The road connecting the towns of Putao and Naungmon to the north east has been severely damaged which is delaying travellers and forcing them to stay overnight en route.
Heavy rains since early June have caused severe damage to the approximately 58 mile (93 km) long Putao to Naungmon Road, which has not yet been repaired. As a result trucks and buses are forced to travel cautiously and far slower than before, which is leading to travellers having to spend a night sleeping somewhere along the route.
A 40-year-old woman from Naungmon Town said: “Right now, large lorries can’t use the road at all. Only four-wheel-drive trucks can make it through. If you’re coming from Putao, you’ll need to spend at least one night on the road—sometimes even two.”
A bus driver who drives a bus between Putao and Naungmon towns said that the worst affected part of the route is the stretch between the villages of Naungmon Town and Magwayza where the road is particularly badly damaged and several bridges are still broken.
He said to KNG: “The section past Magwayza Village is even worse. In some spots, vehicles can’t move on their own, so they have to be pulled by backhoes. In other places, people have to push them. You can hire backhoes and workers along the route to help with that. The stretch between Putao and Magwayza isn’t that bad.”
Normally, when road conditions are not as bad, the journey from Putao to Naungmon can be done in a day in a car or a motorcycle. But now, due to the poor road conditions, the journey takes at least two days, with travellers having to spend at least one night on the road.
The aforementioned Naungmon Town resident said: “Egg prices have gone up to 1,000 MMK, and it’s getting hard to find any in stock. Tomatoes used to cost around 10,000 MMK per viss (around 1.6 kilograms), but now they’re up to 15,000 MMK. Extra expenses like renting backhoes to move goods along the road have pushed prices even higher.”
The bad road conditions have also led to an increase in the price of bus fares.
It is expected to take at least a month to repair all the damage to the Putao to Naungmon Town road.
Floodwaters also swept away away five suspension bridges in Naungmon Township at the beginning of June 2025, including one at the entrance to Pannandin Town, which has made travelling in the township even harder.
Another resident of Naungmon Town said: “The Pannandin Bridge that got destroyed hasn’t been rebuilt yet, and the rains are still coming down hard. When the bridges go out, locals take a risk by crossing the fast-flowing streams using ziplines stretched across them.”
Naungmon Town is in the northernmost part of Myanmar. It is a remote town connected to the rest of Myanmar by hard to travel roads. Every rainy season, its roads are frequently damaged by floods and landslides.
