18 August
ABRIDGE crossing the Nantmyitkha Creek in Waingmaw Township, Kachin State was built by the Bridge Construction Group No-1 un-der the Ministry of Construc-tion. The 260 ft long old bridge between mileposts 480/7 and 481/0 on the Mandalay-Lash-io-Bhamo-Myitkyina Road was replaced with new structure as local people, pedestrians and vehicles suffered traffic congestion and experienced travel delays. The Ministry of Construction de-cided to build a new bridge over the creek with the funds from the local government.
The new bridge is of rein-forced concrete facility and is 302 ft long and 48 ft wide. The bridge has 3 ft long pedestrian walkway on each side and can withstand up to 75 tons. The main structure of the bridge was built with K 2,310 million and K 840 million was spent on construction of an approach and retaining walls. Construction of the bridge began on 20 February 2017 and the first phase was completed on 28 May 2018. The second phase of the bridge was finalized in early April this year. Now, local people can traverse the new bridge in all seasons with greater ease, thereby contributing to development of trade and transportation in the area and facilitating swift flow of goods and reducing transportation charges.
The Shwebo-Myitkyina Road connecting Sagaing Re-gion and Kachin State is being extended to 18 ft from the cur-rent 12 ft this fiscal year, said an official from the Road De-partment under the ministry. The Shwebo-Myitkyina Road is crucial to transport goods between Sagaing Region and Kachin State and plays a vital role in facilitating better flow of commodities. Extension for 40-mile and one furlong road section is being undertaken this financial year and the project has been about 70 per cent fin-ished. The road was built in the fiscal year 1962-1963 and it was upgraded to a 12 ft wide road on 18 September 1996. 174.1 mile of the Shwebo-Myitkyina Road is located in Sagaing Region. So far 66 miles and 7 furlongs of the road has already been extended to 18 ft facility, according to the Department of Road.
Likewise, two retaining walls were built at separate locations along the Nantyin Creek in Mohnyin Township, Kachin State in order to solve the problem of riverbank ero-sion, according to a responsible person from the construction company. Construction task was completed ahead of the rainy season. The local government awarded a private construction firm named “Shwe Nan Tin Co” to build the retaining walls with the use of K270 million and con-struction work has begun since February. “We constructed the retaining walls along the Nan-tyin Creek and construction of the projects took around one month,” said the project engineer from the construction com-pany. Some part of the creek was dredged for better flow of water.
In addition, a rural road is being built in Hopin region, Mohnyin Township in Kachin State in an attempt to transport agricultural products manufac-tured by farmers in rural areas. The Department of Rural De-velopment under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation allocated K 203.6 million and gave a green light to a private construction firm “Ayeyawady Phyo Company” to build the 3-mile long gravel road. Construction of the road began on 4 February 2019 and has been 80 per cent finished so far.
By Kyaw Htike Soe
