About KMMTTP
- The KMMTTP, named after the Kaladan River that flows from the Chin state in Myanmar through India’s North Eastern state of Mizoram to merge into the Bay of Bengal.
- Connecting Mizoram with Myanmar, through a multimodal transport corridor, would enable easy trade and transit transport movement in this region.
- This project would allow the North East region, tenuously connected to the mainland through a 21 km Chicken’s Neck corridor in the upper West Bengal and flanked by Nepal and Bhutan, to be easily accessible.
- The KMMTTP (with two modes of transport – waterway and roadways) moves through the Rakhine State and Chin State in Myanmar and Mizoram in India.
- As planned, the KMMTTP would reduce the distance of transportation between Kolkata and Sittwe in Myanmar by shortening the route from 1,880 km via the Chicken’s Neck to 930 km.
- The multimodal transportation includes cargo movement through three different modes viz. coastal shipping, inland waterway and road transport.
Components of Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project
- Construction of an integrated port and Inland Waterway Transport (IWT) terminal at Sittwe, including reclamation of land and dredging
- Development of navigational channel along river Kaladan from Sittwe to Paletwa (158 km)
- Construction of an Inland waterway — Highway trans-shipment terminal at Paletwa
- Construction of seven IWT barges (each with a capacity of 300 tonnes) for transportation of cargo by waterway between Sittwe and Paletwa
- Building a highway (110 km) from Paletwa to the India–Myanmar border (Zorinpui) in Mizoram.
Kaladan River
- The Kaladan River is a river in eastern Mizoram State of India, and in Chin State and Rakhine State of western Myanmar.
- The Kaladan River is called the Chhimtuipui River in India.
- It forms the international border between India and Burma between 22° 47′ 10″ N (where its tributary, the Tiau River, joins it) and 22° 11′ 06″ N.
- Kaladan was an entry point to Mizoram from the seaport of Sittwe in 1904.
- Kaladan is Mizoram’s largest river and it flows through its southeastern region.
Source: The Hindu
