The Myawaddy- Thinggan Nyenaung-Kawkareik section (25.6 km long) of the Asian Highway No.1, which links India to Thailand via Myanmar, has become operational. Now, the travel time between Thinggan Nyenaung and Kawkareik will be reduced from 3 hours to 45 minutes.
- The section is a part of the trilateral highway that is planned to connect Moreh, Manipur to Maesot, Thailand, via Tamu, Mandalay and Myawaddy in Myanmar. The whole highway is expected to become operational by November this year.
- The section is also a part of the East-West economic corridor of the Greater Mekong Subregion.
- Along with the inauguration of the section of the highway, a cornerstone-laying ceremony for the building of Myanmar-Thailand friendship bridge No. 2, to link Thailand’s Maesot with Myanmar’s Myawaddy was also held at Myawaddy.
- A bus-service between Imphal and Mandalay is also being contemplated by India and Myanmar.
Asian Highway Network
The Asian Highway Project is a cooperative project among countries in Asia and Europe and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP), to improve highway systems in Asia.
It is one of the three pillars of the ESCAP-endorsed ALTID (Asian Land Transport Infrastructure Development) project, the other two pillars being the Trans-Asian Railway (TAR) and land transport projects.
The highway network will link 32 countries in Asia and Europe.
The project is being funded by more advanced Asian Nations such as Japan, India and China as well as the Asian Development Bank among others.