By LAWI WENG
More than 100 Thai taxi drivers are protesting Burmese taxi drivers to take passengers into Mae Sot, Thailand.
Thai taxi drivers, who are not allowed to enter Myawaddy located across Friendship Bridge, blocked the bridge to commercial transportation on Thursday morning. Passenger cars were allowed to cross over.
Thai taxi drivers said they get no passengers from Myawaddy since Burmese taxis take them into Mae Sot.
The bridge remained blocked on Friday.
Thai taxi drivers have reportedly asked the Burmese border authority in Myawaddy to prohibit Burmese taxi from entering Mae Sot. Burmese authorities responded that an order from Naypyidaw is needed.
About 50 Burmese taxis in Myawaddy drive into Mae Sot each day, some making multiple trips. Taxi drivers can earn about 1,000 baht a day, according to the sources.
Burmese businessmen in Myawaddy Township said that most bilateral trade on the border was halted when trucks from Thailand and Myawaddy weren’t allowed to cross the bridge by the protesters.
Thailand earns around 1 billion baht monthly from the bilateral border trade between Myawaddy and Mae Sot, according to the Tak Provincial Chamber of Commerce.
The two counties opened official border trade in Mae Sot after the Thai-Burma Friendship Bridge opened in 1997. A border trade zone in Myawaddy is expected to
increase trade between the two countries.
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