Arakan Army meets with Indian officials to discuss resumption of Kaladan road

Arakan Army (AA) officials met with an Indian government delegation late last week for talks on a road being built as part of the Indian-funded Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project, according to local media reports. The delegation, led by Indian MP K. Vanlalvena, travelled to Paletwa Township in southern Chin State on February 29 to inspect a section of the 67-mile road from Paletwa to the Indian border, the Mizoram-based Lairam Times reported. The AA has been in control of Paletwa Township since mid-January. The area is a key part of the US$484 million Kaladan project, which seeks to link India’s landlocked northeast to the seaport in the Rakhine State capital Sittwe. Construction work on the road began in 2018 under the civilian government of the National League for Democracy but was suspended in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The coup of February 2021 resulted in further delays, but construction was resumed early last year, until it was brought to a halt again in mid-November with the start of the AA’s current offensive. “We drove 12km inside Myanmar on the Kaladan road and saw that it is nothing but a dirt track on their side,” Joseph Lalhmingthanga Chinzah, a member of the Indian delegation, was reported by The Hindu newspaper as saying. Part of the Kaladan project seen under construction in July 2023 (Kaladan Road Project) The Kaladan River flows through Paletwa to Kyauktaw and Ponnagyun townships in Rakhine State before reaching the Bay of Bengal at Sittwe. Kyauktaw is also under the control of the AA, but Ponnagyun and Sittwe have yet to fall to the group as fighting continues in both townships. In 2016, India built a $120-million deep-water port in Sittwe as part of the stalled project, which also includes an inland port at Paletwa and a bridge over the Kaladan River in Mizoram. Myanmar Now reached out to the companies contracted to build the Mizoram-Paletwa road—the Su Htoo San Construction Co., Ltd., K&DL Engineering Co., Ltd., Shwe Mann Co., Ltd., Future Creator Group of Construction Co., Ltd., and Htet Shine Linn Co., Ltd.—but did not receive a response. The Sittwe deep-sea port in June 2017 (EPA) In July of last year, India’s foreign minister, S. Jaishankar, met with his counterpart in the Myanmar junta, Than Swe, to discuss ways the two sides could expedite Indian projects in Myanmar. Since then, however, no significant progress has been made. While the AA is now in a position to work with India to restart the Paletwa section of the Kaladan road, some commentators suggested that it would be premature to do so under the current circumstances. “Although the AA has seized control of Paletwa Township, I personally think the opinions of the Paletwa locals and Chin people, who will be directly and indirectly affected by the implementation of the project, are more relevant and realistic,” said Salai Dokhar, founder of India for Myanmar, a group that assists Myanmar refugees in India. “I think the Indian government needs to talk with relevant Chin revolutionary groups or else their operations will not be smooth,” he added. In November of last year, the anti-regime Chin National Army captured the border town of Rihkhawdar in northern Chin State. The town is a key trade hub between the state and neighbouring Mizoram, but not part of the Kaladan project. Chin resistance forces say they have had “informal meetings” with Indian officials and have established good relations with them amid the ongoing changes in the region. Among the concerns raised by multiple social welfare groups is how locals will be compensated for the loss land seized to build the road, potential human rights abuses such as forced labour, and environmental damage.

Arakan Army meets with Indian officials to discuss resumption of Kaladan road

The road—part of a much larger Indian-funded connectivity project—passes through territory now under AA control

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