The Kaladan Road Project () is an international transport project connecting the eastern Indian seaport of Kolkata with Sittwe seaport in Rakhine State, Myanmar by sea. In Myanmar, it will then link Sittwe seaport to Paletwa in Chin State via the Kaladan river boat route, and then from Paletwa by road to Mizoram state in Northeast India. All components of the project, including Sittwe port and power, river dredging, and Paletwa jetty, have been completed,Still under construction, The Statesman, 13 May 2018.India starts construction of ₹1,600-cr Mizoram-Myanmar Kaladan road, Business Line, 17 April 2018. except the under construction Zorinpui-Paletwa road.110-km road is final challenge for long-delayed India-Myanmar Kaladan connectivity project, The Print, 29 March, 2021. Originally, the project was scheduled to be completed by 2014; after this deadline was missed, the project was expected to be fully operational by December 2023. With further delays, according to India and Mizoram government, the entire project would be operational by 2027.

History

This project will reduce the distance from Kolkata to Sittwe by approximately and will reduce the need to transport goods through the narrow Siliguri corridor, also known as Chicken's Neck.

Initially India had tried to persuade Bangladesh to offer transport and transit rights to the northeastern states. However, Bangladesh has consistently refused to grant such rights, including access to its Chittagong port, which is less than away from Agartala, the capital of Tripura.

The project is being piloted and funded by the Ministry of External Affairs (India). The preliminary feasibility studies were carried out by Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES). Construction work on Sittwe port and the boat jetty in Paletwa, as well as the dredging work, will be executed by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), with Essar Projects Ltd, a division of the Essar Group appointed in May 2010 as the main contractor.

Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project initially faced problems such as underestimation of the road length in Myanmar and plans to construct hydro-electric projects — Chhimtuipui River and Lungleng River — on two tributaries of the Kaladan River followed by another project downstream. That the first two projects are being built by one public sector undertaking and the third is being constructed by another PSU (Public Sector Unit) has also led to coordination issues. Due to construction of this hydro electrical projects, navigation of boats could be effected.

In April 2017, the Sittwe port and IWT Paletwa jetty were ready and operational. In April 2017, India handed over the operation of completed Sittwe port and Inland Water Terminal at Paletwa to Myanmar. In June 2017, India handed six gas tanker cargo vessels worth US$81.29 million (K110.08 billion) to the Myanmar government to transport gas to north-east India via Manipur. Work on the port in Sittwe and the IWT in Paletwa, Chin State, is in its final stages, and the six cargo vessels are meant to facilitate transportation of goods from Sittwe to Paletwa. The $81.29 million cost of the vessels was met through a grant from India. The construction work was assigned to IWT in October 2012, the keels were laid in March 2013 and the vessels were launched between April and December 2016. On completion of the tests and trials at Yangon, the vessels reached Sittwe in March 2017. Acceptance trials were completed in April 2017 in Sittwe.vessels handed over to Myanmar by India, Mizzima, 2 June 2017.

In June 2017, after several upward budget revisions and troubles in finding contractors, the INR1,600-crore (US$250 million) contract has been finally awarded to an Indian company C&C construction for building 109-km road connecting IWT Paletwa river terminal to Zorinpui in Mizoram border. The contractor would open offices at Sittwe, Paletwa and Yangon in Myanmar, mobilise men and machine during the monsoon and start construction after the monsoon in October.

In 2019, India and Myanmar launched Operation Sunrise, a joint military effort to dismantle insurgent group camps, especially the Arakan Army, threatening the Kaladan Project.

As of 2026, the project which passes through the areas of Paletwa, Pauktaw, Ponnagyun Kyauktaw, and Mrauk-U townships, are controlled by the Arakan Army. A small area of jetty in Sittwe remains under the control of the military council.

India plans to open the Kaladan project by 2027, as announced by Minister of Ports and Shipping Sarbananda Sonowal in July 2027. ၂၀၂၇ တွင် အသက်ဝင်မည့် အိန္ဒိယ၏ ကုလားတန်စီမံကိန်းနှင့် AA ၏ အခန်းကဏ္ဍ (The role of Arakan Army in the implementation of India's 2027 Kaladan plan). Myanmar Now. July 24, 2025.

Route

Sea–river–road route

The project has several sections combining multi-modes of transport:Multi-modal project introduction

Kolkata-Sittwe shipping route - from seaport of Kolkata in India to Sittwe seaport in Myanmar via Bay of Bengal. This sea route has been operational for several decades. Port upgrade, from 20,000 ton vessels to 40,000 ton capacity vessels, has been completed.

Sittwe seaport to Paletwa inland jettyriver boat route - ' from Sittwe seaport to Inland Water Terminal (IWT) and hydro power project at Paletwa jetty via Kaladan river in Myanmar. River dredging and jetty upgrade completed in June 2017. There is at least one river lock for navigation.. Six barges of 300 ton capacity each were handed over to Myanmar by the government of India.Delay in Kaladan project, Business Standard, 2018. Completed. Sittwe Special Economic Zone at Ponnagyun town north from Sittwe upstream of Kaladan River at Ponnagyun town is being built by India on 1000 acres.

Paletwa inland jetty to Zorinpui road 2-lane container-load-grade route in Myanmar - two-lane in each direction (4 lanes total) road route from IWT Paletwa to Zochawchhuah(India)–Zorinpui (Myanmar) at Indo-Myanmar border in Myanmar. Construction contract of INR1600 crore (16 billion) was awarded to Ircon in June 2017, and construction commenced in April 2018,Road to Mandalay Indian Express, June 2018. after all the necessary approvals were granted by the Myanmar govt in January 2018. Mizoram to get connected with Sittwe port. Integrated Customs & Immigration Checkpost at Zochawchhuah-Zorinpui has been operational since 2017.

