Kengtung toll gate—There are three toll gates on the Tachileik – Kengtung road, which follows a series of narrow steep river gorges and was paved by Hong Pang Company owned by Wei Hsueh-Kang of the United Wa State Army (UWSA).
This highway construction firm is in charge of collecting payment for use of the road. Recently, there was a complaint from car owners from Kengtung and Mong Yawng that they could no longer run their transportation businesses due to unfair toll gate fees.
The UWSA signed a ceasefire agreement with Burma’s former prime minister and military intelligence chief Gen Khin Nyunt in 1989 and Hong Pang’s business opportunities quickly developed during the 1990s. A court in Brooklyn, New York, has indicted Wei Hsueh-Kang for his involvement in the drug trade.