Economists have claimed that General Min Aung Hlaing's plan to build an international airport and an international-class port in Mawlamyine, Mon State, is impossible to implement in practice.
The military leader, Min Aung Hlaing, spoke at a meeting with businessmen from small and medium-sized enterprises held at the State Hall in Mawlamyine on October 18 that he is planning to build an international airport and an international port in Mawlamyine in order to promote tourism and the flow of goods by air.
However, the military leader did not say anything about how the project would be implemented or the time frame of the project.
According to an economist, the project will not be beneficial to the economy and will not be easy to implement due to the political instability following the coup and the lack of a specific economic policy.
In addition, if the projects are to be implemented, the country's economic recovery must be prioritized, and without domestic and foreign investments, efforts to implement such large projects will be futile, he added.
Another businessman also criticized that this project would be economically unfeasible if companies were to take over the project, and under the current situation, it would be more impossible if it were to be done with the national budget.
The international airport and an international-class port are planned to be built on more than 4,600 acres of land in Mawlamyine, and the authorities are preparing to confiscate land for the project and provide land compensation.
The Mon State’s military council has allocated land to build an international-class airport near Kawtparan village, Mudon Township, and an international port between Balauk Nyaung Wyne and Wekali village, near the sea outlet of Mudong Township.
On July 11, the Mon State Hluttaw Representative Committee declared that the military council's plan was only a dictatorial effort for a handful of individuals and that it was illegal to seize, sell, or handover their land because it was not an official government.
