Kyauktaw-Paletwa waterway partially reopened

By DMG 03 Dec 2022

DMG Newsroom
3 December 2022, Kyauktaw 

Myanmar’s military regime reopened the waterway linking Arakan State’s Kyauktaw and Chin State’s Paletwa on Saturday, with some restrictions still in place, after a months-long blockade that raised prices and caused various other hardships for local residents. 

The junta-controlled water transport department resumed Z-craft operations between Kyauktaw and Paletwa on December 3, but other private boats and larger watercraft are not yet allowed to travel the route, according to Paletwa residents. 

“I heard junta-controlled Z-craft are back in operation, but other private vessels and motorboats are not yet allowed to travel,” said grocery owner Daw Tin Tin Cho from Paletwa Township. “Anyway, it will help reduce food shortages and price hikes.” 

The regime imposed travel bans affecting multiple Arakan State townships and Paletwa Township following renewed hostilities with the Arakan Army that began in earnest in August. The easing of the Paletwa travel restrictions followed an informal ceasefire reached between the two sides on November 26. 

Paletwa Township residents said they had heard that only junta-controlled Z-craft would operate between Kyauktaw and Paletwa, twice per week, for now. They have asked for allowing other vessels to similarly operate once again, in consideration of potential health emergencies. 

“If someone needs urgent medical treatment on a day when the Z-craft does not operate, are we supposed to wait until the operational day? And individual boatmen have been put out of business. We residents hope that the waterway is made accessible to all,” said a Paletwa resident who asked for anonymity. 

Junta Z-craft previously imposed a limit on the amount of cargo each traveller could carry, noted Paletwa resident Ko Min Aung. 

“Shop owners were not allowed to carry more than 15 packages, and freight charge was also high,” he recalled. “We don’t know how much they will charge for people and goods now.” 

The functioning and accessibility of the Kyauktaw-Paletwa waterway is crucial for various aspects of Paletwa residents’ day-to-day lives, including their healthcare-related and economic fortunes. During the blockade, Paletwa residents suffered from significant price hikes affecting rice, cooking oil, fuel and other basic goods.