Kaladan project: Inland water panel to appoint consultants

The Inland Water Authority of India (IWAI) will appoint a consultant for implementation of the Kaladan Project, which seeks to link the North-East with Sitwe Port in Myanmar through a multi-modal transportation system. A project of strategic importance for India, it will also provide an alternative route for exports from the north-eastern states, which currently depend on the Kolkata port.

The Rs 550-crore project involves rebuilding the Sitwe Port which was damaged by the devastating tsumani of 2004.

According to the current project plan, India will help Myanmar in building a 225-kilometre-long inland navigable channel between Sitwe port on the Bay of Bengal and Kaletwa (an inland port) in Myanmar through the Kaladan river. Moreover, a 60-km-long highway will be built from the inland port in Myanmar to the Indian border in Mizoram.

On the Indian territory, the project involves upgrading a 117-km existing road to a highway through Mizoram. Moreover, an additional 60-km stretch will be built to link this highway to National Highway-54 (NH-54) that connects Mizoram and Assam.

“The inland navigable channel could be developed only up to a distance of 225 km since river beyond this point is not navigable. So from there we have planned to develop a 60-km-long highway up to the India border,” said a senior government source.

The IWAI would invite tenders shortly for appointing a suitable consultant for the implementation of the project, the source added.

This project is of strategic importance for India, and is seen as a measure to counter Chinese influence in the region. Moreover, the multi-modal route will act as an alternative for exports, especially tea and other farm products, from the north-eastern states.

At the moment, exports from these states like Assam have to pass through the “chicken-neck” corridor in North Bengal, on its way to the Kolkata port. When completed, goods bound from north-eastern states for foreign countries will have a shorter link to a sea port.

India had earlier discussed a similar proposal with Bangladesh, which rejected it.

Myanmar authorities are anticipating a freight traffic of 75,000 tonnes per annum once the project is completed.

RITES Ltd, a public sector undertaking under the Indian Railways, conducted the first feasibility study of the project and had submitted the detailed project report in 2003.

A senior government source said that India had already started the preliminary works of rebuilding the Tsunami-hit Sitwe port.