The Bogyoke Aung San bridge ( my, ဗိုလ်ချုပ်အောင်ဆန်း တံတား) is a bridge crossing over the

Thanlwin River , ''Mae Nam Salawin'' ( , name_etymology = , image = Sweet_View_of_Salween_River_in_Tang_Yan_Township,_Shan_State,_Myanmar.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = Salween River in Shan State, Myanmar , map ...

Mawlamyine Mawlamyine (also spelled Mawlamyaing; , ; th, เมาะลำเลิง ; mnw, မတ်မလီု, ), formerly Moulmein, is the fourth-largest city in Myanmar (Burma), ''World Gazetteer'' south east of Yangon and south of Thaton, at th ...

, Myanmar and connects Mawlamyine to Chaungzon. The bridge is also known as the Bilu Kyun Bridge. It was officially opened to the public on May 9, 2017.

Information

The bridge is estimated to have cost 59,800 million

kyat The kyat (, or ; my, ကျပ် ; ISO 4217 code MMK) is the currency of Myanmar (Burma). The typical notation for the kyat is "K" (singular) and "Ks." (plural), placed before the numerals followed by "slash (punctuation), /-" The term ''ky ...

s ($46,046,000 US Dollars) and is long. It is 28 feet wide and has a two-way steel arch bridge. The Mupon approach road on the Moulmein side is the shorter of the roads at around 757 feet long. The Bilu Island Ka Kyaw approach road is 16,980 feet long. On April 26, 2017, at 9 PM, a sign was erected under the name Bogyoke

Aung San Aung San (, ; 13 February 191519 July 1947) was a Burmese politician, independence activist and revolutionary. He was instrumental in Myanmar's struggle for independence from British rule, but he was assassinated just six months before his goa ...

Bridge (Bilu Island) and on April 27, at approximately 9:45 AM, motorcycles and cars were allowed to pass the bridge free of charge.

Controversy

The actual construction began under the name Thanlwin Bridge (Chaungzon), but at the end of the construction, the

Pyithu Hluttaw The Pyithu Hluttaw ( my, ပြည်သူ့ လွှတ်တော်, ; House of Representatives) is the ''de jure'' lower house of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, the bicameral legislature of Myanmar (Burma). It consists of 440 members, of whic ...

had approved the name Bogyoke Aung San Bridge. Some local Mon ethnic groups staged multiple protests in March 2017 to rename it as the Thanlwin Bridge (Chaungzon). As of April 26, 2017, the petition has received about 150,000 signatures. On April 5, 2017, fourteen political parties issued a statement that "The

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

should seriously reconsider naming the Bogyoke Aung San Bridge as it will not contribute to the

national reconciliation National Reconciliation is the term used for establishment of so-called 'national unity' in countries beset with political problems. In Afghanistan the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan government under Babrak Karmal issued a ten-point rec ...

and it will not undermine the national unity." MP from Paung Township Mi Kun Chan's proposal to name Bogyoke Aung San Bridge was approved by a split vote in the Pyithu Hluttaw on 14 January 2017 with a total of 217 votes in favor and 2 abstentions. There were 43 votes against. The nomination was won due to 116 neutral votes. ဗိုလ်ချုပ်အောက်ဆန်း names

References

{{reflist Bridges in Myanmar