top of page

Easing Yangon’s traffic woes: by road and waterways

By Aye Nyein Win   |   Wednesday, 08 February 2017

The Yangon Region Transport Authority (YRTA) will soon announce the water taxi tender winner, provide information of bus services at bus stops and implement a new payment system for public transport.

This week, YRTA will name the winner chosen to build and run a water taxi system on the Hlaing River and Nga Moe Yeik Creek, said U Maung Aung, YRTA secretary, on February 6.

The YRTA started accepting tender applications on November 21 until December 26. The month-long application period was intended to allow sufficient time for foreign and joint-venture companies to submit their applications. The invitation to tender was issued through a state-owned newspaper on November 16 and 17.

The network of navigable waterways in the country comprises river systems of the Ayeyarwady, Chindwin, Sittoung, Thanlwin and more, connecting the major cities and thus making it unique in Southeast Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

As of 2001, according to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), inland waterway transport (IWT) has the largest share of cargo volume transported in Myanmar, 47.5 percent, compared to 32.7pc for rail, and 19.8pc for road. Yet, in spite of the many advantages of water transport, such as fuel efficiency and cost effectiveness, the industry is severely under-developed due to the absence of infrastructural development and investment.

In their “Myanmar Transport Sector Policy Note” published in July 2016, ADB details how Myanmar’s transport sector has long suffered with transport demand exceeding resources and the few investments made. Sixty percent of highways and most railway lines are in poor condition. Spending on road and rail maintenance has been two or three times below what is necessary.

Transport infrastructure investment has declined between 1990 and 2015 to a level well below international standards. For 2016-2030, between US$45-60 billion in investments is required to achieve effective gross domestic product growth.

In July last year, Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein said he hoped to make better use of the city’s waterways to help reduce transport costs and traffic jams.

“The government is going to upgrade water transportation for commuters and goods,” he said.

Water transport is an important part of the Yangon Region government’s plan to ease pressure on Yangon’s often gridlocked streets and to cut down transport costs.

If the waterways can take more container transport, they could help alleviate downtown traffic, where heavy trucks ferry containers in and out of the city throughout the day, U Zaw Win, managing director of Inland Water Transport, told The Myanmar Times.

To that end, the regional government called for a tender to establish a water taxi system.

“Two companies applied to operate the system. We are currently in the selection process and will come to a decision, and announce the winner this week,” said U Maung Aung, “We don’t know yet which company will win.”

Go Back

This week, YRTA will name the winner chosen to build and run a water taxi system on the Hlaing River and Nga Moe Yeik Creek, said U Maung Aung, YRTA secretary, on February 6.

The YRTA started accepting tender applications on November 21 until December 26. The month-long application period was intended to allow sufficient time for foreign and joint-venture companies to submit their applications. The invitation to tender was issued through a state-owned newspaper on November 16 and 17.

The network of navigable waterways in the country comprises river systems of the Ayeyarwady, Chindwin, Sittoung, Thanlwin and more, connecting the major cities and thus making it unique in Southeast Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

As of 2001, according to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), inland waterway transport (IWT) has the largest share of cargo volume transported in Myanmar, 47.5 percent, compared to 32.7pc for rail, and 19.8pc for road. Yet, in spite of the many advantages of water transport, such as fuel efficiency and cost effectiveness, the industry is severely under-developed due to the absence of infrastructural development and investment.

In their “Myanmar Transport Sector Policy Note” published in July 2016, ADB details how Myanmar’s transport sector has long suffered with transport demand exceeding resources and the few investments made. Sixty percent of highways and most railway lines are in poor condition. Spending on road and rail maintenance has been two or three times below what is necessary.

Transport infrastructure investment has declined between 1990 and 2015 to a level well below international standards. For 2016-2030, between US$45-60 billion in investments is required to achieve effective gross domestic product growth.

In July last year, Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein said he hoped to make better use of the city’s waterways to help reduce transport costs and traffic jams.

“The government is going to upgrade water transportation for commuters and goods,” he said.

Water transport is an important part of the Yangon Region government’s plan to ease pressure on Yangon’s often gridlocked streets and to cut down transport costs.

If the waterways can take more container transport, they could help alleviate downtown traffic, where heavy trucks ferry containers in and out of the city throughout the day, U Zaw Win, managing director of Inland Water Transport, told The Myanmar Times.

To that end, the regional government called for a tender to establish a water taxi system.

“Two companies applied to operate the system. We are currently in the selection process and will come to a decision, and announce the winner this week,” said U Maung Aung, “We don’t know yet which company will win.”

