India-Myanmar-Thailand Highway: With 70% Work Done, the Ambitious Project Faces Several Challenges, Drug Problem

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said that the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway has been a “very difficult project” and it is the government’s priority to find ways to resume it.

Jaishankar, who is in Bangkok to participate in the 12th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Mechanism, said that the priorities today is to find ways to resume the project.

India, Thailand and Myanmar are working on about 1,400-km long highway that would link the country with Southeast Asia by land, giving a boost to trade, business, health, education and tourism ties among the countries.

Why is the Project Delayed?

Around 70 percent of construction work on the ambitious highway, which will connect Moreh in Manipur with Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar, has been completed.

The strategic highway project has been delayed as the government was aiming to make the roadways operational by December 2019.

Jaishankar said that the project is difficult because of the situation in Myanmar as a major part of the Trilateral Highway is the road network in the country.

“The real challenge today before us one which we are working on, is how do we build road connectivity between Thailand… We have this project from northeast India, that if we build a road through Myanmar, and that road connects up with what Thailand will be building towards,” Jaishankar said.

“But it has been a very difficult project. It has been a very difficult project mainly because of the situation in Myanmar. And one of our priorities today is to find ways of how to resume this project, how to unlock it, and how to make it because large parts of the project have been built,” the external affairs minister added.

Myanmar is gripped under violence ever since the military seized power and unleashed an attack against the opposition.

Most of the work of the expressway based in Thailand is already complete, a Thailand minister told The Millenium Post. Meanwhile, the Imphal-Moreh portion of the highway on the Indian side is expected to be completed this year and the portion passing through Myanmar in another three years.

Why is the Project Significant?

The India-Myanmar-Thailand highway, connecting Moreh in Manipur and Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar, was made to establish a seamless, efficient and end-to-end transportation corridor along the existing Trilateral Highway and its extension towards Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

The project is an important part of India’s Act East Policy, which focuses on improving India’s relations with the Southeast Asian nations. It will provide greater connectivity between India and ASEAN has long been both an economic and strategic objective for the ASEAN–India partnership.

The Myawaddy-Mae Sot section that links Myanmar and Thailand was completed in July 2021. Thought the government has not provided any details on the timeline for completion, the highway is expected to be operational by the end of this year.

Earlier in December 2020, Bangladesh also expressed interest in joining this project to boost trade and connectivity from Dhaka.

Drug Problem at Myanmar Border

The violence and the resultant unrest in Myanmar have led to a drug problem in the country. It has become one of Asia’s main sources of illegal production of methamphetamine and heroin, according to the International Narcotics Control Board and the United Nations Office.

The Northeastern States including Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram share border with Myanmar and the drug trafficking across the borders has increased in these states.

The Assam Rifles and other agencies in separate operations in Mizoram on Saturday night seized heroin and foreign-origin cigarettes worth Rs 29 crore smuggled from Myanmar and arrested six people.

An Assam Rifles statement said smuggling of drugs from Myanmar is a major cause of concern for the state as well as the country.

Jaishankar also flagged concerns about human and drug trafficking and urged stronger cooperation among relevant parties for the early return of trafficked victims.

Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh also said that he is deeply concerned by the alarming increase in illicit drug seizures within Mizoram.

“Having personally experienced the challenges associated with drug trafficking in my own state, I wholeheartedly support the efforts of the Mizoram Government in combating these heinous activities, particularly concentrated along our porous international borders,” he said.

Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, last year, said, “The drugs are trafficked from Myanmar through Assam and Mizoram to Tripura and then to Bangladesh.”