The Hindu Business Line : The Myanmar connection

On the face of it, the Rs 536-crore trade-transit project between India and Myanmar promises to be a boon for economic activity in the North-East because it would provide easier access to the Bay of Bengal than is the case now, using the land route skirting Bangladesh. Currently, the distance between the nearest point in the North-East and the ports of Haldia and Calcutta is more than 800 km, most of it through hilly terrain, which makes road transport even more problemati c. The project could also help facilitate trade between the North-East and South-East Asia, especially because, in recent times, Thai investors, in particular, have shown an interest in the region.

The problem, however, is not with the concept of the scheme as such but its implementation, which is going to be a slog over the next five years. The Minister of State for Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, has suggested that work could be completed in four years instead of the projected 60 months; this is perhaps a bit too ambitious given the nature of the work to be done on the project. The scheme has four parts, three of which will have to be executed in Myanmar. The first is the revamping of Sittwe port, which includes the building of container terminals dedicated to the India trade. This is perhaps the easiest part of the project as it does not have to overcome obstacles posed by the difficult terrain of Myanmar and the North-East. The second phase would constitute dredging of a 225-km stretch of the Kaladan river from Kaletwa near the border with India to the Bay of Bengal, which may be the most difficult part of the project because of the course the river takes on its way through hilly and forested terrain down to the sea. The third phase would be the construction of a 52-km road from Kaletwa to the Indian border at Mizoram, the fourth being extension of the road within India to connect it with the national highway network. Apart from the engineering hurdles posed, the provision of security will also be a major task given the problem of insurgency affecting both the countries.

Yet the project needs to be completed on time, not merely because of its economic impact, which will be modest given the volume of activity in the North-East, but because of its extra-economic dimensions. One of these is the message it will send to Bangladesh about its own perceived indispensability for India’s North-East transport requirements, which Dhaka uses as a lever in its negotiations with India on other economic issues. Second, the Sittwe project will also help firm up India-Myanmar ties, which have been under assault in the recent past, particularly on the issue of export of gas from Myanmar gasfields which have not gone to Chinese companies. New Delhi did well to concede Yangon’s point of executing the project on a build-transfer-use basis — which would transfer ownership to Myanmar immediately after it is completed — instead of on a build-own-transfer basis, which would have put India in the driver’s seat for some time after completion.

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