Aizawl: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged Myanmar’s coup leader‑turned‑president Min Aung Hlaing to expedite completion of the long‑delayed Kaladan Multi‑Modal Transit Transport Project (KMMTTP) linking Myanmar’s Sittwe port with Mizoram, during the latter’s ongoing visit to India from May 30 to June 3, according to a joint statement issued on Tuesday.Construction of Rakhine’s Sittwe port and a terminal in neighbouring Paletwa township of southern Chin State has been completed, but the 109‑km road from Paletwa to the Indian border remains stalled due to armed conflict, instability, and logistical hurdles. Except for Sittwe, most of the project area inside Myanmar, including Paletwa, has come under the control of the Arakan Army (AA), which is fighting the military regime.The KMMTTP is a flagship initiative under India’s ‘Act East Policy’. While the 109‑km stretch between Paletwa and the Indian border village in Mizoram remains incomplete, the 100‑km Lawngtlai-Zorinpui highway connecting the border crossing to India’s existing road network has already been finished.Myanmar acts as the primary transit host and sovereign partner for the project. While India completely funds and manages the construction, the project physically cuts through Myanmar’s territory to provide India with its strategic alternative route.Executed by India’s ministry of external affairs and IRCON International, the project has faced repeated delays due to turbulent politics in Myanmar’s Rakhine State and compensation disputes on the Mizoram side. Although parts of the route are operational, construction deadlines have been extended multiple times, with full operational viability now targeted between 2025 and 2027.Reports from Lawngtlai district indicate that the Arakan Army, recognising the strategic importance of the international transport corridor, has been pressuring India’s ministry of external affairs to supply commodities, including chemical fertilisers, for farmers in Rakhine and southern Chin States.Originally scheduled for completion in 2014, the project missed successive deadlines, including the revised target of Dec 2023. Both the central and Mizoram govts now expect the entire corridor to be fully operational by 2027.
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