Mandalay-Myitkyina Katha section reopened after weeks of closure

It has been reported that the Katha section of the Mandalay-Myitkyina road, which had been closed for weeks, was reopened on October 5. The road section had been closed for weeks because armed groups blocked vehicles and forced them to use detours at a military base in the town of Monywa, Indaw Township, on the Union Highway. A released truck driver said, "Now the eastern road is open. It's the Katha-Ngo-Mandalay road. On the road, they pulled with oxen, pulled with tractors, and transported with ox carts. I had to stay for over a month. I couldn't even get my car back. There was no need to block the road. There was nothing between the military and the truck drivers. If they had blocked it during the fighting, it would have been fine. It cost tens of millions to repair. Food packets were also 8,000 kyats, 10,000 kyats for a packet with boiled eggs. It was like hell," he said. Due to being forced to travel on detours on the Mandalay-Matyila-Tagaungthi Cho-Katha-Mawjin-Mawkar-Myitkyina road section, which is the main route to Myitkyina, and the Mandalay-Sagaing-Shwebo-Zinbo-Baw-Nanse-Indaw-Mawlu-Mawjin-Mawkar-Myitkyina road section, the roads were damaged and closures occurred from the end of June. It has been learned that the road sections on the western side, up to Nanse village in Zinbo-Baw, Sagaing, Mandalay, are still passable. Currently, the fares for Mandalay-Myitkyina are around 700,000 to 500,000 kyats for Pajeros and four-wheel-drive vehicles, and around 600,000 to 500,000 kyats for low-deck AD vans, and it has been found through investigation that the fares are not uniform between bus terminals. Most truck drivers criticize that the detour issue is merely an excuse for armed groups to collect money and is the main cause of commodity shortages and rising prices for the public. "There is no fighting on the Kyauktan detour either. In some villages, the military bases on the other side are visible. There is no fighting. They are seen as meaningless actions," he said. The Mandalay-Myitkyina road is about 350 miles long, and all railway lines were suspended due to the political changes in 2021. The road has been facing numerous difficulties since late 2023 due to detours mandated by regional armed groups.