A sea route to northeast in the making
Document Actions
India and Burma to sign agreemet on Sittwe port development project
March 13, 2008: (Dredging News online) A senior Indian official has confirmed that India will host a high-ranking general from Burma's military government next month.
Reports quoted the official saying that vice-senior General Maung Aye is due to arrive in India April 4th to discuss economic, security and energy issues, along with the development of harbour facilities at Sittwe.
Indian press reports have said that the US$120 million cost of the Build Transfer & Use (BTU) project will be funded by a grant from the Indian government.
Berth users will be charged for services offered by the port once it has been upgraded and handed over to the Burmese, said The Hindu.
India's Union Minister of State for Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, said that the project had been under discussion for almost six years.
Sittwe is 250km from the Indian border on the north-western coast of Burma, where the Kaladan river joins the Bay of Bengal.
Ramesh said the project involved three components — rebuilding the port, making the Kaladan River navigable up to Mizoram, the Indian state bordering Burma, and developing highway connectivity from the border in Mizoram.