18.02.2007
Waiting for a sea port
_ By Nava Thakuria
Northeast India may not have a port, but the landlocked region might exploit the facilities of a seaport in Myanmar, if every thing goes on track. The Government of India has planned to develop a port in Sittwe, the capital of northwest Myanmar province Rakhine (earlier known as Arakan), which is less than 400 km away from the capital of Mizoram. If the plan worked out, the northeastern part of India would be connected with the port through land and river ways. Branded as Kaladan multi-modal project, it includes development of Kaladan river as a waterway connecting Northeast (through the road connectivity from Kaletwa in Myanmar to Aizawl in Mizoram) with the Bay of Bengal. Ariel distance between Sittwe and Aizawl is less than 400 km.
"New Delhi wants to connect Northeast with the commercial sea routes. Moreover, the development of Sittwe port and the Kaladan river as navigation efficient, the region is expected to have another viable access to ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) countries," said the Minister of State for Commerce Jairam Ramesh during his recent visit to Northeast. He also informed that the arrangement would allow the movement of cargo ships from Sittwe to any Indian port by using sea routes.
Northeast comprising now eight states namely Asom, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Tripura and Sikkim is surrounded by Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet (China), Burma and Bangladesh. The region with a cumulative population of nearly 50 million is connected to the mainland through a chicken neck. More precisely, only 2% of the region's territory is attached with the country.
Conceived and proposed by India's External Affairs Ministry in 2003, the project has already received approval from the Myanmarese government. Meanwhile, it obtains in-principle approval from the Planning Commission too. Now the project is waiting Cabinet's formal approval, which is expected very soon after certain financial issues regarding its commercial viability and rate of returns are resolved.
The river Kaladan flows from India's Mizoram to Sittwe (formerly Akyab) through another Myanmarese state named Chin (capital city is Haka). Kaladan River is the biggest waterway in the locality. The coastal region in western Myanmar is separated from the mainland by the Rakhine Yoma mountain range. The Sittwe Port, at the mouth of the Kaladan River in Rakhine coast is an important harbour, which emerged as a center for rice export after British occupation in 1826. Earlier it was a small village of fishing communities and farmers.
"The Kaladan project will include shipping, riverine and road transport," added the Commerce minister Mr Ramesh revealing that it would require nearly $1.1 billion as investment. New Delhi has decided to spend around $100 million. Moreover, it would take the burden of all cost over runs. The Myanmar government run by a group of generals, known as State Peace and Development Council, has though consented on the proposal, but showed reluctance to invest in the project. The SPDC only assured to provide free land for the project. Hence, New Delhi agreed to offer a soft loan to SPDC for its share ( $10 million).
The Kaladan project is anticipated to be completed within four years. It will include the construction of roads from Kaletwa to the Saiha (Mizoram birder). Later the road will be connected to India's National Highway 54 inside Mizoram. The project will be executed by India's public sector organisation RITES (Rail India Technical Economic Services) and is expected to be commissioned by 2009.
During the recent visit (January 19-21) of India's foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee to Myanmar, where he met the Prime Minister Gen Soe Win to the Planning and Economic Development Minister U Soe Tha with his counterpart U Nyan, elaborate discussions were held on the Kaladan project in respect of investments too. Earlier, a meeting between the high ranking officials from Light Infantry Battalion (of Myanmar) and the engineers from Mizoram was organized in Lawng Tlai, a border town where many issues related to the development of the water way adjacent to Mizoram were discussed. Meanwhile, a delegation of Mizoram government officials met Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Sigh in the national capital to discuss on the project. The meeting, held in the Prime Minister's office on January 19 studied the detailed project report prepared by RITES in 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 other ways nearer to Northeast. Moreover, the Bangladesh government has been showing unwillingness to provide space to run a gas pipeline from Myanmar to the mainland India (Calcutta) through its territory. The Bangladeshi seaport in Chittagong is less than 200 km away from Agartala, the capital of Triupra. However, New Delhi wants to engage the military regime of Myanmar in greater economic exercise with an aim to prevent China's prevalence in the South East Country too.
The fact that both of the two regional powers, India and China, want exactly the same thing from Burma puts them in a position very vulnerable to be exploited by Burma's streetwise Generals. China, without having its own sea ports for access to Indian Ocean, dearly loves to get Indian Ocean access via Burma's rivers and sea-ports. India also wants the rights to use the same rivers and sea-ports in Burma for similar reasons, to provide sea-access to land-locked North-Eastern States of India.
Recently, India’s growing engagement with Burmese military government is becoming a bitter sweet for Burmese pro-democracy movement. Burmese pro-democracy politicians want to see India’s involvement in Burma as a glimmer of hope for stopping Communist China's ever increasing, but un-welcomed, influence on Burma. But on the other hand, Indian government's current realpolitik approach towards Burma is causing disappointment among Burmese democrats who used to regard India as a good reliable friend of democracy.
[The author is a senior journalist based in Guwahati of Northeast India and edits an Asomiya weekly 'Natun Somoy'.]
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