Thai firm wins paper mill tender

A Thai company has won a tender to produce paper in Myanmar, with the prospect of more employment for local bamboo farmers who will supply it, the industry ministry has announced. The Double A company has won the tender to run the Thapaung paper mill, Myanmar’s biggest, which employs more than 1800 workers, the ministry announced on November 13.

Farmers in Ayeyarwady Region, where the factory is located, will have more job opportunities due to a plan to grow bamboo under a contract farming system in the 30-year project, said deputy minister U Than Aung.

Double A was selected from four international applicants because its bid offered the best employment and environmental aspects. It will pay US$2 million a year rent, to be raised 5 percent every two years, with a rental exemption term of three months, and will invest $300 million to build a new factory producing 300,000 tonnes of paper a year.

“The price of paper in Myanmar will fall because it is locally produced and the office stationery market will expand,” said U Zaw Lwin of Double A, adding that production would begin in six months’ time.

source: The Myanmar Times

http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/business/8787-thai-firm-wins-paper-mill-tender.html