The Ministry of Electricity and Energy has made it a priority to implement a new process by which to approve tender proposals from foreign companies for join venture of fuel sale businesses in Myanmar. They hope to streamline a process by the end of the year.
So far, only three companies have submitted proposals to the Ministry. The companies are from India, Indonesia and Singapore. In the process, if the tender proposals are not able to match with the rules and regulations set by the Ministry, a new tender will be called, according to the Ministry.
The Ministry called a tender for joint venture investment in fuel sale in the local market to control the market from wild fluctuations and to provide accessibility to quality fuel for the public. The selected company has to sell the fuel at the state-owned stations during a trial period, and then can extend stations based on market demand.
“There are many privately-owned fuel stations in Yangon. We have to do a trial period in the market to compete with them. So, we plan to sell fuel at the state-owned stations. Market prices will be competitive after launching the fuel stations, and people will get to buy fuel at a cheaper price,” said Myint Zaw, director of state-run Myanmar Petroleum Products Enterprise (MPPE) under the Ministry According to Zaw, there were four investment proposals in the beginning but a proposal from a Japanese company was rejected because it didn’t match with their rules and regulations. Now they are carefully scrutinising the other proposals.
Tender offers for joint venture fuel and petroleum product sales was introduced in 2015 and brought in 14 applicants, but only four of them submitted final proposals.
