Nov 30, 2009 (AFP), A Singaporean marine engineering company has signed a multimillion dollar contract with a Burmese firm, and will lay gas pipelines off the shores of the military-ruled nation next year.

Singapore-based firm Swiber Holdings will construct 150 kilometres of gas pipelines after signing a $US77 million contract with "a Myanmar [Burmese] oil and gas company," the company said in a statement Friday.

The statement did not give the name of the Burmese company involved. The project will start in the first quarter of 2010 and will last six months, it added.

"We are honoured and excited to kick-start the offshore installation job in Myanmar," said Raymond Goh, group chief executive officer of Swiber Holdings.

The agreement comes as foreign investment in military-ruled nation soared more than fivefold to reach almost one billion dollars last year, official statistics showed.

Total foreign investment in Burma increased from $US172.72 million in the 2007-2008 fiscal year to $US985 million in 2008-2009, the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development said earlier this year.

Burma has been ruled by the military since 1962, and sanctions by the United States and Europe coupled with fiscal mismanagement during decades of military rule have battered its economy.