Cargo ship carrying 3,000 tons of cement to start trial run from Kolkata to Sittwe

Narinjara News, 8 April 2023

A trial run is about to commence for a cargo ship carrying 3,000 tons of cement from Kolkata port in eastern India to Sittwe in Rakhine  State of western Myanmar.

The management of Kolkata’s Shyama Prasad Mookerjee port recently announced that the trial run will be done in April or May.

An official of Indian consulate in Sittwe also confirmed that the initiative has been taken.

“It's true that the test run is about to begin. But since it is Thingyan (water festival) period in Myanmar, the initiative may take a few days. It is likely to happen by May," he added.

India’s ambitious Kaladan multi modal project includes Sittwe port, which was reconstructed in 2009 with the fund from New Delhi. This project aims to establish a direct trading route between Myanmar and northeast India.

Currently, all the construction works have been completed. The military council is planning to improve Sittwe as an international port and an opening ceremony is on the card.

India and Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the Kaladan project in 2018, where New Delhi has invested nearly USD 500  million.

Primary objective of the Kaladan project is to facilitate the transportation of goods by sea route to Sittwe and then to Paletwa by Kaladan  river. From Paletwa (in Chin State) the goods will transported by road to  Mizoram State of northeast India.

Indian media outlets recently reported that a 117 Kilometer two-lane highway has been constructed from the border of Myanmar to  Lawngtlai  nlocality  of Mizoram.

Once it is completed, the Kaladan project will be made fully operational. Mentionable is that over 2600 tons of rice were recently delivered to Bangladesh through the Sittwe port.