India’s New North-East Link skips Bangladesh and connects through water via Myanmar

The North-East part of India and the states bordering Bangladesh was initially planned to get a connecting corridor but will now get a new route via water and connecting through Myanmar. Bangladesh is being skipped from the project with an alternative link via the ocean, a senior official National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), spoke with The Indian Express.

The alternative decision and planning happened as a response to the Bangladesh Interim Chief advisor Muhhamed Yunus making a statement regarding the Northern States of India as ‘landlocked’ and saying Dhaka is the,“only guardian of the ocean for all this region” in Beijing.  

The highway project alongside NH6 stretches 166.8 km from Mawlyngkhung near Shillong to Panchgram near Silchar and is the first high speed corridor project planned in the North-East, planned by NHIDCL with the project completion estimated to be 2030.

The Kaladan Multi- Modal Transit project from Myanmar connects the Kolkata seaport to the Sittwe port on the Kaladan River. This project is also funded by the Ministry of External Affairs and the Sittwe port will connect to Paletwa in Myanmar through an inland waterway and to Zorinpui in Mizoram through land. 

As a part of India’s Act East Policy, this project will be vital in linking all of the North-East states. Adding to this, the NHIDCL official said, “The NHIDCL will take the project further from Zorinpui to Lawngtlai to Aizawl in Mizoram. This is not only the first high-speed corridor in the North-East, but the first such project in the hilly region. Shillong-Silchar is significant as Silchar is the entry point for connecting Mizoram, Tripura and Manipur as well as the Barak Valley region of Assam.” 

The Kaladan project will also play a crucial role in trading and cargo from Visakhapatnam and Kolkata and the neighboring states without having to depend on Bangladesh. The link is expected to be completed alongside theShillong-Silchar highway.  Majority of the project link is at Meghalaya where 144.8 kms while 22 km lies in Assam. The budget breakdown for the project is INR 22,486 was approved by the Union Cabinet on 30 April. 

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