Public transportation costs along the vital highway connecting Sagaing Region’s Kale with northern Chin State’s Tedim and Falam have surged dramatically, driven by exorbitant toll collections at military junta checkpoints.
Following extensive ground offensives and heavy airstrikes, the regime regained full control of Falam on April 25—nearly a year after the Chin Brotherhood (CB) Alliance captured the town in April 2025.
With the highway officially reopened to civilian traffic, the junta has established a dense network of security checkpoints, where soldiers extract heavy cash tolls from passing vehicles.
“Cars are now running normally again between Kale and Tedim, but bus fares have gone up, and you can’t really blame the operators,” a Tedim resident told Khonumthung News. “Even if we assume there are only seven checkpoints, paying 20,000 MMK at each one costs about 140,000 MMK in total. I think there are actually around nine checkpoints between Kale and Tedim.”
Passenger fares from Kale to Tedim currently range from 150,000 MMK to 180,000 MMK, increasing to approximately 200,000 MMK for passengers traveling onward to Falam.
While downtown businesses, grocery stores, and beauty salons in Tedim have resumed operations, skyrocketing transportation and freight charges have prevented consumer prices from dropping.
Delivering a small parcel from Kale to Tedim costs between 10,000 MMK and 15,000 MMK; for heavier packages, up to 20,000 MMK.
The crushing combination of predatory checkpoint tolls and inflated shipping costs continues to squeeze local businesses and exacerbate economic hardship for residents across northern Chin State.