Ferry services between Kyauktaw and Paletwa to be increased to twice weekly

By DMG 27 Dec 2021

DMG Newsroom
27 December, 2021 

Preparations are being made to provide boat services between Arakan State’s Kyauktaw and Paletwa, Chin State, two times a week, according to the Arakan State regime council. 

U Hla Thein, spokesperson for the state’s regime council, said: “The government is arranging to add one more trip a week because of the large number of passengers. The government has arranged to run boat trips two times a week to be more convenient for passengers and [to facilitate] the flow of trade; it is not looking for profit.” 

A state-owned vessel resumed weekly Kyauktaw-Paletwa ferry service on December 24, with more than 30 passengers aboard when it left Kyauktaw on its first weekly trip and more than 40 passengers on the return journey from Paletwa to Kyauktaw. 

The boat fare is K1,800 per passenger and K11,200 per tonne of goods. 

Many residents and retailers in Paletwa Township buy foodstuffs such as rice, cooking oil and iodised salt from suppliers in Kyauktaw. 

U Aung Aung, a Kyauktaw-Paletwa ferry passenger, said the fare was not expensive and the boat service offered a convenience for people. 

“Passengers and traders are in good stead because the boat fare is inexpensive,” he said. 

Prior to the ferry service’s relaunch, residents told DMG that they hoped authorities would not conduct rigorous interrogations or inspections of passengers on the Kyauktaw-Paletwa route, noting that military personnel often inspected travellers on the waterway in the past.