The Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project’s (KMTTP) waterway component will start operating in June 2023.
Information regarding the Kaladan Multimodal Transit Transport Project (KMTTP)
- It was initially approved in 2008 and is being tested by the Ministry of External Affairs.
- The objective is to increase trade and business between India and Myanmar while facilitating access to other South Asian nations.
- Goal: To create alternate routes from Kolkata Port through Sittwe Port up to Paletwa in Myanmar by water and Paletwa to Zorinpui in Mizoram by road for connectivity to the North East region.
- Using a waterway path along the river Kaladan, KMTTP connects Kolkata to Sittwe port, which is then connected to Paletwa in Myanmar.
- A 110 km road from Paletwa to Zorinpui in Mizoram on the Indo-Myanmar border is currently being constructed.
- A 100 km road connects Lawngtlai with Zorinpui.
- An existing highway links Lawngtlai to Aizawl, which is connected to other north-eastern cities like Guwahati.
Relevance of KMTTP
- It will give India’s landlocked north-eastern states a critical alternative route to connect to the rest of the country, relieving strain on the already congested Siliguri corridor.
- The Port will increase trade and business between the two nations as well as in the region at large by creating new chances for transit to and from Myanmar, notably the Rakhine State.
Sittwe Harbour
- A framework agreement between India and Myanmar allowed for the development of Sittwe Port in order to build and run a multimodal transit transport facility on the Kaladan River that would link the Sittwe port in Myanmar with the Indian state of Mizoram.
- In Rakhine state of Myanmar, Sittwe port is situated near the mouth of the Kaladan.
- It is created by the Union Shipping Ministry-affiliated Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), an independent institution.