Friday, 6 December 2013

Myawady border bridge collects Ks 25 million

The Myawady-Mae Sot Friendship Bridge, on the border between Myanmar and Thailand, collected over Ks 25 million (US$ 25,000) border fees in November from daily commuters and tourists.

Myanmar nationals top the list with 54,929 visitors who paid Ks 25,800,700 for the border fees. The bridge has also received US$ 3,830 (Ks 3.7 million) from 383 third party visitors and Bt 25,730 (Ks 785,000) from 2,573 Thai visitors.

"There were more Thai visitors this summer. We receive between 60 to 100 Thai visitors daily. Most of the foreigners came only after the Myawady border checkpoint had been opened as an international gateway," said a border official.

Nearly 2,000 Myanmar nationals commute daily across the bridge. A total of 578,821 Myanmar nationals have passed through border checkpoints from January to November, paying over Ks 272 million (US$ 277,000) for border fees while only 25,490 Thai visitors crossed the bridge for the same period and paid Bt 254,900 (Ks 7.7 million).

A total of 3,195 foreign visitors visited Myawady over the past 11 months and paid US$31,950 in border fees.

While Thai visitors came to visit the pagodas in Myawady and the special economic zone, the majority of Myanmar visitors were workers, vendors and shoppers.

Although there is only one bridge to cross over Thaungyin River from Myawady to Mae Sot, there are around 20 legal and illegal boat rides regularly crossing the river.

"We charge Bt 10 (Ks 305) for Thai visitors and US$10 (Ks 9,820) as fees to enter Myawady," said the official.

Myanmar nationals with temporary border passes are charged Ks 300 (US$ 0.30) while those without the border passes have to pay Ks 1,000 (US$ 1) to cross the border checkpoint to visit Thailand.

source: Eleven Myanmar

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...