Feasibility test for an oil refinery, which can produce eight million tons of oil in a year, in Dawei SEZ is delayed due to COVID-19 pandemic, said Dr Tin Htoo Nanig, Secretary of Dawei SEZ Management Committee on October 13.

“A Chinese company is conducting a feasibility test and it was expected to finish in the middle of this month but they cannot come. So they made contact with some organizations to conduct feasibility tests for them. After that, they will ask permission from us. They will analyze whether the project is beneficial or not and whether they can meet the market demand and labour availability or not. They will think of environmental and social impacts. We will make negotiations after that,” he said.

“They will ask permission to conduct a feasibility test but it means we are not allowed to do the project. We will see whether it will be beneficial for the country or not. Some companies from Hong Kong, Japan and western countries will conduct the feasibility tests also. Locals, the regional government and union government will make a negotiation for the project and the decision to do the project will not be made quickly,” he said.

A delegation from Myanmar Chemical & Machinery Co. Ltd. met with Dr Tun Naing, Deputy Minister for Electricity and Energy and Chairman of Dawei SEZ Management Committee on August 19 to do the projects in the SEZ.

They discussed the availability of land and water for the 8MMTA Refinery project and the requirements to conduct feasibility tests.