The Myanmar ministry of railways (MOR) has shortlisted 24 consortia for the development of the Yangon Central Railways station through a PPP project.

According to local sources, among the shortlisted companies are:

• Japan's Mitsubishi Corp.,
• South Korea's Lotte Group,
• China's Yunnan Construction Engineering Group,
• Qatar's Ooredoo group, and
• Local contractor Shwe Than Lwin group.

The project will be located in a 250,000 m² area around Yangon Central Railway Station, which was built in the early 1950s. The project involves the upgrade of the railway station. The station will have commercial facilities and a hotel.

The project will be developed on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis.

The total project investment is estimated at US$2.5 billion.

New business opportunities are expected in the region. MOR has plans to update, among others, an existing rail line stretching 600 km from Yangon to Mandalay, and a 48 km Circular Railway around downtown Yangon.

Burma, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, is one of the poorest nations in Southeast Asia, suffering from decades of stagnation, mismanagement and isolation. Foreign investment comes primarily from China, Singapore, the Philippines, South Korea, India, and Thailand.