Adani Ports scraps plan to develop container terminal in Myanmar

On Wednesday, India's Adani Ports said it was dropping plans to develop a container terminal in Myanmar, weeks after applying for a US licence for the project, saying it thought it did not violate permissions. A military coup in Myanmar in February and an ensuing crackdown on mass protests in which hundreds have been killed has brought international condemnation and permissions on military figures and military-controlled entities. In a statement, Adani said that the firm's risk management committee, after a review of the situation, has chosen to work on a project on exiting the firm's investment in Myanmar comprising exploring any divestment opportunities. The firm is likely to exit the investment completely in the strife-torn South Asian country between March and June 2022, it said. In August it had urged the United States' Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for a licence to run the Myanmar container terminal. Adani had said in May that it would drop a Myanmar container terminal project and write down the investment if found to be in breach of U.S. sanctions. The firm had invested $127 million, involving a $90 million upfront payment for leasing land, it said in May, adding a write-down would not have a material influence since the project accounts for only around 1.3% of the firm's total assets. Last year, Adani won the proposal to develop and run Yangon International Terminal, which it said is an independent project wholly owned and generated by the firm. A March report issued by two rights groups indicated documents purporting to reveal that an Adani unit would pay up to $30 million in land lease fees for the project to the Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC), one of two military-controlled conglomerates under US sanctions. Image SourceAlso read: APM Terminals to partner with Wan Hai Lines for container terminal bid