New North-East Link to Kolkata Will Be Via Sea, Giving Bangladesh a Miss

The proposed highway from Shillong in Meghalaya to Silchar in Assam will become an extension of a key multi-modal transport project in Myanmar, leading to an alternate link via sea between the North-East states and Kolkata, a senior official from National Highways & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) told The Indian Express.

- DHEERAJ MISHRA

The official described the project as a response to Bangladesh interim government chief adviser Muhammad Yunus's remark in Beijing this March that North-East India is "landlocked" and Dhaka is the "only guardian of the ocean for all this region" — he said this while seeking "extension of the Chinese economy".

Days later, on April 4, Yunus met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC Summit in Bangkok. The Ministry of External Affairs said Modi told Yunus that "rhetoric that vitiates the environment is best avoided".

The 166.8-km four-lane highway along NH-6 from Mawlyngkhung near Shillong to Panchgram near Silchar is the first high-speed corridor project in the North-East. It is being implemented by NHIDCL for the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH), and is expected to be completed by 2030.

At the other end, the Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project in Myanmar is being funded by the Ministry of External Affairs — and connects the Kolkata seaport to the Sittwe port on the Kaladan river in Rakhine state. Further, the Sittwe port connects to Paletwa in Myanmar through an inland waterway and to Zorinpui in Mizoram through a road section.