The Dunbang Bridge on the Waingmaw to Chipwi Road in Kachin State has become so damaged trucks can no longer use it, which could lead to price rises in Chipwi Town.

The Dunbang Bridge is near Mandaung Village in Chipwi Township, between Waingmaw and Chipwi towns in an area that has been under the control of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) since 2024. The bridge is only about 10 years old but in early June 2025 flooding caused strong river currents that cracked the bridge’s supports and caused the bridge to tilt.

Last week the KIA banned heavy trucks from using the bridge and now only small cars and motorcycles are allowed to cross. As a result, trucks are now stranded on both sides of the bridge, according to locals.

Trucks now have to unload their cargo on one side of the bridge and porters have to be hired to carry their goods to the other side of the river where they are loaded onto other vehicles and taken onto their destination, according to a resident of Chipwi Township.

He said: “The Dunbang Bridge has almost collapsed now. We still don’t know what will happen next or when it will be repaired. If it becomes completely unusable, there’s a real risk that the flow of goods will be seriously delayed.”

He also suggested that the prices of goods in Chipwi Township could rise due to the added cost of hiring porters to transport goods across the bridge.

Though goods from China reach Chipwi Town via the Chipwi Township border town of Pang War, most of those imports are materials used in the mining industry. Consumer goods for Chipwi Town and all of Chipwi Township mostly come from Waingmaw Town and Myitkyina City, the Kachin State capital.

Locals are urging the KIA to urgently repair the bridge, as it is a vital piece of infrastructure for transportation in the region.