NEW DELHI: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is ready to fund a highway project that will connect India’s North-East to Myanmar. The proposed network that will link Agartala, Silchar, Imphal and Moreh with Myanmar, is in line with India’s Look-East policy and part of a strategic move to curtail China’s dominance over South- East Asian countries.

The highway project assumes significance as commerce minister Anand Sharma, in his just concluded three-day visit to Myanmar, has set a bilateral trade target of $3 billion by 2015. Total trade last year between India and Myanmar stood at $1.87 billion. The road ministry is expected to soon launch a bus service from Moreh in Manipur to Mandalay in Myanmar, and the Centre is developing an integrated check-post in Moreh that will ease the movement of goods and services across the borders of the two countries.

The two nations have also expressed interest in expanding business ties in sectors like oil and gas and textiles in Myanmar. The ministry of external affairs is also keen to assist Myanmar with human resources to build their side of the road connectivity project, said people familiar with the situation. ADB officials recently visited Manipur to do a technical survey and have submitted their preliminary aid memo to the road ministry, which is now going through the appropriate alignment and other technical aspects before it gives its approval to the project and passed on to the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA). “We need to consider whether the alignment is right because these are hilly areas. They have said they are interested in financing four-lane highways but that has to be justified with traffic and we need to see what kind of roads would be suitable in these regions,” said a road ministry official. more…