Myanmar moves step closer to new bids on China-backed belt and road project

Name: Explained: the history of China’s territorial disputes
Uploaded: 2020-09-08T12:54:51.000Z
Duration: 6 min 24 s
Description: Explained: the history of China’s territorial disputes

Myanmar has opened the door for new bids against China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) for construction of the New Yangon City project

The so-called Swiss challenge will be an opportunity for Myanmar to demonstrate transparency and comes after CCCC was blacklisted by the US last month

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and Myanmar President Win Myint at a welcome ceremony at the presidential palace in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, in January. Photo: Reuters

Su-Lin Tan

Published: 8:54pm, 8 Sep 2020Updated: 10:51pm, 8 Sep 2020

Myanmar is a step closer to allowing companies to challenge a bid from China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) to build the behemoth New Yangon City project, after hiring German consulting firm Roland Berger to oversee the tendering process.

The so-called Swiss challenge will give the Southeast Asian nation the opportunity to demonstrate transparency in its public procurement, an important signal to investors given the sanctions it has faced over the military crackdown of Rohingya in 2017.

The process will also see Myanmar walk a tightrope between China and the United States, while balancing its needs for foreign investment with the risk of working with CCCC, which was recently blacklisted by the US for its work in the disputed South China Sea, analysts and consultants said.

The Swiss challenge could prove to be an escape clause for Myanmar to hit all these goals simultaneously, they added.

06:24

Explained: the history of China’s territorial disputes

In 2018, Myanmar allowed CCCC to draw up a proposal to build the first phase of the US$1.5 billion public-private New Yangon City project, a new city near the nation’s capital that will include infrastructure such as power plants, bridges, roads and water treatment plants.