VZCZCXRO9078
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHCI #0099/01 0791202
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 191202Z MAR 08
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1934
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 0419
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0147
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0134
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE USD FAS WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 2362

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KOLKATA 000099 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL ECON SENV PGOV ETRD EWWT EPET IN BM BG
SUBJECT: A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT - CONNECTING BURMA AND INDIA 
 
KOLKATA 00000099  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (U) SUMMARY:   The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transport Project 
linking the landlocked states in Northeast India with Sittwe 
port in Myanmar holds the promise of making Mizoram an economic 
gateway, and providing India with access to international trade 
routes via the Bay of Bengal.  The tentative steps taken so far 
by the GOI to realize its vision make the Mizo people cautiously 
optimistic about this ambitious project, and the potential 
economic benefits override concerns about possible 
socio-political fallout from closer economic engagement with 
Burma.  It will be some time before the KMTP "arrives," and even 
then the GOI will tightly control its impact out fear of 
increased commercial competition from Southeast Asian and 
Chinese products.   END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (U) Proposed by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs in 
2003, the Kaladan Multi-modal Transport Project (KMTP) aims to 
develop a trade route between India and Burma along the Kaladan 
River.  The river is navigable for approximately 225 kilometers 
from the Burmese port of Sittwe on the Bay of Bengal to the town 
of Kaletwa (Setpyitpyin).   From Kaletwa, a 62-kilometer road to 
Saiha in the Indian state of Mizoram will be constructed, 
linking at Saiha to India's National Highway 54, which runs 
through Mizoram's capital Aizawl into Assam and then mainland 
India (skirting Bangladesh). 
 
¶3.  (U) The KMTP is estimated to cost USD 120 million.  A major 
portion of the expenditure would go to development of the Sittwe 
port, making the Kaladan river navigable up to Kaletwa, and 
building roads from Kaletwa to the Indo - Burma border.  The GOI 
has decided to fund the project fully and hand it over to the 
Government of Burma (GOB) on completion.  The Framework 
Agreement on the project and Accompanied Protocol are scheduled 
to be signed the first week of April 2008 when Burma's Vice 
Senior General Maung Aye is expected to visit New Delhi.  Rail 
India Technical Economic Services (RITES), a GOI public 
consultancy company, will be the lead organization in executing 
the project. 
 
¶4.  (U) The development of the KMTP is of vital interest to 
India as it will offer the land-locked, north-eastern states of 
Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, 
and Tripura access to a sea port.  The route bypasses 
Bangladesh, which has been reluctant to give India access to the 
Chittagong port less than 200 km away from Agartala, the capital 
of Tripura.  With Mizoram acting as gateway to an international 
trade route via Myanmar, the state is hoping to reap significant 
economic benefits from the project.  President of the Mizoram 
Chamber of Industries & Commerce K. Lalhmingthanga said that the 
opening up of the new trade route will provide a much needed 
outlet for products from Mizoram.  Currently, there are only two 
railway links connecting the state to other parts of India via 
Assam.  The nearest one is Bairabi rail station, located about 
110 kilometers from the state capital Aizawl and the other is 
Silchar, which is about 180 kilometers from Aizawl.  Bairabi is 
a meter (narrow) gauge track so its use is limited; the route 
via Silchar is often beset by labor disputes, preventing a 
smooth flow of consignments in and out of Mizoram. 
Lalhmingthanga also hopes that the KMTP will create new jobs and 
employment sectors in a state where job opportunities outside 
government service are very limited. 
 
¶5.  (U) The expected boom may be some time in coming.  Dean of 
the Economics Department of Mizoram University Dr. Lianzela 
believes that it will take another seven to ten years to develop 
the KMTP.   He echoed the Mizoram Chamber's view that this is a 
federally funded and controlled project over which the Mizoram 
government has little or no control, although the state has the 
potential to gain a great deal from the project.  The main food 
crop grown in the state is rice paddy, which forms the staple 
diet of the Mizo people.   In recent years natural calamities 
like un-seasonal or excessive rainfall and rat infestation due 
to bamboo flowering have severely damaged rice production.  The 
practice of jhum (shifting or slash and burn) cultivation has 
also caused environmental degradation.  The Mizoram government 
is encouraging and supporting farmers in the state to move away 
from jhum cultivation to growing cash crops like ginger, 
turmeric, chilies, and fruits like pineapples, passion fruit, 
oranges and grapes.  But this policy of diversifying 
agricultural production has lacked a corresponding preservation 
and marketing component for the new produce.  Lianzela cited a 
2007 incident when farmers threw hundreds of pineapples onto the 
highway to protest the lack of adequate cold chain facilities 
and market access for the fruit that they had been encouraged by 
the government to grow.  Lianzela opined that the (short term) 
 
KOLKATA 00000099  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
benefits of the KMTP to the Mizoram economy would be that 
products from Mizoram could find a wider market and that it 
would be easier to bring in food grains to the state. 
 
¶6.  (U) State officials are less aware of the project and less 
engaged in it, however.  Few of the government officials we met 
(including the Secretary for Food and Civil Supplies, the Excise 
Commissioner, the Home Commissioner, Power Secretary, Secretary 
for Rural Development, and Health Minister) nor senior 
representatives of Mizoram's largest NGO the Young Mizo 
Association commented in detail about the KMTP.  To those we 
spoke with, the economic benefits of the KMTP override any 
concerns about increased economic engagement with Burma and any 
socio-political implications of greater access to Burma through 
this trade route. 
 
¶7.  (U) Comment:   Mizoram's leaders are keeping an eye on the 
KMTP, but the general consensus is that it is a GOI-run project 
with significant uncertainties about the time frame for 
commissioning and completion.  Everyone agreed that if 
operational, the trade route would be beneficial to the Mizoram 
economy.   This underscores the way in which the GOI keeps a 
firm grip on the reins of the NE states - by controlling the 
cash flow to the state governments, requiring obeisance from 
democratically-elected leaders, and suppressing state activism 
in the name of security.  A project of the magnitude of the KMTP 
is bound to have environmental, social, and political 
consequences, yet no one appeared concerned about such issues. 
The uncertainties about the time frame of the KMTP also call 
into question the seriousness of India's Look East policy.  The 
opening up of the Indo-China trade route through the Nathu La 
pass in the Himalayan state of Sikkim in 2006 held the promise 
of spurring the economy of that region, however there is not 
much visible evidence that this has happened.  The actual 
success of the KMTP may be diminished by the GOI's protectionist 
instincts on the grounds of security and fear of goods dumping 
from China and other Asian nations. 
JARDINE