Myanmar, India inaugurate Sittwe Port with high hopes for bilateral trade 

By Admin 09 May 2023

DMG Newsroom
9 May 2023, Sittwe

A new port in the Arakan State capital Sittwe that is part of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project was opened at about 9 a.m. on May 9.

A cargo ship carrying cement bags was flagged off from Syama Prasad Mookerjee Port on May 4 in Kolkata and docked at Sittwe Port on Tuesday.

Indian Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, junta-appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Communications Admiral Tin Aung San, the Indian ambassador to Myanmar, Arakan State military council members, and officials of the Rakhine State Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry were present at the inauguration of Sittwe Port.

“The situation of direct trade between Arakan State and India is good. It needs to work and it may not be possible immediately. Both countries will have to do a lot of easing to make trade more inclusive,” said U Aung Aung, chairman of the Rakhine State Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Arakanese businessmen say a lack of quality of products from Arakan State that can be exported to India is a weakness that authorities, traders and businesspeople must work together to address.

“It appears that both the government and businessmen did not seriously see the business opportunities that would arise after the opening of Sittwe Port. I see the weakness of the government and businessmen in Arakan State that they were not able to plan and produce beans and pulses properly,” said veteran Arakanese businessman U Khin Maung Gyi.

Ko Kyaw Min Khaing, a social activist from Arakan State, said that India will be satisfied with the inauguration of Sittwe Port as the original goal of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project was to provide access to Mizoram state in the northeast of India.

“It is really good to be able to open the Indian-financed Sittwe Port, but to have a positive impact, I doubt how much responsibility the government will have toward the interests of the people,” he added.

Myanmar and India signed a bilateral agreement in 2008 to connect the port and inland water transport terminals in Sittwe and Paletwa to the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram, also linking Sittwe to the port city of Kolkata in “mainland” India.

The Paletwa-Zorampur road, part of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project that was halted for two years due to regional instability and other factors, has been restarted with five tendering companies, and is slated for completion in five years.

The US$484 million Kaladan multi-modal project, which is being funded by India, will include two major land and sea routes: a waterway from Sittwe to Paletwa and a road link from Paletwa to Mizoram.