Thakur: Kaladan Project Work Very Slow Over Myanmar Unrest
The project work has been underway but very slowly.
Kolkata: The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project (KMMTTP) between India and Myanmar can not gather speed until the internal situation in the neighbouring country improves. This was indicated by union minister of state for ports and shipping Santanu Thakur on Friday.
Asked about the present status of the project, he said, “It was undertaken as a secondary option for us because China always keeps our Chicken's Neck corridor in target. The project work has been underway but very slowly. It can't be sped up due to the surrounding and social situations prevailing there. It will continue though.”
Mr Thakur however said on the question of any timeframe to complete the work, “No deadline has been set so far because of the surrounding situation existing there. How can the development happen if the situation does not come under control? Let's see what happens in the future there.”
He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of the inauguration of Mercantile Marine Department Patna, a Seafarers’ Outreach Centre and launch of redevelopment work at Nabik Griha Samity and the Marine Club in Kolkata at a symposium.
KMMTTP, which aims to connect the two countries across sea from Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port Kolkata to Sittwe Port in Myanmar and then a 158-km waterway on Kaladan River from Sittwe to Paletwa in Myanmar before a 109-km roadlink from Paletwa to Zorinpui on the India-Myanmar border in Mizoram in the North East, has been affected following a civil war in Myanmar.