Garments Sector Poised to Boom in Pathein
Garments Sector Poised to Boom in Pathein
Frontier Myanmar, 02 Jan 2019
URL: https://frontiermyanmar.net/en/garments-sector-poised-to-boom-in-pathein
Chinese investors have big plans for garment production at several industrial parks near the river port city of Pathein in western Ayeyarwady Region.
The garment industry seems poised to boom in Ayeyarwady Region, with a company developing an industrial park near Pathein signing a contract with a Chinese firm that plans to build 50 garment factories within two years.
The new factories would dramatically expand the town’s nascent manufacturing sector, which has for several years been attracting interest from local developers keen to set up industrial parks.
The Ayeyarwady Development Public Co Ltd said it has signed the contract with Hong Kong-based China Textile City Network Co Ltd. It’s the first commercial agreement ADPC has signed since it began preliminary work six years ago on Pathein Industrial City, which covers nearly 3,000 acres (about 1,200 hectares) on a site next to the Pathein River in the regional capital.
ADPC was established by Yangon-based conglomerate Ayeyar Hinthar in 2012 to develop the industrial park, which received Myanmar Investment Commission approval in late 2016.
ADPC vice-chairman Ko Ne Ne Hlwan Moe said the company had begun conducting feasibility studies and buying land for the industrial park in 2012, after then President U Thein Sein encouraged the idea during a meeting with the company in Nay Pyi Taw.
ADPC was negotiating with another two foreign companies that wanted to establish an electric-motorbike factory and a gas-fired power plant on 100 acres at the park. The power plant is designed to provide power for the park and to help attract further investments.
Ne Ne Hlwan Moe said ADPC was also about to sign an agreement with a foreign company that he declined to name to build a port and jetty to support the logistical needs of the industrial park.
ADPC hoped that the port and jetty would be built in a year and until then garments would be transported by road from Pathein to Yangon, he said.
The company had acquired 80 percent of the project area, 2,700 acres, at market prices, and was implementing the first phase of the park on 1,200 acres, Ne Ne Hlwan Moe said. It is still seeking to purchase the remaining 20 percent of land for the planned industrial park.
Infrastructure work on the first phase was about 80 percent complete and “will be completely finished in 2020”, he said.
Pathein’s location had a big influence on the decision to develop the industrial park.
The factories planned to export to South Korea, Japan and Europe, he said. While Yangon is the centre of garment production in Myanmar, he said Pathein possessed a number of advantages, including land prices less than half those in Yangon and the ability to ship directly to Singapore via the town’s port.
Ne Ne Hlwan Moe said that when the agreement with China Textile City Network is fully implemented in two years about 200,000 jobs would have been created.
“The region is attracting labour-intensive businesses because of low-cost and abundant labour here,” he said.
Unlike Yangon, garment factory workers at Pathein speak of harmonious relations with Chinese bosses.
The garment industry seems poised to boom in Ayeyarwady Region, with a company developing an industrial park near Pathein signing a contract with a Chinese firm that plans to build 50 garment factories within two years.
The new factories would dramatically expand the town’s nascent manufacturing sector, which has for several years been attracting interest from local developers keen to set up industrial parks.
The Ayeyarwady Development Public Co Ltd said it has signed the contract with Hong Kong-based China Textile City Network Co Ltd. It’s the first commercial agreement ADPC has signed since it began preliminary work six years ago on Pathein Industrial City, which covers nearly 3,000 acres (about 1,200 hectares) on a site next to the Pathein River in the regional capital.
ADPC was established by Yangon-based conglomerate Ayeyar Hinthar in 2012 to develop the industrial park, which received Myanmar Investment Commission approval in late 2016.
ADPC vice-chairman Ko Ne Ne Hlwan Moe said the company had begun conducting feasibility studies and buying land for the industrial park in 2012, after then President U Thein Sein encouraged the idea during a meeting with the company in Nay Pyi Taw.
ADPC was negotiating with another two foreign companies that wanted to establish an electric-motorbike factory and a gas-fired power plant on 100 acres at the park. The power plant is designed to provide power for the park and to help attract further investments.
Ne Ne Hlwan Moe said ADPC was also about to sign an agreement with a foreign company that he declined to name to build a port and jetty to support the logistical needs of the industrial park.
ADPC hoped that the port and jetty would be built in a year and until then garments would be transported by road from Pathein to Yangon, he said.
The company had acquired 80 percent of the project area, 2,700 acres, at market prices, and was implementing the first phase of the park on 1,200 acres, Ne Ne Hlwan Moe said. It is still seeking to purchase the remaining 20 percent of land for the planned industrial park.
Infrastructure work on the first phase was about 80 percent complete and “will be completely finished in 2020”, he said.
Pathein’s location had a big influence on the decision to develop the industrial park.
The factories planned to export to South Korea, Japan and Europe, he said. While Yangon is the centre of garment production in Myanmar, he said Pathein possessed a number of advantages, including land prices less than half those in Yangon and the ability to ship directly to Singapore via the town’s port.
Ne Ne Hlwan Moe said that when the agreement with China Textile City Network is fully implemented in two years about 200,000 jobs would have been created.
“The region is attracting labour-intensive businesses because of low-cost and abundant labour here,” he said.
Unlike Yangon, garment factory workers at Pathein speak of harmonious relations with Chinese bosses.