India to Open Road to Myanmar by 2016

 

CHIANGRAI TIMES – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President U Thein Sein have set a deadline of 2016 for trilateral road connectivity, bridging India and Asean countries.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President U Thein Sein met in Myanmar to seek a diplomatic relationship that had broken down completely, following the military coup in 1962. However, with yesterday’s first step to reconciliation that was initiated by India and Myanmar it seems that the outcome of the meeting has the potential to change the course of history and geography, not just for the two neighbor countries, but also for the entire region of Asean countries.

One of the most significant initiatives taken forward by both nations was to accelerate its pending infrastructural projects in Myanmar. For the first time, the two delegates set a deadline – 2016 – for trilateral road connectivity that will make it possible to go on a really long drive from the land of ‘Namaste’ to the Kingdom of Thailand via Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

Foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai too, announced after the PM’s restricted meeting, “efforts would be made to establish seamless trilateral connectivity by 2016.”

India had earlier helped Myanmar to build the Tamu-Kalewa Friendship Road and will also soon undertake the repair work of 71 bridges on the aforementioned Road. The Friendship Road will be linked to a place called Yargyi, which will effectively link Moreh in India to Mae Sot in Thailand.

“The two leaders decided that India would undertake upgradation of the Kalewa-Yargyi road segment to highway standard while Myanmar would undertake upgradation of the Yargyi-Monywa stretch to highway standard by 2016,” Mathai said, adding that the two leaders welcomed the revival of the Joint Task Force on the trilateral highway.