[Assam] A couple of articles worth reading

Tue Mar 6 22:13:37 EST 2007

Ram-da,

  This seems like either a very stupid or very brilliant plan. Building a port in a neighboring country - I never of this one before

  ***Nava Thakuria 
NORTHEAST India may not have a port but, if all goes well, the landlocked region might exploit the possibility of just such a facility in Myanmar. The Indian government is planning to develop a port in Sittwe, capital of northwest Myanmar province 
Rakhine (earlier known as Arakan) is less than 400 km from Aizawl, Mizoram’s capital, and if the plan works out, northeast India will be connected with the port — overland and through river ways. Called the Kaladan Multi-modal Project, it includes developing the Kaladan river to connect northeast India (through a road link from Kalewa in Myanmar to Aizawl) with the Bay of Bengal. As the crow flies, 400 km separates Sittwe from Aizawl. 
“New Delhi wants to connect the northeast with the commercial sea routes. Moreover, with the development of Sittwe port and the Kaladan river as a navigation efficient, the region is expected to have another viable access to the Association of South East Asian Nations,” said minister of state for commerce Jairam Ramesh during a recent visit to the northeast. He also said arrangements would allow the movement of cargo ships from Sittwe to any Indian port. 
The northeast — comprising Asom, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim — is surrounded by Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet (China), Myanmar and Bangladesh. With a cumulative population of nearly 50 million, the region is connected to the mainland by way of a “Chicken Neck” in North Bengal. More precisely, only two per cent of the region’s territory is attached with the country. 
Conceived and proposed by the External Affairs Ministry in 2003, the project — having obtained approval from the Planning Commission — has also been okayed by the Myanmarese government. It now awaits formal Cabinet approval, which is expected very soon after certain financial issues regarding its commercial viability and rate of returns are resolved. 
The Kaladan flows from Mizoram to Sittwe (formerly Akyab) through another Myanmarese state named Chin (the capital city is Haka), and is the biggest waterway in the locality. The coastal region in western Myanmar is separated from the mainland by the Rakhine Yoma mountain range. Sittwe port, at the mouth of the Kaladan on the Rakhine coast, is an important harbour that emerged as a centre for rice export after British occupation in 1826. Earlier, it was a small fishing and farmer community. 
“The Kaladan project will include shipping, riverine and road transport,” said Ramesh, adding that it would require nearly $1.1 billion in investment. New Delhi has decided to spend around $100 million and will, moreover, assume the major burden. The Myanmarese junta, known as the State Peace and Development Council, while consenting to the proposal, has shown a reluctance to invest. It has merely assured free land for the project, which is why New Delhi has agreed to offer a soft loan to the SPDC as its share ($10 million). 
The Kaladan project is anticipated to be completed within four years and will include the construction of roads from Kalewa to Saiha (Mizoram border). Later, this road will be connected to India’s National Highway 54 inside Mizoram. The project will be executed by India’s public sector Rail India Technical Economic Services organisation and is expected to be commissioned by 2009. 
During foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee’s recent visit to Myanmar (19-21 January), where he met Prime Minister General Soe Win, planning and economic development minister U Soe Tha and his counterpart, U Nyan, elaborate discussions were held on the Kaladan project in respect of investment as well. An earlier meeting between high ranking officials from the Light Infantry Battalion (Myanmar) and engineers from Mizoram was organised in Lawng Tlai, a border town, where many issues relating to the development of the waterway adjacent to Mizoram were discussed. Meanwhile, a delegation of Mizoram government officials met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in Delhi on 19 January to discuss the project. They studied the detailed project report prepared by Rites in the presence of high-level officials of the Union government. 
New Delhi’s move to invest in a Myanmarese port assumes significance in view of Dhaka’s reluctance to give India access to Chittagong port, which is nearer to the northeast. Moreover, the Bangladesh government has been showing an unwillingness to provide space to run a gas pipeline from Myanmar to Kolkata through its territory. Chittagong port is less than 200 km from Agartala (Tripura). 
New Delhi’s plan is to engage Myanmar’s military regime in a greater economic exercise to prevent China’s prevalence in that southeast Asian country. 

(The author is a Guwahati-based journalist and editor of Natun Somoy.) 

Ram Sarangapani <assamrs at gmail.com> wrote:
    http://thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=14&theme=&usrsess=1&id=148808 

  http://thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=14&theme=&usrsess=1&id=148811 

  The above from the Statesman, Calcutta. Hope you all find it interesting.

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