29 July
NAY Pyi Taw is located between the Bago Yoma Mountain and the Shan Yoma Mountains, near the centre of Myanmar, and is the main region for communication and transportation. It also borders Mandalay Region, Magway Region, Bago Region, Shan State, Kayah State and Kayin State.
Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory is constituted with two districts and 8 townships. Of a total of 796 villages, 179 villages are accessible in any season and 617 villages are accessible only in summer. Therefore, The Department of the Rural Road Development of the Union Territory is striving to make the roads accessible to all seasons.
To develop the socio-economic lives of the rural people with sustainable roads and bridges, to get rural products to the market as soon as possible by using rural roads, to make the roads accessible for the education, health and social matters of the rural people and to support the national transport project, are the goals of the department for the rural people.
It is also a goal of the Rural Road Development Department that was established on 21 July 2017 to make annual improvements for 80 per cent of villages and 90 per cent of rural people to be able to use the roads that are accessible all year round by 2030.
The Department of Rural Road Development has upgraded not only the earthen roads into asphalt roads, concrete roads, gravel roads and reinforced roads which are accessible to any season but also the local-made wooden and bamboo bridges into reinforced concrete bridges for a total of 870,430 rural people in the Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory.
In upgrading rural roads to reduce the disparity between rural and urban living standards and to develop harmoniously, the Department has upgraded 64/7.71 miles of concrete roads; 104/3.6 miles of asphalt road; 187/2.08 miles of gravel road; 437/4.4 miles of reinforced road; 486/6.27 miles of earthen road in the Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory.
Since from the establishment of the Department of Rural Development in the 2017-2018 Financial Year to the current 2020-2021 FY, 85/7.3 miles of concrete road; 59/1.63 miles of asphalt road; 87/4.23 miles of gravel road; 151/4.88 miles of laterite road; 123/3.85 miles of earthen road, totally 507/5.86 miles of roads were completed for the rural people.
Rural Bridges
In terms of rural bridges, 46 concrete bridges, 3 wooden bridges, 30 submersible bridges, 266 box culverts, totally 347 bridges were upgraded.
Implementation of the Department
The Department of Rural Development has upgraded a total of 507/5.86 miles of roads since its establishment in the 2017-2018 FY, with a 25 per cent of all-year-round accessible rural roads and 77.5 per cent of roads that are accessible in the dry season in Nay Pyi Taw.
The strategic goal of the Department of Rural Road Development is to have 80 per cent of the villages and 90 per cent of the rural population in Myanmar by 2030 have access to rural roads, all villages with a population of 1,000 or more will be able to access rural roads by 2020; by 2025, 95 per cent of all villages with a population of 500 or more.; by 2030, 75 per cent of all villages with a population of more than 250 and 50 per cent of all villages with a population of less than 250 will be accessible to all-season-round village roads.
Improvement to be continued
As the Department of Rural Road Development in Nay Pyi Taw will continue to upgrade the roads to villages in the region to be accessible in any season and as the work of the Department becomes more successful, the production/flow of rural goods in the Nay Pyi Taw Union Territory will increase as well as socio-economic life will inevitably develop rapidly. — Cham Myae Maung/GNLM
