The Yangon-Mandalay highway upgrade was finished recently and a ceremony was held in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital city of Myanmar. A total of 9 SANY machines including road rollers, pavers and motor graders were displayed. At the ceremony, Minister of Construction U Win Khaing gave high praise for the SANY products which contributed to the expressway project.
China and Myanmar are important neighbors, sharing a 2,185 km long boarder. The renovated highway connects Yangon, the country’s largest city and former capital, Nay Pyi Taw, and Myanmar’s second largest city Mandalay.
Nay Pyi Taw, formerly known as Pyinmana, is the third largest city in Myanmar. It has great strategic importance, located between the Bago Yoma and Shan Yoma mountain ranges. On November 6, 2005, the administrative capital of the country was officially moved here. Covering an area of 6,450 m², Nay Pyi Taw is 9 times larger than Yangon, and many municipal facilities and infrastructure are still under construction.
On October 21, 2010, Myanmar adopted the new flag with three horizontal stripes of yellow, green and red with a five-pointed white star in the middle. The green symbolizes peace, tranquility and lush greenery, the yellow represents solidarity, the red means courage and determination and the white star stands for the significance of the union of the country.
The 540 km Yangon-Mandalay highway is one of the most important roads and plays a major role in the economic development in Myanmar. Therefore, its upgrade will be a big boost to the local economy.
It’s reported that the Yangon-Mandalay highway was initially completed in March 2009. However, there have been many accidents happening on the road, killing 337 people and injuring another 710 by late 2013. The main cause is that it misses many of the safety features found on international-standard highways, an official at the Ministry of Construction pointed out. In 2014, Myanmar announced to renovate this highway to improve its safety standards.
The expressway upgrade was contracted by the leading road building company - Oriental Highway, and all the road machinery were supplied by SANY. “By now, we own around 100 units of SANY machines. We have full confidence in SANY and will continue to work with SANY in the various projects in the future,” a manager in Oriental Highway said.
