Myanmar’s Commerce Minister, U Aung Naing Oo said. “Construction is underway for the road that will connect the Kaladan river to India. We are hopeful that it will be completed soon,” he said on the sidelines of an event at EEPC India, refusing to share a timeline.
Oo said full-fledged operations at the Sittwe port in Rakhine would begin soon, and it would be transformational in bilateral trade with India, besides improving connectivity between the two countries.
The deep-water Sittwe port, funded under grant-in-aid assistance from the Indian government, is part of the Rs 3,200-crore KMTTP, sanctioned by the Centre in 2008. Once fully operationalised, KMTTP will link the east coast of India to the north-eastern states through the Sittwe port. It would enhance bilateral and regional trade.
It will also provides a strategic link to the Northeast, thereby reducing pressure on the Siliguri corridor.
In March, MoS for External Affairs RK Ranjan Singh said the project got delayed due to the political situation in Myanmar.
“Because of the unpredictable atmosphere occurring in Myanmar, our progress in view of the Kaladan project is derailing a bit,” he had told reporters in Aizawl.
KMTTP links the Kolkata port to Sittwe port, which is then connected through an inland waterway along the Kaladan river to the western Myanmarese town of Paletwa. Paletwa will then be connected to the India-Myanmar border at Zorinpui by a 110-km-long road.
From the border, another 100 km road is being developed to connect an existing national highway at Lawngtlai town in Mizoram.
Oo said the work for the rest of the infrastructure on the Myanmar side is complete, and at present, the road is being developed.
In April, Mizoram’s Public Works Department (PWD) told the state’s Governor Haribabu Kambhampati that 98.01 per cent of the 100-km road from Zorinpui to Lawngtlai was complete.
