The Twante Canal ( my, တွံတေး တူးမြောင်း ) is a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

that connects the Irrawaddy River and the

Yangon river The Yangon River (also known as the Rangoon River or Hlaing River) is formed by the confluence of the Pegu and Myitmaka Rivers in Myanmar. It is a marine estuary that runs from Yangon (also known as Rangoon) to the Gulf of Martaban of the Andaman ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. The canal is a heavily used short cut between the city of

Yangon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

and the

Irrawaddy Division Ayeyarwady Region ( my, ဧရာဝတီတိုင်းဒေသကြီး , , ; formerly Ayeyarwady Division and Irrawaddy Division), is a region of Myanmar, occupying the delta region of the Ayeyarwady River (Irrawaddy River). It is bor ...

. The canal is named after the town of Twante, located near the canal's mid-way point. The canal was the quickest route from Yangon to the

Irrawaddy Delta The Irrawaddy Delta or Ayeyarwady Delta lies in the Irrawaddy Division, the lowest expanse of land in Myanmar that fans out from the limit of tidal influence at Myan Aung to the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea, to the south at the mouth of the ...

until the 1990s when roads between Yangon and the Irrawaddy Division became usable year round. The canal is still heavily used. Due to the lack of regular maintenance, the canal has become silted and narrower over the years. In 2010, the mouth of the canal was widened by . However, plans to put in concrete embankments were yet to be carried out, and the navigation problems still remain. Twante Bridge is only bridge that spans the Twante Canal

History

The construction work on Twante Canal began in 1903 during the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

colonial rule. The canal was completed in 1915. The Twante Canal shortened the distance by the Kanaungto creek between Yangon and the Irrawaddy river.Hunter, et al, p. 250 The Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, Ltd., which handled nearly all inland carrier traffic in British Burma, ran daily services from Yangon to the Irrawaddy delta and Upper Burma. In 1935, the canal was widened and deepened to allow for the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company's large steamers to Mandalay. Previously larger steam ships had to go out the Yangon river and up one of the larger mouths of the Irrawaddy.

References

{{coord, 16, 43, 26, N, 95, 57, 54, E, display=title Yangon Region Canals in Myanmar Canals opened in 1883