This week, the Minister of Shipping, Sarbananda Sonowal, announced that the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (KMMTTP) will be operational by 2027. The project aims to connect the eastern Indian seaport of Kolkata with Sittwe in Rakhine State of Myanmar by sea. Further, in Myanmar, it will link Sittwe to Paletwa in Chin State via the Kaladan river route, and from Paletwa to Zorinpui in Mizoram, India by road.
Funded by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, the project has faced considerable roadblocks since 2010. Aimed at reducing the distance from Kolkata to Sittwe by 1,328 km and creating an alternative route to the Siliguri Corridor, the critical Paletwa-to-Zorinpui road is yet to be completed, even though the Sittwe port received its first cargo ships from India in 2023.
Sonowal also stated that the “Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project is the result of the India–Myanmar Friendship Treaty. This is a strategic initiative to enhance connectivity between India’s northeast and Myanmar”. To this end, the Shipping Ministry has invested Rs 1,000 crore in developing the waterways for the project. However, since the military-led coup in Myanmar (2021), the future of KMMTTP has seemed uncertain, irrespective of the money injected into it.
