2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge Officially Opened

TAK, Oct 30 (TNA) – Thai Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob and Myanmar Construction Minister Han Zaw officially opened the 2nd Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge across the Moei-Taungyin River. The opening ceremony included the acceptance of a furnished and equipped border checkpoint and a road Thailand constructed free of charge on the Myanmar side. Senior officials of Myanmar attended the ceremony, including Win Khaing Than, speaker of Myanmar’s upper house, Finance Minister Soe Win, Commerce Minister Than Myint, Deputy Construction Minister U Kyaw Linn, and Karen State Chief Minister Nan Khin Htwe Myint. Mr Saksayam said the new bridge proved close relations and concrete economic cooperation and facilitated trade and investment between both countries as it was a part of the route from Mae Sot district of Tak where there was a special economic zone to Myawaddy and Kawkareik. It was a section of an important East-West economic corridor that included Laos and Vietnam and linked the South China Sea and the Andaman Sea, he said. The 4.27-billion-baht bridge is 760 meters long: 515 meters on the Thai soil and 245 meters on the Myanmar side. The Highways Department predicted the new bridge would serve 228,000 vehicles annually including 100,000 trucks. Last year the value of Thai exports to Myanmar through Mae Sot was estimated at 73 billion baht and the value of Thai imports from Myanmar there amounted to 6.4 billion baht. (TNA)