Yangon-Dala Bridge is a bridge project which plans to connect downtown Yangon and Dala township which currently only possible to travel using a ferry across the river.
The bridge was initially planned as a South Korean-Myanmar friendship symbol in 2012 with the cost to be bear by South Korea and went stalled due to insufficient funding and rocketed land prices in 2013.
In late 2014, the Ministry of Construction announced that the bridge project will continue by means of a loan from South Korea.
Loan agreement and financing
In December 2014, it was revealed that the loan deal was agreed during a trip by U Thein Sein, the former Myanmar president to South Korea.
After that, the USD 138 million loan agreement was formalized between the Ministry of Construction from Myanmar and Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) on USD 138 million in November 2015.
It is a 40-years loan with 15 years of grace period. The interest rate is 0.01pc.
The bridge is expected to cost USD 168 million to build. The South Korean loan will contribute USD 138 million while Myanmar construction ministry will bear the rest.
The projected yearly spending on the bridge construction is USD 7.7 million in the first FY then followed by USD 39.5 million in the second FY, USD 31.7 million in the third FY, USD 36.4 million in the fourth and USD 22.5 million in the final year of construction.
Bridge design
The total bridge span is 6180 feet with a width of 87 feet and a height of 160 feet which would allow the ships to pass through underneath the bridge.
The pre-survey, costed USD 680,000, was carried out by Sambo Engineering and Korean Engineering Consultants. The survey was funded by South Korean government.
The original design of the bridge is said to be drawn by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Yangon Region Government. However a new design will be chosen by a consultation committee which is expected to be formed soon in September 2016.
The design selection process may take six to eight month after the formation of the consultation committee.
