Japan helps Myanmar maintain railroads

Yangon: Japan has provided modern railway equipment to Myanmar to help the country maintain its railroads, media reported Thursday. Equipment worth 5.327 million yen (about $53,270) was provided by the Japan International Transport Institute (JITI) to the state-run Myanmar Railways, reported Xinhua. Myanmar has been seeking assistance from the Japanese government`s International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and other Japanese firms for the development of its rail transportation network. The Japanese government proposed 11 projects for railway services to be implemented in 2013. Among them, the 265-km Yangon-Toungoo railroad section was set as the first phase of the Yangon-Mandalay railroad, while 172-km Toungoo-Yamethin section as the second phase and 177-km Yemethin-Mandalay section as the third phase, the report quoted Myanmar Minister of Rail Transportation U Than Htay as saying.

The East Japan Railway Company has vowed to help promote the development of Myanmar railway management and transport by sharing technical knowledge with the Myanmar Railways. In June this year, Japan provided Myanmar with over 51 billion yens` ODA loan, of which 17 billion yen was to be used for construction and renovation of infrastructure while 20 billion yen for development of infrastructure in Thilawa Special Economic Zone and 14.052 billion yen for upgrading power grid project and power stations in Yangon. In October, Japan provided 5.4 billion yen to promote various sectors in Myanmar which cover the development project of ICT system, establishment of disastrous weather monitoring system, improvement of TV programmes and broadcast editing equipment of Myanmar Radio and Television (MRTV).