Mizzima
Japan is withdrawing its Official Development Assistance (ODA) for upgrading the Yangon-Mandalay railway, according to a report of the Asahi Shimbun on 31 May.
Japan declared it was resuming ODA in Myanmar after the country began opening up in 2011.
The project was aimed to upgrade aging rails and bridges that are prone to delays and derailments on 620 kilometers of track between the two major cities.
The Japanese newspaper said that the ODA withdrawal decision is marked as a protest over the 2021 military coup against the democratically elected government, and it will impact financial assistance for upgrades to the railway system in Myanmar.
The report also included the remarks of some observers that Japan is expected to review other major ODA projects for the country to protest continued oppressive military rule in Myanmar.
Upgrading for railway network between Yangon and Mandalay was started with a feasibility study in 2013, and the project got going in 2018, with repairing or renewing rails, railway bridges and signal systems.
Japan made an agreement on this project with the National League for Democracy-led government provide yen loans of up to 142.2 billion yen ($1 billion) for the project by 2020, and agreed to provide additional funding as needs arose until around 2024 when the project is scheduled for completion.
During the term of the civilian government, Japan provided a wide range of loans and grants for infrastructural, healthcare, education and rural development programmes.
Just before the military coup in Myanmar on November 2020, the two countries signed a low-interest loan deal worth a total of 42.78 billion yens ($414 million) for building road infrastructure and financing small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Moreover, the Japanese Foreign Ministry announced a total of 27.78 billion yen will be earmarked for a project to build a bridge on a road in the East-West Economic Corridor that crosses Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.
However, Japan suspended new yen loans for Myanmar since the coup.
