Sittwe: Motorcycle users in western Burma's Arakan State are facing a new challenge with the introduction of a compulsory new license that costs double the former fee by the Directorate of Road Transports, known as Kya-Nya-Na among locals.
Kya-Nya-Na, after ordering that those without licenses will face confiscation, started issuing the new license that allows the motorcyclists inter-provincial access across the nation from the first week of December 2009.
The new license fee varies depending on the model of the motorcycle, but ranges from 300,000 Kyat to 600,000 Kyat. The fee for the former license that only permitted driving within Arakan State was 150,000 Kyat to 300,000 Kyat.
"The fee for the new license is too much and not affordable for most bike users, even though it allows traveling across the country. The applications for the former, local, licenses are also being rejected. That's why those without licenses are now facing great difficulty getting licenses," said a young motorcyclist from Sittwe.
He added that the Kya-Nya-Na has also announced that local license holders may renew their licenses and upgrade to the new ones by depositing a fee ranging from 50,000 Kyat to 100,000 Kyat, depending on the model.
Sittwe, the capital of Arakan, has the most motorcycles in use in the state.
Another youth from Sittwe said that it is meaningless to have a license allowing inter-provincial access because road infrastructure is not even sufficient to travel on bikes between cities in Arakan State.
"We are using bikes just in our town. We cannot go on bikes from our town to another town because the roads inside our state are very rough and poor. So, it is meaningless to have the new license. It is just authorities devising ways to line their pockets," he added.
In July this year, Kya-Nya-Na had also collected more than 60,000 Kyats from each three-wheel taxi in Sittwe by switching from circular license plates to triangular plates, after an order to owners that taxis without the triangular plates would not be allowed to operate.
