The Burmese ruling junta is peeved that unlicensed motorcycle owners in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State in northern Burma are not applying for licenses, a source close to the local authorities said.

The Township Land Transportation Department (Ka-Nya-Na) has announced that they would issue licenses within three months since they started accepting applications on July 2. But till now, most unlicensed motorcycle owners have not applied, residents in Myitkyina told KNG today.

"The Ka-Nya-Na office is really angry because the applicants for licenses were not reacting the way they had done earlier, said a source close to Ka-Nya-Na office." I heard that they would seize the unlicensed motorcycles again after the period for issuing license is over," he added.

The license fee for a motorcycle is between 100,000 Kyats (US $85) and 200,000 Kyats (US $169). The applicants have to pay for getting the license depending on the type of the motorcycle and its model, a resident in Myitkyina said.

"The reason for not applying for the license was that the license fees are extremely high and the regime is not prepared to give monthly subsidized oil-permits. So most the unlicensed owners didn't apply," said unlicensed motorcycle owners in Myitkyina.

Before the Ka-Nya-Na office used to issue licenses within a month or 45 days. Now, they are taking a longer to issue it.

Currently, there are between 30,000 and 50,000 unlicensed Chinese motorcycles in Myitkyina and its imported from Laiza, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) controlled area on the Sino-Burma border.