By Takaloo
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Sittwe: Transportation is being delayed on the Sittwe - Rangoon Highway, the most significant road in western Burma's Arakan State, because authorities have neglected to mend the road after damage from recent torrential rains, said an owner of a bus line on Monday.
"The road has been badly damaged by recent heavy rains, so we can not plan our buses' travel time for trips between Sittwe and Rangoon. Formerly it took just three days for a bus to drive down from Sittwe to Rangoon, but now it takes a week. This has caused a great hindrance not only to our transporting industries, but also to the public passengers," he told Narinjara on the condition of anonymity.
He said that the authorities are still ignoring road repairs even though they have been collecting heavy toll taxes for every kind of vehicle on the road.
"There are so many toll gates of different categories, such as road repair, overweight loads, use of the road and bridge, town entry, and so on, that have been set up along the road by authorities. We have to pay 3,000 kyat at each toll gate for 'road repair and overweight loads', 500 kyat to each gate for 'road and bridge use', and another 500 kyat to each gate for town entry. We just don't understand where all the public tolls collected from the road have gone to, and they are still keeping a blind eye to the damage that needs to be fixed on the road," he added.
There are five toll gates that collect charges for "road repair and overweight loads", 12 toll gates for "road and bridge access", and 12 toll gates for "town entry", including several checkpoint that have been set up by authorities along the Sittwe - Rangoon Highway.
A resident of Arakan's capital city, Sittwe, confirmed after recently returning from Rangoon by road that his bus was delayed due to damage.
"My bus departing from Rangoon took almost four days to come to Sittwe as it could not drive at a normal speed because of holes, pools of water, and mudslides along the road. I have also found that the Yochaung Bridge, Linmwaytaung Bridge, and some other small bridges are not strong enough to be crossed by vehicles," the traveler said.
The Sittwe - Rangoon Highway is over 400 miles long and was opened in January 2000 by the current Burmese military regime. It was accompanied by propaganda about their efforts to equally develop all the states and divisions to turn the country into a modern state.
According to Arakanese people, the road has become very significant for inland transportation as it connects most of the main towns in Arakan State. However, the road has been deteriorating year after year, especially on the Arakan side, due to a lack of systematic construction and repairs. The road remains smooth and strong on the side running within Burma proper up the former capital Rangoon.
Ref: Narinjara
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Sittwe: Transportation is being delayed on the Sittwe - Rangoon Highway, the most significant road in western Burma's Arakan State, because authorities have neglected to mend the road after damage from recent torrential rains, said an owner of a bus line on Monday. "The road has been badly damaged by recent heavy rains, so we can not plan our buses' travel time for trips between Sittwe and Rangoon. Formerly it took just three days for a bus to drive down from Sittwe to Rangoon, but now it takes a week. This has caused a great hindrance not only to our transporting industries, but also to the public passengers," he told Narinjara on the condition of anonymity.
He said that the authorities are still ignoring road repairs even though they have been collecting heavy toll taxes for every kind of vehicle on the road.
"There are so many toll gates of different categories, such as road repair, overweight loads, use of the road and bridge, town entry, and so on, that have been set up along the road by authorities. We have to pay 3,000 kyat at each toll gate for 'road repair and overweight loads', 500 kyat to each gate for 'road and bridge use', and another 500 kyat to each gate for town entry. We just don't understand where all the public tolls collected from the road have gone to, and they are still keeping a blind eye to the damage that needs to be fixed on the road," he added.
There are five toll gates that collect charges for "road repair and overweight loads", 12 toll gates for "road and bridge access", and 12 toll gates for "town entry", including several checkpoint that have been set up by authorities along the Sittwe - Rangoon Highway.
A resident of Arakan's capital city, Sittwe, confirmed after recently returning from Rangoon by road that his bus was delayed due to damage.
"My bus departing from Rangoon took almost four days to come to Sittwe as it could not drive at a normal speed because of holes, pools of water, and mudslides along the road. I have also found that the Yochaung Bridge, Linmwaytaung Bridge, and some other small bridges are not strong enough to be crossed by vehicles," the traveler said.
The Sittwe - Rangoon Highway is over 400 miles long and was opened in January 2000 by the current Burmese military regime. It was accompanied by propaganda about their efforts to equally develop all the states and divisions to turn the country into a modern state.
According to Arakanese people, the road has become very significant for inland transportation as it connects most of the main towns in Arakan State. However, the road has been deteriorating year after year, especially on the Arakan side, due to a lack of systematic construction and repairs. The road remains smooth and strong on the side running within Burma proper up the former capital Rangoon.
Ref: Narinjara
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