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 Government focuses on roads with beautiful view; leaves artery of Mon State economy in disrepair
Thu 12 Feb 2009,
IMNA
Burma's military government is developing little-used roads to showcase the Mon State coastline while neglecting the main road connecting Moulmein to the southern Tennasserim Peninsula. According to local sources, new roads that will serve mostly to connect local villages on the coast are being paved while the main Moulmein to Ye road continues to be ignored.
The rationale for the road projects was explained in a January 30th article in the government-controlled New Light of Myanmar Newspaper. "Kyaikami to Set sae is an indirect route," said the article, referring to the path between a famous temple and beach in north-central Mon State's Thanbyuzayat Township. "When this road is finished, people can go directly from Kyaikami to Set sae. And they will also see the natural beauty of the beach."
The article only referred to a new road that is being built to connect Kyaikami to Set sae, which are often visited one after the other by holidaymakers in Mon State. In the past, visitors had to take a vaguely indirect route back to Kyaikami and Set sae village, rather than travel along Mon State's coast.
Just to the south, a dirt road connecting Panga and Lamine villages, Thanbyuzayat and Ye Townships, has been paved with asphalt. Like the newly planned Kyaikami to Set Se road, the Panga to Lamine road is not likely to be heavily used. Instead, it will simply make traffic easier for the 10 villages that lie along its path.
The main road connecting Moulmein to the southern reaches of Burma's southern peninsula remains in disrepair, say local sources. The road is the main route taken by goods moving within Mon State's economy.
"I have not seen them do anything since the rainy season finished," said a driver who transports goods between Moulmein and Ye Town. The potholes and damage left by the rainy season are unrepaired, he said, forcing drivers to slow down or drive around the holes.
"If the authorities do fix the road, they actually collect the money from the villagers. The authorities also wait to see which vehicles damage the bridge and then make them fix it," added an abbot from Thanbyuzayat. Though IMNA could not confirm whether local villagers were paying for the new road from Kyaikamii, villages from Panga to Lamine have been confirmed to be footing the bill.
These road projects are part and parcel to what has lead Sean Turnell, Burma expert and economist from Australia's Macquarie Univeristy, to label Burma's government as predatory and parasitic.
"The ruling regime has little understanding of the dynamics of a market economy," said Turnell in a report recently released on Burma's economy. "[It] mistakes the building of roads, bridges, dams and other physical infrastructure as constituting 'economic development' in themselves. Burma's state is almost wholly predatory, and is not so much parasitic of its host as all-consuming."
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