Source: The Diplomat
Developments in Myanmar since the military coup three years ago seem to have convinced a section of high-ranking Indian government officials that the flagship Kaladan project has hit a dead-end. They believe that the chances of work on the incomplete stretch of the ambitious initiative being resumed are bleak.
Early this month, the Indian government issued a travel advisory asking all Indian nationals to refrain from visiting Myanmar’s Rakhine State where a fierce war is on between the Myanmar junta and the Arakan Army. A vast swathe of territory in Rakhine State and the adjoining territory in southern Chin State have already been taken over by the Arakan Army compelling a section of the regime forces to flee to the Indian border state of Mizoram and Bangladesh for safety from where they were air-lifted to Myanmar.
The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport project is a key component of India’s Act East Policy. It aims at providing an alternate outlet to the country’s landlocked northeast. Since the project commenced 13 years ago, it has missed many deadlines.
The Kaladan project has two components — road and inland waterway — to link Mizoram in India’s northeast to Sittwe port in Rakhine State. Zorinpui on the border between the twin countries will be connected to Paletwa in Myanmar with an approximately 68-mile-long road and 98 miles of inland waterway through the Kaladan river from Paletwa to Sittwe port.
The 68-mile stretch of highway from Paletwa to Zorinpui at the India-Myanmar border is yet to be constructed. The highway has two parts — 42 miles from Paletwa to Kaletwa and 26 miles from Kaletwa to Zorinpui. This highway passes through a zone that is among the worst-affected regions in the ongoing fighting between the military and resistance forces in Myanmar.
The other segments of the project — construction of the Sittwe Port at the mouth of the Kaladan River in Rakhine State and a river terminal at Paletwa as well as dredging of the Kaladan River – have been completed in Myanmar.
