The project will have a greater weight capacity than the existing bridge, and is being funded by Naypyidaw.

State Counsellor Daw Aung Suu Kyi will lay the first brick of the foundation for a new bridge crossing the Salween River in Shan State on Wednesday.

The bridge will be constructed near the existing Tasang bridge and connect Mongpan in southern Shan State with Mong Ton in eastern Shan State. The current Tasang bridge’s weight capacity is 16 tons; the new bridge will be able to support 60 tons.

Sai Naung, a state parliamentarian for Mongpan from the Shan Nationalities Democratic Party confirmed the State Counsellor’s participation in the project, which he said was being supported with a Union-level budget from Naypyidaw.

“It’s a part of the preparation for the Asian highway, which is going to be jointly built by China, Myanmar, and Thailand,” he told SHAN.

One local driver said he had “huge hopes” for the new bridge, pointing out that the old bridge is in poor condition following the collapse of a hill to which it was anchored on the eastern Salween riverbank in 2017.

He explained that locals had originally been told that the highly controversial Tasang hydropower dam and a road would be built in the area. The project has tentatively been moved 10 miles north and is now being called the Mong Ton dam, and continues to be opposed by communities and activists. If completed, it would be the biggest hydropower dam in Burma, and stands to displace hundreds of thousands of people.