C Christine Fair Apr 19, 2019
The Chabahar port in Iran that opened for business at the end of 2018 has been hailed as a big strategic success for India. It is the first time India is operating a port outside its borders, but it is not the only time it will do so. India is about to commence operations in another deep-water port — this time on the eastern front — it built in Sittwe, in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine province.
This Sittwe port that I visited late last year is part of the Kaladan Multi-Modal Transit Transport Project which is as important, if not more, as Chabahar. When completed, the project will facilitate transit between India’s northeastern states and Kolkata Port, bringing down India’s dependence on the vulnerable Siliguri Corridor, the so-called Chicken’s Neck.
