The Hindu Business Line : India to rebuild Sittwee port ahead of schedule

New Delhi, June 24 The Minister of State for Commerce and Power, Mr Jairam Ramesh, has said that India would complete the prestigious project of rebuilding and expanding the Sittwee port in the Arakan region of Myanmar on the Bay of Bengal in four years by 2012, one year ahead of the current estimated schedule.

Mr Ramesh, leading a high-level official delegation, on Monday visited the Sittwe port in Myanmar, which India is rebuilding and expanding as part of the Kaladan multimodal transit-cum-transport project, the agreement for which was signed between the two governments in New Delhi on April 2.

Project components

This project comprises four components: (i) rebuilding the infrastructure at Sittwe port; (ii) making the Kaladan river commercially navigable for a stretch of 225 km up to Kaletwa in Myanmar; (iii) building infrastructure at Kaletwa; and (iv) constructing a 62-km highway from Kaletwa to the India-Myanmar border in Mizoram.

Thus, the Kaladan project is of vital strategic importance to India since it provides an alternative access route to the north-east. The sea-distance between Kolkata and Sittwe is about 540 km.

Greater Connectivity

The project will also provide for greater connectivity between the north-east and Asean countries. Inland Waterway Authority of India (IWAI) is the project development consultant and the entire cost of around Rs 546 crore is being borne by the Government of India. Mr Ramesh said that an additional component of the project will be the highway connecting the border point in Mizoram to NH-54, for which the NHAI will take up the work as the Kaladan project commences.

Speaking at Sittwe, Mr Ramesh said that the IWAI has already received nine bids from reputed consulting firms for engagement as engineering consultants and the final choice will be made by the first week of September 2008, after which work on the Kaladan project will commence in full-swing, an official release issued here said.

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