Transport

Despite years of isolation and being a relatively poor country, Myanmar has a surprisingly developed transportation network. It has 66 airports, eight airlines, more than 5500 km of rail and about 150,000 km of roads. However, those years of isolation left the country’s transportation infrastructure in poor condition, so Myanmar is making efforts to improve the system, and it is likely that these efforts will pay off in the medium and long term. The construction of less expensive and safer transportation options is vital to achieving Myanmar’s long-term development goals. If priority areas are dealt with quickly and if major setbacks are avoided, the sector will improve steadily until the more complex investments, such as urban rail, can be completed. This chapter contains an interview with U Nyan Htun Aung, Minister for Transport.