The dirt road between Putao Town and Khaunglanhpu Town in Kachin State’s Putao District has become impassable following torrential rain.
Almost daily rain since the second week of March 2025 has caused landslides and damaged bridges along the road, which have prevented cars and motorcycles from passing.
A 40-year-old woman from Khaunglanhpu Township said: “It's been two weeks since we last traveled from Khaunglanhpu to Putao. It’s not just one or two sections—many parts of the road are damaged. Landslides and broken bridges haven’t been fixed yet, so there’s no way to get through. And with the rain still coming down, repairs aren’t even possible right now.”
The section of the road between Putao Town and the intersection where the road splits and goes towards either Khaunglanhpu Town or Naungmon Town is still passable. Between there and Naungmon Town the road is open, but between there and Khaunglanhpu Town about 30 landslides have been reported and the road is impassable.
Trucks, buses and cars are currently unable to travel between the towns of Putao and Khaunglanhpu, but Motorbikes can still make the journey, though there are sections where motorcycles have to be carried over obstacles, such as landslides, by porters. This can involve a lot of waiting because there are not many porters . This has made the journey time longer than a day and means that travellers on motorcycles have to spend the night somewhere en route.
A resident of Khaunglanhpu Town said: “If broken bridges are included in the count, there are over 30 places where the road is damaged. Some risk-takers still ride motorbikes through, but in areas where the damage is too severe even for that, porters carry the bikes across, for a fee.”
The blocked road has meant that people who were intending to travel between the two towns in passenger vehicles are now stuck where they are, either in Putao Town or Khaunglanhpu Town.
A truck driver from Putao Township said: “I’m not sure when cars will be able to travel again. At the moment, even small passenger cars can’t make it through, so it’s impossible for large vehicles like ours. We can still get from Putao to Naungmon, but the road to Khaunglanhpu is completely unusable.”
The road from Putao Town is the only way for food and goods to reach Khaunglanhpu Town. Now that the road has been blocked for two weeks the residents of Khaunglanhpu Town and the surrounding areas are starting to face shortages of staple food items and rising prices.
Since January 2025, junta troops and allied local militia members at a checkpoint in Ridam Village in Khaunglanhpu Township, just outside Khaunglanhpu Town, have been barring people from entering the town, unless they possess a National Identification Card (NIC) showing that they are a Kachin State resident.
