The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has
approved a proposal for India Ports Global (IPGL) to take over the operations of
the entire port located on the Kaladan River. IPGL is a company 100 per cent
owned by the Ministry
of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
India Ports Global Limited (IPGL) is a
joint venture between Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) and Deendayal Port
Trust (Erstwhile Kandla Port Trust). It
was created and incorporated in January 2015 under the Companies Act, 2013, as
per directions of
Ministry of Shipping (MoS), for development of ports overseas.
The
Sittwe Port is part of the Kaladan multi-modal transit transport project. The project aims to connect the eastern Indian
seaport of Kolkata with Sittwe seaport in Myanmar by sea, and further link
Sittwe Port to Paletwa in Myanmar via Kaladan river waterway, and connect
Paletwa to Zorinpui in Mizoram through a road component.
This link will not only offer an alternative route for
shipping goods to the northeastern states, but will significantly reduce the
cost and distance from Kolkata to Mizoram and beyond. It will also reduce dependency on the Siliguri Corridor, known as the chicken’s
neck, which is squeezed between Bhutan and Bangladesh.