Exclusive Interview: Myanmar’s transport and infrastructure chief
Exclusive Interview: Myanmar’s transport and infrastructure chief
GovInsider Asia, 20 Apr 2018
URL: https://govinsider.asia/connected-gov/myanmar-public-transport-u-win-khant-railways/
Myanmar’s largest city banned motorbikes in 2003, making it fertile ground for building affordable and reliable public transport. For the first time in its modern history, the country is developing a long-term plan for public transport, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, U Win Khant, tells GovInsider.
Myanmar’s rail infrastructure has fallen into despair due to a lack of maintenance. “Rail lines are under-invested,” U Win Khant notes. The Yangon-Mandalay railway line was once the country’s backbone, but now buses and cheap flights dominate, with trains carrying only 10% of intercity demand.
The country is working with the Japanese Government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) on projects to improve infrastructure and management of the public transport. “It’s a clear priority of the government to revitalise and modernise their railway system, so that in the long term they have a significant role in the transport sector,” says Adrien Veron-Okamoto, Transport Specialist, ADB.
The 600km Yangon-Mandalay line is being renewed with a US$232 million loan from Japan. The upgrade will cut the rail journey from 24 hours to about nine hours, when completed in 2021-22, making it the country’s “biggest success” in public transport, the permanent secretary says.
Yangon’s motorbike ban creates demand for cheap and convenient public transport – but the city’s ageing bus and rail services mean that car ownership could increase by ten times if unchecked. Already, travel times have doubled or tripled, and public transport operators have lost up to 65% of the market.
While Yangon’s rail lines are being renewed, the city’s bus services have already been upgraded. In 2017, the government purchased over a thousand new Chinese buses and reorganised 300 privately-run lines into 79 planned routes. For the first time, commuters have regular timetables, fares and routes, and drivers a reliable salary.
Unlike Yangon, the country’s second city Mandalay is a quintessential motorbike city, posing a very different challenge to civil servants. Here, public transport has a “very small market share” to start with, and is largely informal, Veron-Okamoto says. Thanks to a grid layout, the city has “plenty of capacity and little congestion”, but if left unchecked, could be “on its way to becoming similar to, for instance, Vietnamese cities”, he adds.
Myanmar’s rail infrastructure has fallen into despair due to a lack of maintenance. “Rail lines are under-invested,” U Win Khant notes. The Yangon-Mandalay railway line was once the country’s backbone, but now buses and cheap flights dominate, with trains carrying only 10% of intercity demand.
The country is working with the Japanese Government and Asian Development Bank (ADB) on projects to improve infrastructure and management of the public transport. “It’s a clear priority of the government to revitalise and modernise their railway system, so that in the long term they have a significant role in the transport sector,” says Adrien Veron-Okamoto, Transport Specialist, ADB.
The 600km Yangon-Mandalay line is being renewed with a US$232 million loan from Japan. The upgrade will cut the rail journey from 24 hours to about nine hours, when completed in 2021-22, making it the country’s “biggest success” in public transport, the permanent secretary says.
Yangon’s motorbike ban creates demand for cheap and convenient public transport – but the city’s ageing bus and rail services mean that car ownership could increase by ten times if unchecked. Already, travel times have doubled or tripled, and public transport operators have lost up to 65% of the market.
While Yangon’s rail lines are being renewed, the city’s bus services have already been upgraded. In 2017, the government purchased over a thousand new Chinese buses and reorganised 300 privately-run lines into 79 planned routes. For the first time, commuters have regular timetables, fares and routes, and drivers a reliable salary.
Unlike Yangon, the country’s second city Mandalay is a quintessential motorbike city, posing a very different challenge to civil servants. Here, public transport has a “very small market share” to start with, and is largely informal, Veron-Okamoto says. Thanks to a grid layout, the city has “plenty of capacity and little congestion”, but if left unchecked, could be “on its way to becoming similar to, for instance, Vietnamese cities”, he adds.