Mizoram MP meets Myanmar militants in push to speed up work on key connectivity project

Mizoram MP meets Myanmar militants in push to speed up work on key connectivity project

New Delhi: Mizoram’s lone Rajya Sabha member, K. Vanlalvena of the Mizo National Front (MNF), has met militants belonging to Myanmar insurgent group Arakan Army (AA) at the border to push for a key transport project that is key to the Centre’s “Look East” policy, according to a state government press release.

It added that Vanlalvena, whose MNF is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), also met officers from the construction company IRCON, an Indian PSU, Thursday.

The Kaladan Multi Modal Transit Transport Project (KMMTTP) will link southern Mizoram’s Lawngtlai district and the Sittwe port in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, from where there will be a sea link with the Kolkata port.

According to the statement, Vanlalvena and his team first met Assam Rifles personnel at their camp at Zorinpui, the proposed Indo-Myanmar border trade centre, and spoke with the contractors building the road from Lawngtlai town to Zorinpui. The team then travelled 8 kilometres on the Zorinpui-Paletwa (Myanmar road) inside Myanmar.

In a meeting with the Indian firm IRCON and its two Myanmar sub-contractors, Vanlalvena expressed disappointment that the construction had been going slowly. He urged officials to speed up the work, the statement said.

The MP also asked AA militants to cooperate with contractors, saying the highway would be beneficial to all. The AA leaders assured Vanlalvena they would not disturb the contractors and would also provide necessary security and protection to workers, it added.

The KMMTT project, being undertaken under the Ministry of External Affairs, is divided into four stages. The first is the repair of Sittwe seaport, linking the River Chhimtuipui, which has its source in Mizoram. Repair and upgradation of the port was completed and inaugurated by Union Shipping Minister Sarbananda Sonowal in May last year.

The second stretch is the 158-kilometre inland waterway between Paletwa and Sittwe, which has also been completed.

The third is the construction of the proposed 106-kilometre highway between Zorinpui (Mizoram) and Paletwa (Rakhine state in Myanmar), where work has slowed down, prompting Vanlalvena’s Thursday meeting.

Construction of the 94-kilometre Lawngtlai-Zorinpui Road has also been completed but landslides later created several hurdles.

(Edited Tikli Basu)