina Expressway and the $2 billion, 811 km Pathein-Monywa-Shwebo Road. There are also opportunities for the private sector to contribute to highway upgrading and bridge construction. U Min Min Oo, Assistant Secretary at the MOEE, said investments across the entire Myanmar oil and gas supply chain are needed. Notably, construction of new power generation plants, particularly from liquefied natural gas and renewable energy, is in demand, “We have so many opportunities for South Korea to invest in the energy sector, such as in power generation, transmission and distribution. The Koreans are expanding in Myanmar just as other Asian countries such as China, Singapore and Japan are channeling more FDI into the country. “Competition for projects from other countries is heating up but we believe South Korea has a special relationship with Myanmar that has yielded long term opportunities for our firms in the past,” Mr Kim said.
For example, South Korean oil and gas company Posco Daewoo has been producing gas at the Shwe offshore gas field in Myanmar since early 2000 and also obtained rights to use prime land near Inya Lank in Yangon for the five-star Lotte Hotel over the next 70 years. When the rights were obtained in 2012, it marked the first long-time deal for a foreign company in Myanmar. South Korea is eyeing expansion opportunities in manufacturing and infrastructure in Myanmar. At the Myanmar-Korea Investment Promotion Seminar in Yangon on Thursday, a delegation of 13 South Korean countries met with officials from the Ministry of Transport and Communication and Ministry of Electricity and Energy (MOEE), seeking opportunities to invest in the two sectors. We selected the most promising South Korean manufacturing and infrastructure companies to explore investment opportunities in Myanmar, where the government is also focused on developing these two sectors.