Myanmar’s domestic coastal ships have been allowed todock at the new port in Sittwe, which was constructed by India, and now thecargo will be able to load and unload from the jetty.

Rakhine State Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RSCCI)on 20 September announced that the local ships were offered the facility.

"Its’ goodnews that the domestic coastal ships have started berthing at India-Myanmarfriendship Kalatan river multipurpose transport project jetty in Sittwe port,”said a RSCCI statement.  

Nadvice is made available to the ship owners by the RSCCI.

Sittwe port was opened on 9 May by the governmentofficials from both India and Myanmar. But soon after the opening, cyyclone Mocha hit Rankine State on 14 May and the port wasused for supporting the storm rescue vessels by the military council. Then theother vessels were not permitted to dock.

Currently, the military authorities have granted thepermission for both the international and domestic cargo ships (includingSittwe-Rangoon route cargo) to dock at the port.

Sittwe port  is an important part of theambitious Kaladan project which would connect India’s northeastern State ofMizoram.

The port was built by New Delhi in 2009 with a cost of$120 million. Once the jetty was completed, more than 2,600 tons of rice were sent to Bangladesh through the newport of Sittwe on 13 January as a trial.

Sittwe port is also included in Kaladan river project,which was signed in 2018 as the memorandum of understanding by both theneighbouring governments, where New Delhi invested about USD 500 million.

The project is designed to transport goods from Sittweport to Palatwa in Chin State through Kaladan river and from Palewa to theMyanmar-India border by the land route.

Currently, the 117-kilometer two-lane highway fromLawngtlai (in Mizoram) to the Myanmar border is under construction. It may takesome time.

After commissioning of the the project, trades betweenthe two countries will increase, where the northeastern region of India andwestern regions of Myanmar will be benefited.