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The Ministry of Construction of the Government of Myanmar has published an Invitation to Pre-Qualify for the Yangon Elevated Expressway PPP Project Phase 1, the country's first greenfield road PPP project.

The Ministry is seeking a private partner to undertake the design, engineering, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of the first phase of an elevated four-lane tolled expressway in Yangon, the largest city in the country, located on the south coast.

A Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEOI) published in May detailed plans for a 47.5km expressway that will connect Downtown Yangon, Yangon Port, Yangon International Airport, Mingalardon Industrial Park and the Yangon-Mandalay Expressway. 

This RFQ concerns the first 27km phase of the expressway. The exact route has not been made available to the public.

The pre-qualification application submission deadline is 30 October 2018. Pre-qualification is open to all interested parties, both local and foreign, and parties are invited to form consortia. Only pre-qualified bidders will be invited to submit a proposals for the project.

It is likely that the tender will be highly competitive. The Ministry disclosed in July that it had received 53 responses to the RFEOI. Sixteen of the respondents were from Myanmar, thirteen were from China, seven from Japan, three from both India and Korea, and the remaining eleven were nearly all from other Asian countries, besides Europe's sole representative, VINCI Highways.

In January, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, signed an advisory services agreement to support the Myanmar government in tendering and implementing the project. The corporation initially aimed to award the contract in early 2019, but that was before the decision to tender the expressway in phases.

The IFC has estimated that the total investment required for the entire 47.5km is between US$350 million and US$400 million. The Ministry of Construction has not yet disclosed its official estimate.