Myanmar builds motor road deep into cyclone-hard-hit area

19:46, September 03, 2008

Myanmar has started building a new motor road directly running from Yangon deep into cyclone-hard-hit Pinzalu in Ayeyawaddy delta where waterway is only accessible, the local weekly 7-Day News reported Wednesday.

The new motor road, which extends as Yangon-Mawlamyinegyun-Pinzalu, remains one of the five key highway projects being implemented in the storm-ravaged region.

The prior part of the road from Yangon to Mawlamyinegyun takes 10 hours to travel by using the waterway and the new road, on completion, will save much of the traveling hours in transport and benefit commodity flow, local residents were quoted as saying.

Myanmar has worked out five key highway projects in cyclone-hard-hit Ayeyawaddy delta region as part of its prevention program against natural disaster in the region.

The five highways respectively stretch as Maubin-Mawgyun, Mawlamyinegyun-Pinzalu, Laputta-Pinzalu, Bogalay-Katonkani and Laputta-Teikzun.

These roads, which is being or will be built as concrete ones within three years, will have facilities to resist storm and tide, reports said, adding that some of these roads will be built a height of 20-30 feet (6-9 meters) near villages to create shelter for villagers in case of natural disaster onslaught.

During a recent cyclone storm in early last May, communications and road transport in the hardest-hit Ayeyawaddy delta region and villages near the sea were severely disrupted, creating much difficulties for carrying out relief work.

Meanwhile, Myanmar will also build and renovate 37 embankments in the cyclone-hit areas to prevent from flood in the future, according to earlier local report.

The embankments, to be built up to 1.5 meters higher than the height of the original ones, are estimated to cost about 110.56 million U.S. dollars and the project will be implemented in ten townships in Yangon and Ayeyawaddy divisions, it said, adding that the new embankments can prevent 484,109 acres (196,064 hectares) of farmland from being flooded in case of storm.

Due to early May's cyclone storm, over one million acres (405,000 hectares ) of farmland in 7 townships in Ayeyawaddy division, 3 in Yangon division, 2 in Bago division and 3 in Mon state were flooded by sea water with more than 200,000 cows and cattle killed, earlier statistics showed.

Meanwhile, the United Nations has set up an emergency telecommunication center (ETC) in Yangon to help for quick communication access in disaster relief and restoration works.

The UN's World Food Program (WFP) was using the center in distributing ration aid supply to such storm-hit areas as Laputta, Bogalay, Phyapon, Mawlamyinegyun and Pathein soon after the cyclone storm hit Myanmar.

The program has benefited a total of 29,000 survived population of 9 village tracts out of 50 in Ayeyawaddy's Laputta alone, reports said.

Myanmar is now entering into a second phase of resettlement and reconstruction.

Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis hit five divisions and states --Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on last May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage.

The storm has killed 84,537 people and left 53,836 missing and 19,359 injured according to official death toll.

Source:Xinhua