Package-I: Paletwa inland jetty to Kaletwa road route in Myanmar - is Complete as per March 2024 update.

Package-II: Kaletwa to Zorinpui road route in Myanmar - is under construction as per March 2024 update, militants in control of the area have assured cooperation and security for the completion of the road. Preserving Indian Interests during Ongoing Disturbances in Myanmar. Centre for Joint Warfare Studies. Manshi Suhag. July 9, 2024. The Kaladan Transport Project Amidst the Civil War in Myanmar, IDSA, 22 July 2024.

Zorinpui to Aizawl road 2-lane container-load-grade route in India - from Indo-Myanmar border at Zorinpui to Aizawl. From Aizawl it connect to Aizawl-Saiha National Highway at Lawngtlai in Mizoram, India by road on National Highway 54 (India) (NH-54), which then continues further to Dabaka in Assam via long NH-54 which in turn is part of the larger East–West Corridor connecting North East India with the rest of India.India awards road contract to complete Kaladan project in Myanmar, Business Line, 9 June 2017. Complete as per March 2024 update.Mizoram MP meets Myanmar militants in push to speed up work on key connectivity project, The Print, 1 Mar 2024. Note: The 2-lane route from Indo-Myanmar border at Zochawchhuah-Zorinpui to Tuipang is complete. From Tuipang, the national highway was further upgraded from 2-lane to all-weather 4-lane from NH 54 Lawngtlai to Aizawl in Mizoram. INR6000 crore (60 billion) was approved to further improve this Zochawchhuah–Zorinpui–Aizawl national highway. Lomasu to Lawngtlai is a two-lane highway in each direction (total four lanes) and Lawngtlai to Aizawl–Guwahati national highway was widened to 4 lanes in each direction (total 8 lanes).India appoints post operator, Irrawaddy

Shillong–Silchar High-Speed Corridor - , from Mawlyngkhung near Shillong to Panchgram on NH-6 near Silchar, will cut travel time between the two cities from 8.5 hours to 5 hours and act as a continuation of Kaladan multi-modal transport project offering a new Rs 22,864 crore high-speed highway between the North-East and Kolkata bypassing Bangladesh, executed by the National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) and expected to be completed by 2030.New Northeast–Kolkata Sea Route Via Myanmar To Take Shape Through Shillong–Silchar Highway, Bypassing Bangladesh: Report, IE, 18 May 2025.

Complementary railway route

This railway route will complement the river–road route of this project in Myanmar-Mizoram:

Sittwe–Kyauktaw railway in Myanmar, – exists and operational: This route has been operational since 2011. To integrate with other routes-network in Myanmar, it will be further extended 311 km by 2021–22, from Kyauktaw in north to Ann in south and then south-east to Minbu where it will connect to Myanmar rail network as well as long Kyaukpyu port–Minbu–Kunming high-speed railway being planned by China.Myanmar in China's Push into the Indian Ocean, Joshy M Paul, March 14, 2016, retrieved 20 January 2017

Kyauktaw–Zorinpui in Myanmar, – planned but not yet surveyed: India has future yet-unapproved plans to fund and construct this missing link.

Zochawchhuah (Zorinpui)–Sairang railway in India, – being surveyed since Aug-2017: Survey for the rail line from Sairang (Aizawl) to Hmawngbuchhuah on border near Zochawchhuah–Zorinpui was completed in August 2017 and it will be constructed in future phase.India's north east opened up , PowerUpConstruction.Com

Other projects – alternate route to northeast India Compared to the long, congested "Chicken's Neck" Siliguri Corridor, this Kaladan project will almost half the distance to a mere . As an alternate route (unrelated to the Kaladan Multi-Modal project) to northeast India, India is also developing railway route from Cox's Bazar deep water port to South Tripura district by rehabilitating the railway link from Santirbazar in India to Feni in Bangladesh, where a road and rail bridge is being built to connect the "Belonia, India–Parshuram, Bangladesh road and rail crossing checkposts", this will reduce traffic through Sittwe, but will provide strategically redundancy if there is a war with China.As Smart as Sittwe: Going North-East by South-East, First Post, 2019.

Travel arrangements

Zorinpui border crossing and visa arrangements

Integrated Customs & Immigration Checkpost at Zorinpui in Lawngtlai district, is already operational since 2017.India opens two border crossing points with Myanmar, Bangladesh, Times of India, 1 Oct 2o17. In early 2018, visa agreement were signed for the citizens of two nations to travel by road for education, medical assistance, tourism and other purposes.India ramps up Myanmar ties to gain foothold in ASEAN , Myanmar Times, May 2018. This agreement was operationalised on 9 August 2018. Indians and Myanma citizens with valid passport and visa can pass through two official Land Border Crossings at Moreh in Manipur (Tamu in Sagaing Region of Myanmar) and Zokhawthar in Mizoram (Rihkhawdar in Chin State of Myanmar).

Motor Vehicle Agreement

In 2015, India proposed a trilateral Motor Vehicle Agreement to facilitate seamless movement of passenger and cargo vehicles among the three countries. In May 2017, during a visit by Thai officials to Manipur, the state's Chief Secretary Oinam Nabakishore declared that the draft of the trilateral agreement had already been prepared. As of May 2018, the signing of Motor vehicle agreement is still pending.

Related projects