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Thai-Myanmar border checkpoint to reopen

Xinhua, September 18, 2015 Adjust font size:

A border checkpoint between Thailand and Myanmar will reopen soon to promote cross-border trade and tourism, said a senior Thai official on Friday.

The Baan Lak Tang border checkpoint, which has been shut down for security reasons for the last 13 years, will become a revived gateway on a 227-kilometer route between Chiang Mai province in northern Thailand and Taunggyi township, the capital of Myanmar's Shan state.

Vipavan Voraputhipong, the president of the Chiang Mai Chamber of Commerce, confirmed that cross-border trade and tourism between the neighboring Southeast Asian countries will be resumed and promoted via the Baan Lak Tang border checkpoint in Chiang Mai's Viang Hang district.

Traders and tourists will have road access to travel between Viang Hang district and Taunggyi, Keng Tung and Tachileik townships, Vipavan said.

An estimated 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in trade and tourism earnings is expected in the year following the planned reopening of the border checkpoint, according to the head of the Chiang Mai chamber.

Baan Lak Tang is the nearest Thai border spot to Taunggyi township from where a new road might probably be built to lead to Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, she said.

Those who may have visited Mandalay by air from Bangkok might go by road from Chiang Mai in foreseeable future, she added. Endi