Army set to move command from Rangoon

War

Army set to move command from Rangoon

Gen Thura Shwe Mann, Joint Chief of Staff of Burma's Armed Forces, is making preparations to transfer the War Office to Pyinmana, 244 miles north of Rangoon soon, according to a source close to the military, writes Hawkeye from the border:

No details are available but the report agrees with a short article contained in News on Burma (http://www.democratic-burma.com/) an online daily paper published by the Opposition, 10 November, that spoke of ongoing creation of a new town near Pyinmana.

A number of construction firms including Asia World of former druglord Law Hsinghan, Olympic of U Aik Htun and Htoo of Quartermaster General Lt-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo are involved in the project, it says. Construction of the military installations on the other hand are being handled by the Army's engineering corps.

Pyinmana is located roughly halfway between Rangoon and Mandalay further north and some 50 miles southwest of Panglawng, a town in Shan State's southwestern rim. A motor road had already been built to connect Pyinmana with the railroad in Panglawng that continues to Taunggyi, Shan capital, 82 miles further on.

Pyinmana is known by Shans as Piang-mark-na, Plain of Myrobalan Fruit (terminalia bellerica). It has been an important way station for Shan bullock caravans travelling between the Shan hills and Rangoon centuries earlier.