Agricultural Land in the GMS (thousand hectare) in ... - GMS-EOC

WaterwaysRiver basins are the backbones of social andeconomic development. Inland waterway transportcontributes to sustainable development becauseit is safe, efficient, reliable, and environmentallyfriendly. The region’s inland waterways play a specialrole in the economic development of remote ruralareas and in the welfare of their inhabitants, whoare usually among the lowest of low-income groupsin the region. In the absence of inland waterwaytransport, many remote underprivileged communitieswould be inaccessible or too costly to service.Growing freight demand points to the needto increase the capacity and quality of inlandwaterway transport. Cooperation between riverbasins and exchange of experiences createmutual benefit and there is scope for both publicand private parties to increase cooperation andfurther develop the inland navigation system.Deep Sea PortsPorts for international trade are particularlyimportant in several GMS countries. Cambodiahas two major ports, Phnom Penh Port andSihanoukville Port, also known as KampongSom, and five minor ones. Guangxi has threeharbors, in Fangcheng, Qinzhou, and Beihai,respectively, that have an annual throughputcapacity of more than 20 million tons.90% of the country’s exports and virtuallyall imports. The Government has started toconstruct the Kyaukphyu deep sea port andDawei-Nyaw Byin international deep sea port,which will give access to huge volumes ofcargo handling toward various destinations inEurope, ASEAN, and South Asian countries.Upper: Saigon River Port, Ho Chi MinhCity, Viet Nam. Lower: Loading Chineseboats at Chiang Saen, Thailand.Myanmar, with its extensive coastline of 2,832kilometers, has nine ports connecting theBay of Bengal. Of these, four ports—Yangon,Sittwe, Pathein, and Mawlamyine—are suitablefor international maritime transport. YangonPort is the premier port and handles aboutThailand’s largest and one of Asia’s leadingdeep sea ports is located at Laem Chabang, onthe east side of the Gulf of Thailand. Secondin importance is Bangkok and there are minorports along the southwestern isthmus, bothin the gulf and facing the Andaman Sea.Transport 221