Myanmar to Start $2.5 Billion Yangon Station Revamp by Mid-Year

(Bloomberg) -- Myanmar said a planned $2.5 billion redevelopment of the six-decade-old railway station in Yangon will get underway around June once contract negotiations are completed.

Talks with the preferred bidder for the revamp of the 25.7 hectare (63.5 acre) site in the commercial capital will take about two months, U Win Khant, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, said in an interview.

"This massive project will be a landmark for Yangon," he said Thursday. "The political will is to complete it correctly and as quickly as possible."

Myanmar last month selected a consortium comprised of local developer Min Dhama Co., Singapore’s Oxley Holdings Ltd. and China’s Sino Great Wall Co. as the preferred bidder for the redevelopment. It’s the biggest construction project under Aung San Suu Kyi’s government, according to U Win Khant.

Suu Kyi’s administration in recent months faced international condemnation over the Rohingya refugee crisis. Still, Asian companies are continuing to invest in one of the region’s fastest-growing economies, even as outrage in the West over the crisis complicates similar decisions for U.S. and European firms.

The government’s goal is to preserve the colonial railway station while adding a futuristic new one as well as residential and commercial real estate. Construction is expected to take about eight years, according to the consortium.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kyaw Thu in Bangkok at kthu1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sunil Jagtiani at sjagtiani@bloomberg.net, Shamim Adam

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