Catalog

Road Link Makes Dreams Possible

By Tsukasa Maekawa (tmaekawa@adb.org)
Senior External Relations Officer

• Overview
• Rough Roads: A Thing of the Past
• Linking Nations, Providing Hope
• Helping Small Traders

Only a decade ago, no one would have dreamed it possible to travel by road the 2,000 kilometers (km) between Kunming in southwestern Yunnan Province, People’s Republic of China (PRC), and Bangkok, Thailand, in just 20 hours.

But soon that trip will be possible on the North-South Economic Corridor, thanks in part to the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Program’s efforts to establish cross-country road networks and cross-border agreements to simplify customs clearance procedures.

Given the good road network from Bangkok to Singapore and Kunming to Beijing, the North-South Economic Corridor will reduce transport costs from the PRC capital to the tip of the Malay Peninsula; increase the efficiency of movements of people, vehicles, and goods; and expand trade between the PRC and Southeast Asia.

“Improving this Corridor will create the only safe, viable, continuous, all-weather overland route between Singapore and Beijing,” says Rita Nangia, Principal Economist and ADB’s task manager for a road project on the Lao PDR section of this route.

CONNECTED--A safe, all-weather road network will link Kunming and Bangkok via northwestern Lao PDR

The Corridor will eventually consist of several links. A 198-km, 4-lane expressway just south of Kunming is now being used as the main route between Kunming and Yuanjiang.

The Expressway from Yuanjiang to Mohei is 216-km long, and is being constructed partly with ADB financing through the Southern Yunnan Road Development Project. Now 80% complete, the Expressway will be open for travelers in 2003.

Another link, the existing highway from Mohei to the PRC-Lao PDR border, is being planned for upgrading.

The Lao PDR road, known as National Route 3, connects Boten on the border with the PRC and Houayxay on the border with Thailand. The proposed highway is likely to get tripartite financing from ADB, PRC, and Thailand in late 2002.

“Financing from the PRC and Thailand is particularly welcome and represents a prime example of effective South-South cooperation,” says Yuejiao Zhang, Deputy Director General of ADB’s Mekong Department. It is targeted for completion by the end of 2006.

Currently, many sections of the existing road are often impassable during the rainy season. Floods, for example, cut off a major section of the route in the Lao PDR for 4 months a year, and traffic jams and landslides frequently block the winding national roads that connect Yuanjiang and Mohei to the south.

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A visit to Kunming and the construction site of the Southern Yunnan Expressway provides insight into the rising expectations for increased trade and tourism, not only in the PRC but also among neighboring country governments and traders.

“I believe there will be a dramatic increase in traffic flows between Kunming and Bangkok when the road link is completed,” says Zhang Congming, Deputy General Manager of Yunan Yuan Mo Expressway Company, which is building the Expressway.

Constructing the Southern Yunnan Expressway through Yunnan’s rugged mountains has been a mammoth task, requiring the building of 42 tunnels and 260 bridges. The contractors also had to cope with landslides at 120 places.

Once completed, the Expressway will shorten the travel time between Yuanjiang and Mohei by 5 hours—down to only 2 hours—with travel distance dropping by 67 km. The decrease in travel time and transport costs is expected to promote economic activity, critical in an area where 14 out of 32 townships are officially designated as impoverished.

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GROWING OPPORTUNITIES A new economic zone in Yuanjiang (above); harvesting flowers for tea (below)

Potential business opportunities abound in Yunnan Province, which is famous for its herbal medicines, mushrooms, and tea. Rich with natural resources and a unique mix of 26 ethnic minorities, Yunnan is also hopeful that the Expressway will boost tourism.

As in other ADB-financed highway projects, about 540 km of feeder roads will be improved, allowing farmers to bring more easily their produce to markets in major cities.

“We hope the market for our product will expand when the Expressway is completed,” says farmer Won Jia Wu, who grows flowers and sells them locally for 22 yuan ($2.60) a kilogram.

He is optimistic that his flowers, which are used in tea, will fetch higher prices in the bigger markets he will be able to access through the Expressway.

Although the new road will bring him opportunities, Mr. Won also paid a personal price: he had to move his home to make way for the construction. The upside is he now has a new house, which he built using the compensation he received.

In a few years, the Southern Yunnan Expressway will be contributing to improving people’s lives by connecting them to the rest of the GMS—and eventually the world.

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