Hundreds of vehicles, including passenger cars and trucks, have been stranded after the highway between Myitkyina, Kachin State’s capital, and Shwebo Town in Sagaing Region closed.
Since January 27, passenger express buses traveling from Mandalay, a major city in central Myanmar, to Myitkyina have been stranded at the Shwekoepin checkpoint near Shwebo Town for about 20 days, a passenger told KNG.
“We have been stuck here for 16 days. The buses ahead of us were already stranded two days earlier, and the vehicles that arrived later are also lined up and unable to move, including both buses and trucks,” she said.
The junta closed the Shwebo–Myitkyina section of the Mandalay–Myitkyina Highway at the Shwekoepin checkpoint on December 8. As a result, vehicles were forced to take an alternative route through Kyauktan Village. However, fighting broke out around the village, making the route unusable and leaving hundreds of vehicles stranded at the Shwekoepin checkpoint.
“When the checkpoint closed, we had to take an alternative route. But when fighting broke out there, it became impossible to use, so all the vehicles ended up stuck in a line at Shwekoepin,” another traveler said.
On that stretch of road, the junta closed the highway at the Shwekoepin checkpoint, while resistance forces set up blockades at the far end, forcing vehicles to take the alternative route.
On the other hand, the alternative route passing through villages like Hlweseik, Innywa, Taungdon, Kokkein, Kyauktan, Paygyi, Taungpon, and Daibin frequently sees fighting between the junta and resistance forces, making it unsafe for vehicles to travel.
A store owner in Myitkyina said the closure of a key regional transport road is causing major difficulties for merchants in Kachin State trying to move their goods.
“The goods loaded from Mandalay on January 26 still haven’t arrived. It’s been almost 20 days, and my store is already out of stock. Before, it would usually take about 10 days for shipments to reach us, but now it’s nearly 20 days,” she told KNG.
The Shwebo–Myitkyina Highway, which previously took about 10 days to traverse using the alternative route, is now facing even longer delays. Consequently, Kachin State has faced frequent shortages of goods, and locals have borne the impact of rising prices.
