The most powerful countries in Asia - China and India, are keen to extend their roads into Arakan State in Burma to meet their own countries' needs.
On 18 May, 2010, China and Burma signed a MoU in Naypyidaw to cooperate in the development of a platform road project between Ruili in China's Yunnan Province and Kyauk Pru in Burma's Arakan.
The MoU was signed by visiting Chinese Transport Minister Li Seng Lin and Burma's Construction Minister U Khin Maung Myint, an official source said.
The platform road project came about after construction of the Burma - China gas and oil pipelines began earlier this year. China is not only constructing the oil pipeline but also modernizing the Kyauk Pru Port to meet transportation needs.
A local source said four jetties in Kyauk Pru are being renovated by Chinese engineers in order to accommodate transport of goods in part for the gas and oil pipeline.
India has also begun construction of a road to Sittwe, the capital of Arakan, from Lawngtlai Town in southern Mizoram in India to establish a sea link between the northeastern Indian states of Mizoram, Assam, and Manipur with the rest of the country.
According to the Indian press, Union Minister for National Highways and Transport Kamal Nath arrived in Aizawl on 24 April to lay the foundation of the multi-modal road transport project in Lawngtlai, 335 kilometers from Aizawl.
The project was approved four years ago after New Delhi got the go ahead from Burma, but the subsequent delay led to an escalation of the cost of the project from Rs 420 crore to a whopping Rs 600 crore, the source added.
The Indian government also signed a contract with India's Essar Projects Ltd. on Friday for the construction of ports and inland water transport components of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project in western Burma's Arakan State.
"The contract involves the construction of two jetties at Sittwe and Paletwa in [Burma], dredging and construction of cargo barges; etcetera, to facilitate cargo movement along the river Kaladan. The construction of a port at Sittwe is a major component of the project," said a press release from Essar.
The contract is worth Rs 3.42 billion, or about 76 million US dollars, and is to be executed within three years.
The statement also said that the project includes construction of a 120-kilometre road in Burma from the river terminal to the Indo-Burma border, which will be completed under a separate contract.
The Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project is being executed by the Indian government under a framework agreement with the Burmese junta from 2008, in order to ease the movement of goods from India's mainland to its land-locked northeastern states.
The Burmese military government has also constructed 41 miles of road from Kyauktaw to Paletwa in Chin State to be connected with the road from India.
The roads connecting Arakan from India and China will benefit both the countries, but the people of Arakan anticipate little to no benefit from the project. Farmland in Arakan State has already been confiscated and some villages have already been relocated by authorities to make way for the projects.