This week, YRTA will name the winner chosen to build and run a water taxi system on the Hlaing River and Nga Moe Yeik Creek, said U Maung Aung, YRTA secretary, on February 6.

The YRTA started accepting tender applications on November 21 until December 26. The month-long application period was intended to allow sufficient time for foreign and joint-venture companies to submit their applications. The invitation to tender was issued through a state-owned newspaper on November 16 and 17.

The network of navigable waterways in the country comprises river systems of the Ayeyarwady, Chindwin, Sittoung, Thanlwin and more, connecting the major cities and thus making it unique in Southeast Asia, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

As of 2001, according to the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), inland waterway transport (IWT) has the largest share of cargo volume transported in Myanmar, 47.5 percent, compared to 32.7pc for rail, and 19.8pc for road. Yet, in spite of the many advantages of water transport, such as fuel efficiency and cost effectiveness, the industry is severely under-developed due to the absence of infrastructural development and investment.

In their “Myanmar Transport Sector Policy Note” published in July 2016, ADB details how Myanmar’s transport sector has long suffered with transport demand exceeding resources and the few investments made. Sixty percent of highways and most railway lines are in poor condition. Spending on road and rail maintenance has been two or three times below what is necessary.

Transport infrastructure investment has declined between 1990 and 2015 to a level well below international standards. For 2016-2030, between US$45-60 billion in investments is required to achieve effective gross domestic product growth.

In July last year, Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein said he hoped to make better use of the city’s waterways to help reduce transport costs and traffic jams.

“The government is going to upgrade water transportation for commuters and goods,” he said.

Water transport is an important part of the Yangon Region government’s plan to ease pressure on Yangon’s often gridlocked streets and to cut down transport costs.

If the waterways can take more container transport, they could help alleviate downtown traffic, where heavy trucks ferry containers in and out of the city throughout the day, U Zaw Win, managing director of Inland Water Transport, told The Myanmar Times.

To that end, the regional government called for a tender to establish a water taxi system.

“Two companies applied to operate the system. We are currently in the selection process and will come to a decision, and announce the winner this week,” said U Maung Aung, “We don’t know yet which company will win.”

“‘We have planned to run water taxis in Hlaing River and Nga Moe Yeik Creek. But we can [only] implement within Hlaing River first because we don’t need to construct new jetties and most jetties are already present [there]. We must construct at least two more jetties though,” he added.

Nga Moe Yeik Creek, in contrast, does not have any jetty and it would take more time to construct the structures for the project.

However, YRTA will try to implement the scheme within this year, U Maung Aung confirmed. The transport network will consist of jetties at various locations, including Hlaing Tharyar, Shwe Pyi Thar and Kyeemyindaing townships.

Underlying the transport reforms and initiatives is the goal to tackle both the cost of transport and the city’s notorious traffic jams.

“Yangon is a commercial city and transport is crucial. This is not only important for commuters or passengers but also for cargo [transport]. All commodity prices are based on Yangon’s market. If these prices are high in Yangon, they will be high in the whole country. So the cost of transport must be low,” said U Maung Aung.

For residents in Yangon, the city’s traffic jams blight daily lives. YRTA will tackle the issue of congestion from all angles, he added.

Under the regional government’s effort to improve the system, 300 bus lines were streamlined to 61 and the new bus system, in the form of public-private partnership (PPP) firms, started running the new bus network on January 16.

“About 2.5 million people are relying on public buses. We changed the system but the reform is not yet complete. We know that there have been inconveniences in the new [bus] arrangement,” said U Maung Aung.

YRTA will implement a multi-purpose payment card or ticket system and will build more bus stops, and provide information related to bus services.

“The bus stops supplied with the service information would allow passengers to check their routes and time schedule easily ... For that, the Yangon City Development Committee has called for tender[s] from January 1 to February 17.

“When we have a ticket [or payment card] system, it can be used in public [road] transport, water transport, railway transport, supermarkets etc. It will happen in the next three months,” said U Maung Aung.

Multi-purpose payment card systems are widely used in many other countries. Residents in Hong Kong, for example, use Octopus cards (the territory’s contactless smart cards) for payment extensively, ranging from all public transport to retail shops, supermarkets, car parks, convenience stores and more. Singaporeans use EZ-Link cards and Londoners use Oyster cards for the payment of the public transport fares. Successful transition to a card system would mean that cardholders will save a lot of time in making payments, enhancing the efficiency of the transport networks.

bottom of page