30.06.09 # 2:17 # World # No Comment

Hopeful of getting Myanmar’s nod to re-open the historic Stilwell Road connecting India and China, the government has said an alternative route via the Sitwee port in that country would open the North East to the rest of the South Asia.

“Though India wants to open the Stilwell road, Myanmar has been opposing the idea citing certain reasons. But we are hopeful that the road would open one day. As of now, an alternative route via the Sitwee port of Myanmar would open the North East to the rest of South Asia,” Union DoNER Minister B K Handique said.

Myanmar, DoNER sources said, is not interested in opening the road as it passes through the country’s Kachin region which is infested by insurgent elements, including those belonging to India like ULFA and NSCN factions.

Stilwell Road, built to outflank the marauding Japanese and establish a land supply route to Yunnan province of China during the World War II, was originally called ‘Ledo Road’, as it started in Ledo in Eastern Assam. It was later renamed after US General Joseph Stilwell, the then Chief of Staff of the Allied Forces.

The road was constructed under the direct supervision of General Stilwell in 1942, connecting some sections of the old ‘Burma Road’, stretching from Kunming.

Some 60 km of the road lies in India, 1,000 km in Myanmar and more than 600 km in China. However, parts of the road have virtually disappeared due to lack of maintenance.

Handique said an alternative sea-route via Mizoram would open up the country’s landlocked North East to a commercial sea route through Myanmarese territory.

India is developing the Sittwe port in the Bay of Bengal off the Myanmar coast, expanding facilities to accommodate goods traffic. From Sittwe, the Kaladan River will be made navigable for 225 km, up to Kaletwa (Myanmar). From there, a 62-km highway will take the traffic to the India-Myanmar border in Mizoram.

A road from the border will link the project to India’s National Highway 54, officials said. Once the project is completed and the Sitwee port is operationalised, Aizawl would become the business hub of the North East, Handique said.

The project is expected to be completed by 2012, the sources said.