Highway linking India to Myanmar, Thailand likely by 2016: VK Singh

New Delhi: Two major connectivity projects—Kaladan Multi-modal Transit and India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway—linking India with Myanmar and further to Southeast Asia are likely to be completed by 2016 with both opening up Northeast India to the economies of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), minister of state for external affairs V.K. Singh said on Thursday.

“The Kaladan Multi-modal Transit transport model is expected to be fully completed by 2016. The India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway corridor is also one such project that we hope will be ready by 2016 and open up tremendous possibility of trade and investment in the region,” he said.

Singh was speaking at an event organized by Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) economic think tank to release a report “Transforming Connectivity Corridors between India and Myanmar into Development Corridors”.

The Kaladan project, when implemented, will connect Kolkata to Sittwe port in Myanmar, and then further to Mizoram by river and road. India and Myanmar had signed a framework agreement in 2008 for the implementation of this project.

The India-Myanmar-Thailand highway project to link the three countries came out of a trilateral ministerial meeting on transport linkages in Yangon in April 2002.

The highway will run from Moreh in Manipur to Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar and represents a significant step in establishing connectivity between India and Southeast Asian countries.