The second Thai-Burma Friendship Bridge, completed in 2004, has not been utilized to its optimum as the border checkpoint between China’s Daluo and Burma’s Mongla is yet to be opened, a Thai customs officer said on August 17.

The Asian Highway that connects China’s Yunnan, Burma’s Shan State and northern Thailand is called R3B.

The bridge was built during former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s tenure at a cost of more than Baht 1 billion (USD 25 million), said Chuchai Udomphochana, during a meeting with Gen Chettha Thanajaro, President of the Thai-Burma Cultural and Economic Association, according to the Thai Language Matichon Online.

Commenting on this report, businessmen from both sides of the border said apart from the escalating tension between Burma’s military rulers and the ceasefire groups, which include the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA-ESS), which held sway in Mongla, 240 km north of Tachilek, opposite Thailand’s Maesai, Burma needs to take steps about its road checkpoints.  “There are too many of them,” said one. “And each one asks for a lot of money.”

There are only two checkpoints on the highway between China’s Bohan and Thailand’s Chiangkhong, which passes through northern Laos, he said.

Burma needs to set its own affairs in order and keep everyone contented before it can successfully interact with its neighbours, a Shan trader, who recently returned from a trip to Mongla, said.