Underdevelopment of logistics industry causes delay in country’s progress

24 November 2018
Underdevelopment of logistics industry causes delay in country’s progress
Union Minister of Transport and Communications Ministry Thant Sin Maung. Photo: Mizzima

Union Minister of Transport and Communications Ministry Thant Sin Maung said that the underdevelopment of the logistics industry was one of the reasons why Myanmar’s progress has been delayed.

The Union Minister said these words at the opening ceremony of the Yangon Dry Port project at Ywathargyi in Yangon in November which was built to help with the decongestion of traffic in hauling cargo and cutting the costs of cargo transport in Yangon.

“Underdevelopment of the logistics industry is one of the reasons for the delay in the progress of our country. Transport infrastructure must be good if we want our country to progress and develop. Transport infrastructure itself is a part of the logistics industry,” Union Minister Thant Sin Maung said. 

The minister also said that the government and business people in the development of the logistics industry should work together in coordination. 

The government is building Yangon Dry Port and upgrading Yangon-Mandalay rail tracks for easing the logistics industry in the country. 

“The main cargo we must transport is the containers. All the countries in the world have been doing containerization since a long time ago but we are lagging behind them for 20-30 years. We couldn’t do that work for various reasons,” Union Minister Thant Sin Maung added. 

Moreover, the current rail track used in Yangon-Mandalay route is 75-pound track and it can be used only for coaches with four axles and can carry only 50 tons. The minister said such transport infrastructure was very much obsolete. 

Rails, roads and ports must be upgraded for the development of the logistics industry in the country.