The Centre is looking at reviving traditional trade routes through the Brahmaputra to the southeast Asian nations
Modi’s Act East policy, added with the government’s thrust to build better connectivity networks, could prove to be a bonanza of sorts for the Northeastern region, especially with four states going to the polls this year.
The development of connectivity hubs in the region by boosting air, roads, water and communication networks besides the availability of power, opening of Stilwell Road, revamping of the Land Custom Station at Mizoram’s Zokhawthar, developing trade points in Nagaland are some of the possibilities that the Centre is looking at to boost trade and commerce in the region.
The Centre is looking at reviving traditional trade routes through the Brahmaputra to the southeast Asian nations. In addition to that, the construction of the 1,980 km long India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway that will connect Moreh with Thailand’s Mae Sot via Myanmar is part of the initiative. There is also an intent to extend the route to as far as Vietnam, and Myanmar and Thailand are currently negotiating a Motor Vehicle Agreement for facilitating seamless movement of vehicles across the borders among Myanmar, Thailand and India.
Development of ports as part of the Kaladan Multimodal Transport Transit Project (KMTTP) will provide an alternative connectivity to the Northeast region via Mizoram with the Haldia-Kolkata ports through Myanmar’s Kaladan river. The move will end the region’s maritime isolation, an issue which was the focus at the recently-concluded ASEAN India summit.
Guwahati, often seen as the gateway to the Northeast and further to the southeast Asian region, is currently connected to Bhutan by flight. In the summit, a direct flight between Guwahati and Singapore city was greenlighted. A Rajya Sabha department-related standing committee on commerce in its report had suggested in December 2017 that air connectivity to Guwahati from the capitals of Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar, etc will lead to “business partnership and help boost export from the state”.
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