Japan to help Myanmar upgrade public transportation in Yangon

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/12/content_10997978.htm

www.chinaview.cn 2009-03-12 11:17:29 Print

YANGON, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will help Myanmar upgrade the urban public transportation of Myanmar's former capital of Yangon to international standard as part of the cooperation program between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The JICA, which is Japanese government's overseas aid agency, had conducted research for two times in Myanmar with a workshop being held on the move last year and the findings will be based to seek ways of improvement of the urban transportation, the Yangon Times weekly quoted the Myanmar Engineering Association as reporting Thursday.

According to statistics of the Yangon municipal authorities, there is a total of 310 bus lines with 6,330 buses transporting over 3 million passengers per day in the city.

As part of its efforts to reduce traffic jam and ensure safety in traveling, the Yangon traffic police authorities have started removing a total of 370 very-old-aged buses running in the former capital, which were left behind by the Second World War, and replacing them with modern ones. Of the total, 207 have been transferred to the remote suburban areas.



Instead, about 300 modern buses have been imported to reinforce the city's public transportation, the authorities said.

Meanwhile, except for authorized persons, motor cycles are banned for running in the municipal areas in Yangon division.

According to statistics, the number of motor vehicles operating in the whole of Myanmar stood at 1.9 million as of the end of last year, up from over one million correspondingly in the previous year.

Of the total, motor cycles accounted for 1.1 million, or 75 percent of the total, while passenger cars remained at 200,000, or 15 percent.


Editor: Wang Guanqun